Incubators

First , I'm not breeding anything this season and am now desperate for an incubator , I'm just planning for next year. I'm wondering about incubators and what most of you use. I will only be a small hobby breeder with a couple of clutches a year. I have read the stickies and the posts and watched you tube vids on home made ones but am afraid I'm too inept to build 1. Do the majority of you small breeders build your own incubator or do any of you buy them. If you buy, which ones do you like?

Thanks

Both of these are fairly popular and excellent quality units for the price:

http://www.nsreptiles.com/incubator.html

http://www.animalplastics.com/

Basically it would come down to how much you want to spend and how many clutches you think you'd need to incubate at one time as far as differences between the two. Totally off topic but is your avatar a GSD? Nice looking puppy if it is. Most people build their own out of old wine coolers or refrigerators or even coolers and some people have used Hovabators with some success, after a few modifications. Anyway, hope that helps!

I personally haven't done any breeding yet and more then likely willl build my own when ready. I have searched and read differant threads and bookmarked this one since it seemed reasonable if I was going to purchase one. Natures Spirit

Those two incubators I listed seem to be the more middle of the road selections as far as professionally made models. The Hovabators can do the job but they have a host of issues and aren't a model I'd want to trust a clutch to. I'm a technical (and at times, literal!) idiot so I wouldn't trust building my own either. I have bought several racks from Animal Plastics and have been extremely impressed with their quality as well as their customer service; however, I don't know that I would need that large of an incubator, soooooooo...it'll probably be Natures Spirit for me as well when/if my females EVER! get to size! :rolleyes:

I use the Nature's Spirit incubator and love it. This is my second season using it. It holds temps perfectly.

I made my incubator out of a broken Red Bull bar fridge. I documented the process of converting it here: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ull-Incubator!

Build your own, you'll be glad you did. Before I got into ball pythons I never made anything in my life.

To make an incubator all you need is:
an old fridge
computer fan, got mine from Radio Shack
an old cell phone charger to wire the fan with
flexwatt
thermostat

done.

It's so easy, and they are reliable. Here is a pic of mine, without the thermostat it cost me about $20. If you get a cheap incubator you have to buy a nice thermostat to use in place of the incubator's thermostat.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ding/002-2.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by youbeyouibei

Those two incubators I listed seem to be the more middle of the road selections as far as professionally made models. The Hovabators can do the job but they have a host of issues and aren't a model I'd want to trust a clutch to. I'm a technical (and at times, literal!) idiot so I wouldn't trust building my own either. I have bought several racks from Animal Plastics and have been extremely impressed with their quality as well as their customer service; however, I don't know that I would need that large of an incubator, soooooooo...it'll probably be Natures Spirit for me as well when/if my females EVER! get to size! :rolleyes:

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What issues have you had with Hovabators? I've used them for years (controlled with a Herpstat thermostat, of course), and have had 0 issues. They hold temperatures even when room temps fluctuate a lot.
If there's some issue that folks have had, I would like to know about it.

(Of course, the wafer thermostats they come with would be a pain to deal with, but that's a thermostat issue, not an incubator issue--and I would never recommend using one of those thermostats).

Make one really cheap with a broke fridge
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/...s/100_6981.jpg

Little desk fan, 4in heat tape and a thermostate and BAM!!!!!! A great incubator!

Yes youbeyouibei, my avatar is my GSD Holdi. My best 4 legged friend