Will this incubator work?

Hello everyone !

So, I have made my own incubator for my first clutch (hopefully she is gravid) and I want your opinion if this will work or not.

All right... It is a styrofoam box. On the bottom I have a heating cable. Then I have 4 water bottles on the heating cable. On top of the water bottles I have a grid that matches perfectly to the box, with a termostat sensor in it. Then of course, the egg box on the grid.

Some people have mentioned a fan to circulate the air. Is it really necesarry? I will post pictures of the whole construction later.

Thanks ! ;d

fans help prevent hot spots. Really only necessary for large incubators. one small cooler would be ok without one, but it does help.

I would run a couple of digital thermometers on different sides to test the temps, if they stay even all around you should be OK, if they vary widely you might want a real soft computer fan.

Always run incubator for a few days, test temps and adjust before adding eggs;)

I dont think you should put heatwire directly on styrofoam it will melt it sometimes.I dont think it would start a fire but eggs are pretty sensitive and i dont know if the fumes could harm the eggs.I think it would be better with a heat mat.I seen a heat wire melt through a peice of styrofoam.Just my 2 cents

Okay, I will test temperatures every day this week and check for some hot spots.

Ryan: So a heat mat is more secure than heat cables? I have heard that there is heat cables inside every heat mat.

Thanks for your opinions guys, I really appreciate it ! I hope my female is or will be gravid soon, I can't wait for my first clutch. Thanks again ! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryan denmark

I dont think you should put heatwire directly on styrofoam it will melt it sometimes.I dont think it would start a fire but eggs are pretty sensitive and i dont know if the fumes could harm the eggs.I think it would be better with a heat mat.I seen a heat wire melt through a peice of styrofoam.Just my 2 cents

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some types of styrofoam, when burned, create cyanide fumes :2cent:

Do you have any pictures? It sounds good to me. I would put a fan in there though. Even small incubators can have a decent temp variance. The fan will only cost you $10 so I really don't see the reason for not using one with any bator. You can go to a radio shack to pick, up the fan, then all you have to do is wire it to an old cell phone charger.

I will post pictures as soon as possible, though I am in school right now. Thanks ! ;d

All right, here we go ! Pictures !

This is my styrofoam box, with a heat cable attached to the bottom.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...incubator1.jpg

This is when I have added some water bottles on top of the heat cable. Note that I will add two more bottles.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...incubator2.jpg

Next up is with bars on top of the water bottles.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...incubator3.jpg

And at last, a box with no eggs in. I will not use that box as my egg box.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...incubator4.jpg

And then of course, a termostat and a termometer (which isn't in any of the pictures).

What do you think? ;d

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ezekiel285

some types of styrofoam, when burned, create cyanide fumes :2cent:

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How do you know if the styrofoam you have will do that or not?