Incubator

[scooter11]

Hey guys, I'm in the beginning stages of putting together an incubator. So far I've gone as far as picking up a display fridge and I also have a smaller waist high refrigerator (like a dorm room one). I'm planning on doing the display fridge following these plans since is the same fridge.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=168959

I may do something with the smaller one as well. I basically need some help figuring out the heat. These plans call for 4' of 11" flexwatt. I wanted to know where most of you keep your incubator. Do you keep it in a snake room kept at 80 ish, do you keep it in a separate room, what's the temp of the room you keep it in? Also I'm in the northeast and was hoping to keep it in a separate room where the temps are usually 70, but drop down to 65 some nights. Can this be achieved and if so, would I need to add more heat tape and how much? Thanks for any help.



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[scooter11]

Wow, crickets? Bueller......bueller?

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[ARamos8]

I'm not going to be much help here since this will be my first pass at filling one up, but I plan on keeping it in the game room upstairs. At the moment I can't dedicate a room, still working on raising the crumbsnatchers. I have a decent size wine fridge I picked up that was not working anymore with a very nice double pane glass door. It has about 14 inches of 11" flexwatt and 2 micro fans, 1 on the top right corner blowing down and the other on the bottom left corner blowing up. The temps stay around 76 - 77 year round in the game room. I put it thru its paces for about 2 weeks and the temps stayed put at 88.3 degrees. That was with a few tubs made up to mock incubating. Oh, and I placed about 12 personal size water bottles at the bottom to assist with stabilizing temps when the door is closed again.

Again, not sure how much of that will help, but I am pleased with the trail run for sure. Hope it helps the effort and good luck!

[MootWorm]

Sorry, this never popped up in the unread section for me. I've never made an incubator, but I don't think your ambients are going to affect an incubator as much as, say a stand alone tub. The fridge itself is insulated, and I'm assuming you'll add some water bottles as well, which will help stabilize the temps. I'd just put it in your warmest room and let your tstat do the rest. No need to add additional heat tape unless your fridge is way oversized, and the amount of flex tape called for results in uneven heating.

[WmHrbst]

I keep my incubator in my snake room. I use a Herpstat on my incubator and it typically stays at 35% power at 89° regardless of the room temperature. The room is around 80° now and dips into the low 70's during the winter.

[BPLuvr]

I just picked up the mini fridge for mine yesterday. Mine will be located in the same room so I won't need a huge temp. rise. I hope to be working on it this weekend and I'll try and take pics for a thread along the way.

[scooter11]

Thanks guys, that is very helpful stuff. I shouldn't have a problem with the temps until December rolls around, but it sounds like I might be alright.

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[meeistom]

Better to have too much heat tape and not need it then to need more at a crucial time. Just my 2 cents

[hig]

10-15 watts of heat per cubic foot is a good base. Add a fan if the fridge is over 3 cubic feet.

Also spend the money on a good thermostat, cant go wrong with a herpstat.