Depth of Perlite?

[lord jackel]

Hi Everyone...Well my first year breeding looks like it will yield 2-3 clutches so I am really excited. Based on all I have read I have decided I am going to go with the none substrate method and have a question.

First my setup...I have a home made incubator (I got from another breeder) 2' tall by 3' wide (sealed wood box) with 11" flexwatt wrapped up both sides and the bottom hooked to a Helix. A small fan at the bottom can be set to slowly keep the air moving)

My question is about setting up the actual egg boxes. I cannot figure out how deep they need to be. First how deep does the perlite need to be? Then I assume the plastic grid sits right on top of it (perhaps a pvc support under?) and the eggs on top of that? As I don't have the plastic tubs yet I need to know how big to buy. The box has 2 shelves which look to be about 6-7" tall so I will have to modify the box if the egg boxes need to be taller.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

[kavmon]

i'm a little confused the no substrate method doesn't use perlite or vermiculite! hence no substrate!!



vaughn

[lord jackel]

The peralite keeps the water under the grate from sloshing around in the container. I am just not sure how much water/peralite is needed in the egg container to keep the humidity at 99%?

[kavmon]

i don't have any direct experience with the no-sub method. i know some chondro guys that do!. they just used 3/4" pvc couplings and put they grids on top of them.



vaughn

[cueball]

First how deep does the perlite need to be? Then I assume the plastic grid sits right on top of it (perhaps a pvc support under?) and the eggs on top of that?

I used ~3" of Perlite under the grate and only had to top off the water twice during incubation. The Perlite will support the grid, no need for any additional support. Good luck

[lord jackel]

Thanks for info.


Cueball...how big (depth) in total was the plastic tub you used? Due you remember the clutch size (or # eggs)?

Obviously I want to get the whole system set up and running before the eggs get here.

Thanks again,

[cueball]

Cueball...how big (depth) in total was the plastic tub you used? Due you remember the clutch size (or # eggs)?

The tub was ~16 wide, ~8" deep and ~6" tall. I used this same tub size for both 4 eggs and 8 eggs.

Here's a pic

[lord jackel]

Thanks Cueball...but that doesn't look like 3 inches of peralite? Image makes it look closer to about a 1 inch?


Questioning so I don't screw this up

[cueball]

Thanks Cueball...but that doesn't look like 3 inches of peralite? Image makes it look closer to about a 1 inch?

Good call On this clutch of 8 eggs there where some stacked on top of others. This forced me to use less medium. I might have had to top off the water a couple more time for this clutch. With all the eggs flat I used ~3".

[lord jackel]

Got It. Thanks so much. I think this gives me the info I needed to kick this off. I will let you know how they turn out.


Good luck to all