Omaha Steaks, Incubator

[Covington]

Well I ordered a bunch of Omaha steaks and it came 2nd day with dry ice. Very well packaged. They are pretty cheaply priced steaks. Anyway back to the DIY part. The cooler used for shipping was very nice for a Styrofoam throwaway. It measures 19x16x16 (LxWxH) externel and 15x12x12 internal. The cooler is made of dense foam that is 2" thick all the way around. I used plexiglass (double paned for insulation) on the lid. There are two 11x11 heat tapes on the sides. At the bottom I placed a PCI slot card cooler (computer fan) for circulation. The benefit of this fan is that no baby can in any way get caught in the blades and they move plenty of air. I have a herpstat proportional that will be running it. Total cost $140. A little pricy for such a small bator but it was a fun project.

[Covington]

I forgot to add that the two installed heat tapes are separated, in that they are both wired to plug in. I did this for a reason. One is enough to keep the temp at 98F (if running constantly) but wanted two for efficiency and as a backup in the event of a failure...something to thik about when building an incubator that is housing expensive snakes or any reptiles for that matter.

[Friday2214]

LOL this is very funny, i happen to get steaks from them also and had the same idea

[minguela]

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

[Mr. Constrictor]

Great job. I built one out of an Omaha steaks cooler last year for a friend who had a surprize clutch of carpets. I didn't use a fan in mine and used a much cheaper stat. Hatched 7 outa 7 eggs.

[Covington]

I hooked it all up tonight to see how stable it is. Well, it slowly goes between 87.9 and 88.1 not bad at all. Now to get those eggs out of her and in the incubator. Should I just kinda squeeze her from the neck to her tail in a peristaltic manner? JK of course.

[Watever]

I forgot to add that the two installed heat tapes are separated, in that they are both wired to plug in. I did this for a reason. One is enough to keep the temp at 98F (if running constantly) but wanted two for efficiency and as a backup in the event of a failure...something to thik about when building an incubator that is housing expensive snakes or any reptiles for that matter.

yeah but if the thermostat fail or the probe and give back false low temperature, both will be running and at over 98F (since both will be running) you gonna have cooked eggs.

also, what did you use to convert the fan to 120V ? did you use a transfo ?

are you planning on using a box for them or not ? cause if yes, I don't understand how they could get caught in the blade. If no, why ?