Incubator suggestions?

I know a lot of people are going to say DIY, but I honestly don't trust my skills.
I will only have 2 clutches this year, if I'm lucky enough...
I obviously want to have my incubator set up and running for a while before the eggs arrive, and I believe my girls are close to ovy.

Has anyone purchased the Exo-Terra incubator that just came out? I like that the thermostat is on the unit(of course I'd add my own therm/hygro for backup).
I realize that it's small and may only hold a couple of clutches, but like I said, I def don't trust my DIY skills.

I am going to repticon this weekend and hope to check out some models from other places that have more practicle designs, but I know they can get pretty pricey and I'm pretty broke..
Just give me your input on this. Thanks

I haven't seen the new Exo-Terra 'bator yet. But I am in love with the ones made
by Hot Box, made right here in Florida. They go to lots of shows so check them out at
your local Repticon, along with any other suppliers there that day and get the best quality
one you can afford for your current needs.

good luck

When I do, I'm going to buy a hot box!

I know you said that you don't trust you DIY skills, but really they are the best incubators. They're not tough to do. An incubator is simply an insulated box with a controlled heat source. I've built 2, a small 1 from a micro fridge and a large 1 from scratch. There's a ton of build guides on this site and others, you really might want to take a look at it. If you find a micro fridge on Craigs List or another similar site, or a broken one at the dump, you can build one for under $100. You said you're going to buy a thermostat (I really like the Vivarium ones, my racks and incubators are on VE-300s), so you're buying that either way. Why not give it a try? At worst it's $100 and some of your time as a learning experience and you'll probably come out with a solid incubator. The one big thing I would say about building an incubator is to use 2 thermostats, a proportional thermostat to control it and an on/off thermostat set 2 or maybe 3 degrees higher as a safety. The thermostats are the most important part of the system, so whether you buy a manufactured one or build it yourself, don't go cheap on the thermostat. I have heard good things about incubators from Georgia Quail Farms (tell them that you are going to use it for reptiles though becuase they need to tweek it a little from using it for birds).

I have been looking on CL fir a fridge or wine cooler-have read up on the process. I see your point. Still curious about that exo-terra though.

Dude... It's so easy to make one, I was scared to try it too. Mine turned out great, I'm proud.

It takes almost zero skill to make an incubator out of a cooler...If you can master the technical aspect of applying tape, you can make one...

The exo-terra is the exact same shape and design of a wine cooler. <<Which is waay cheaper.
I think it would work fine, but setting up the heat tape and stuff yourself might even be safer, as you know where things are if it needs something replaced.

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The exo-terra is the exact same shape and design of a wine cooler. <<Which is waay cheaper.
I think it would work fine, but setting up the heat tape and stuff yourself might even be safer, as you know where things are if it needs something replaced.

Make one ;)


Trust me, before I joined the snake hobby I knew NOTHING about electrical/construction stuff. If you are going to continue to breed snakes you won't regret it! It's super easy, you can buy pre-wired flexwatt from Reptile Basics and plug it into a nice thermostat. The only thing you would have to actually do is wire a computer fan to an old cell phone charger-super easy. If you are going to keep breeding find an old/broken fridge to turn into an incubator.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

Make one ;)


Trust me, before I joined the snake hobby I knew NOTHING about electrical/construction stuff. If you are going to continue to breed snakes you won't regret it! It's super easy, you can buy pre-wired flexwatt from Reptile Basics and plug it into a nice thermostat. The only thing you would have to actually do is wire a computer fan to an old cell phone charger-super easy. If you are going to keep breeding find an old/broken fridge to turn into an incubator.

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Same here!

You don't even need to do this, buy one of these, it's plug and play: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B1A...dir_mdp_mobile just buy a CPU fan and that, plug the adaptor into the wall socket and the fan into it's port, you're golden. I bought mine locally at Fry's Electronics.