Confusion on incubators.

My ball pythons have bred and I am confused on incubators. I have read the reviews and looked at prices. I don't want to pay a ton of money on a huge incubator since I won't have more than 1 clutch (if any). I want to be prepared if my female does lay a clutch though. I am looking at the Hova bator 1602N and the reptibator. I like that the reptibator is digital, but the reviews aren't very good for it. The reviews for the hova bator are better but I don't like the thermostat it has. I need help. I also like the price of the hova bator better than the reptibator. It's just all very confusing right now. I would like to have the incubator set up by New Year's day and completely adjusted to the right settings if I do get eggs so I can just do a plug and play on it. I also plan to put a digital thermometer and hygrometer in it to make sure everything goes great. I need help.

Find a broken mini fridge online and convert it to an incubator. There are multiple threads on DYI. Then, your Herpstat is the most expensive piece. Do not skimp on the thermostat quality!

I'm not good with builds. I get frustrated and throw them off a bridge or run them over. Plus even a mini fridge is too big right now. I don't need something that large for 1 clutch. I just have the 2 BPs. I would prefer something that is easy to use.

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Originally Posted by Phantomtip

I'm not good with builds. I get frustrated and throw them off a bridge or run them over. Plus even a mini fridge is too big right now. I don't need something that large for 1 clutch. I just have the 2 BPs. I would prefer something that is easy to use.

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You aren't "building" anything per se. You're taping flexwatt (that you can buy prewired) to the back of a fridge (or Igloo cooler, whatever), filling some soda bottles with water, and plugging the flexwatt into a thermostat. Or, spend a few hundred dollars to have someone else attach a heating element to an insulated box and have an unreliable thermostat that you should replace with a Herpstat anyway. :gj:

I was wondering what people thought of the 2 incubators I posted about. I plan to get a thermostat for what ever incubator I get. I also as I stated don't have the patience to put things like a build your own together. I would get really irritated and toss the whole darn thing. Plus I have a 2 yr old that loves to get into everything and would like something small that I can place out of his reach. If I were to breed multiple clutches then I would definitely consider a build your own with an old mini fridge. But with just 1 possible clutch (that wasn't intentionally bred) then I would like to just get a small nicely built one I can add to. Like adding a good thermostat, and thermometer hygrometer.

Get the hovabator, it has hatched tons of reptiles. Set the hovabator at a good 91 degrees, and also buy a Herpstat. When you have the hovabator "dialed in", plug it into the herpstat, put the herstat probe about 1" above the screen, and set it at 88.5. good luck.

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Originally Posted by Phantomtip

I was wondering what people thought of the 2 incubators I posted about. I plan to get a thermostat for what ever incubator I get. I also as I stated don't have the patience to put things like a build your own together. I would get really irritated and toss the whole darn thing. Plus I have a 2 yr old that loves to get into everything and would like something small that I can place out of his reach. If I were to breed multiple clutches then I would definitely consider a build your own with an old mini fridge. But with just 1 possible clutch (that wasn't intentionally bred) then I would like to just get a small nicely built one I can add to. Like adding a good thermostat, and thermometer hygrometer.

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Making your own incubator is incredibly easy:

1. buy a styrofoam cooler, a foot or so of heat tape from reptile basics (they will wire it for you), some aluminum foil tape, and a thermostat (preferably something like the herpstat intro +)
2. Using the foil tape, tape the heat tape into the cooler
3. Pass the heat tape cord out of the cooler and plug it into the thermostat
4. Place the thermostat's probe inside the cooler and set the thermostat to the desired incubation temperature.
5. Add eggs

If I had to chose between the 2 you listed I would go with the hovabator, but personally I wouldn't trust either of them.

I know you want a small incubator because you only have one clutch, but keep in mind that in a smaller incubator the temperatures can fluctuate much faster then in a larger one because of the smaller airspace. It's sort of like aquariums- a big aquarium is much easier to maintain than a smaller one because a smaller water volume can get way out of whack before you realize there is a problem.

Personally I wouldn't incubate even a single clutch in anything smaller than a mini fridge because it is my belief that temperatures fluctuations are a big factor in causing kinking and other deformities. If you absolutely must use a smaller incubator, be prepared to spend at least $100 for a proportional thermostat. If you try to use an on/off thermostat, you are setting yourself up for issues because the small incubators will change temperatures faster than the on/off thermostat will correct them.

I've never used a reptibater so I don 't know anything about them, I've used the hovabator successfully many times, follow Casey's advice and you should do fine. Stay away from the Exo Terra thermoelectric incubator, it's a total piece of garbage

I have used a hovabator many times, but only for lizard eggs. It worked very well for bearded dragon eggs, which have similar requirements to bp's. And the hovabator isn't all that much. They only downside is the thermostat is not the best, but will get you by in a pinch.

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