So i found a old hovabator....

I was cleaning and when i opened a box i found this incubator, i cleaned it a little bit, plug it in and i put a thermometer inside. The temp was fine until the temps outside the incubator started getting hotter (i live in Puerto Rico and many times the temps are 90° up) My grandfather hatched some chickens with this but never used it again. I want to know if is safe to use it. Like if its hold humidity good and if someone use this incubator for ball pythons eggs. If it dont work to incubate ball pythons eggs i dont care.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/25/sadezube.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/25/qanu7u4u.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/25/u8a5uty6.jpg
Obviously i need to clean it better and change those screws but if it dont works for ball pythons eggs i wont do it lol

It should be fine as long as everything works and it doesn't rotate the eggs...some incubators that are designed to be used for chicken or bird eggs will rotate the eggs as they incubate.

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Originally Posted by sho220

It should be fine as long as everything works and it doesn't rotate the eggs...some incubators that are designed to be used for chicken or bird eggs will rotate the eggs as they incubate.

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No it dont have that thing that rotates the eggs

Its OK to use. But do not use the built in thermostat. It is highly inaccurate. You would have to use something like a Herpstat or other reliable thermostat to safely incubate eggs in a hovabator.

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Also don't put the eggs into the hovabator, put them in an egg box (plastic container with damp substrate) and put THAT into the hovabator. (I know this sounds like a no brainer, but I've known several people who have put the eggs directly into the hovabator and then wonder why their eggs dry out in a week)

Mark, you can put the eggs directly in the hovabator, as long as you also add the substrate as well. I have hatched everything from burms to balls to GTP in them. I used to use bigger, modified, shipping boxes for the base of a hovabator. I could fit 60 burmese eggs in one hovabator.

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Originally Posted by Brandon Osborne

Mark, you can put the eggs directly in the hovabator, as long as you also add the substrate as well. I have hatched everything from burms to balls to GTP in them. I used to use bigger, modified, shipping boxes for the base of a hovabator. I could fit 60 burmese eggs in one hovabator.

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I used one once the same way with a clutch of burm eggs and ended up cooking them. Granted that's only one time so not a good representatioin, but I've also seen other people use them that way and lose their eggs. Hovabators don't seal very well and they can dry out quickly, especially in a dry environment. And the thermostats are really not that great. Personally I'd rather not chance it.

Some people do well with them, others don't. I worked shortly for a very large snake breeder back in the mid 90s. He had about a 50% hatch rate with his $2500 custom built incubator. I talked him into trying modified hovabators the next season. I don't remember the exact number of eggs in each clutch but here is a breakdown of the clutches we did get that season with a better than 90%+ hatch......several hundred babies.
3 clutches of Macklots
3 clutches of Borneo Bloods
3 clutches of Sri Lanka (pimbura)
2 clutches of Indiana (pure molurus)
15 clutches of Burms
1 clutch of GTP
5 clutches of Spotted
5 clutches of Childrens

I myself used them for years but I set it up as self sustaining as possible. About 3-4" of vermiculite directly in the bottom and eggs right in the box. Never had to add water and only used a backup thermostat for GTP. The key to the wafer thermostat is room stability. I don't use them now for the reason of not having room and having too many clutches to make sense, but for someone that has a few clutches a year, they can work just fine. I have not had one single problem with any I've used. I wouldn't recommend a throw and go set up. They do take a couple of days to tweak.