T-State and Incubator Question

Hey guys! So I am trying to get my incubator all set up and running to make sure that everything is good to go for when I finally get my eggs. So here is my question...

Where is the best place to get a t-stat from and what brand/model does everyone recommend?

My set up is a small wine cooler, I plan to drill a hole in the back to feed the chords out, then fill the whole with foam. I am gonna have a dummy tub inside the incubator and that is going to be where the probe is placed.

I use two thermostats on my Incubator, one a proportional that adjusts the power to the Flexwatt and a back up one that is on/off. In fact, every thermostat I have is backed up with an on/off Thermostat.

I've been using Vivarium Electronics, they carry both the on/off and proportional thermostats. They can be found at ReptileBasics.com. Great company to do business with.

I suggest a Herpstat for an incubator. You really can't go cheap when it comes to that or you could end up with dead eggs. I got mine from here. AND it's on sale! I got mine for $118 shipped, now it's marked at $98.89 shipped, how cool! Anywho, good luck :)

I use herpstat on mine. The hole for the probe and tape cord is drilled through the top (its a huge upright freezer) and the prob free hangs about half way down.

I wanted to put it into a dummy tub just to make sure the temp reaching the eggs through the container is exactly spot on lol. I am being a tiny bit anal about making sure everything is perfect for my little egg babies.

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Originally Posted by Crawly's Mom

I wanted to put it into a dummy tub just to make sure the temp reaching the eggs through the container is exactly spot on lol. I am being a tiny bit anal about making sure everything is perfect for my little egg babies.

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That is a very good thing to do. :gj: I set up an incubator, got the temps spot on, then let it sit. When I put egg boxes together when the eggs came, the temps fluctuated when I started filling the incubator up. Now, when I get the incubator ready, I test it with several egg boxes, prepared exactly as I'm going to use them to set the temps. I even leave a few of those egg boxes in the incubator so when the eggs come, I have everything ready and don't have to worry.

I would use a digital thermometer inside the tub instead of the stat probe

I also have an full sized upright freezer and I used a Zoomed Hygrotherm and it worked great. It never fluctuated more than 1 degree +/- 89. I will probably switch to a Helix or Herpstat in the future but I just happened to have this Zoomed lying around. I did however have 2 digital thermometers (1 on top shelf, 1 on bottom shelf) to regulate the entire thing. I have my sensor dead center of the incubator. I filled the dead air space with a bunch of gatorade bottles.

I have a wine fridge with a Herpstat. Has worked great the past 2 seasons without any troubles. I did initially test it with a helix. That was before I got the Herpstat. I feel comfortable using either.

Don, How is that t-stat from Vivarium Electronics? I have been looking at that for a couple of my pet snakes.

Herpstat all the way.

Dummy tubs work fine as long as you have room for one.