Wine Cooler vs. regular cooler for homemade incubator

Hey guys,
so I should hopefully be having my first clutch next breeding season and plan on making my own incubator

Anyone have reasoning behing why a re-done wine cooler may be better or worse then a regular chest top opening cooler?

the wine cooler I found is smaller, holds 8 bottles, and is $50 on craigslist. worth it? or just use our Coleman cooler?

I should mention I only plan on having a maximum of 3 clutches and that won't be for a few years! only 1 clutch next year.

thanks for any input!

thermal insulation keeps your electricity bills low, keeps the temperature more constant, and retains the temperature much longer if there is a power outage.

thermal insulation is really important for a chest-type freezer, not so much for a wine cooler. but then, cold air sinks down while hot air rises up, so the chest-type design does not make that much sense and you might as well have something that opens on the front.

and going a bit bigger will allow you to add water bottles, fresh water has really high thermal capacity, so some water bottles and a small internal fan help to keep the temperature even more stable.

The only benefit to a wine cooler is that it has a see through front opening door. So you wouldn't have to open it and release the warm air as often.


Otherwise, it works exactly the same as a top opening cooler.

For just one clutch next year and more in the future, I would just use your Coleman cooler. You could always upgrade later.


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thanks guys, good points

this is what I am planning on doing, excepting using my Coleman cooler, so no window, no lights.
using the heat tape down the sides, across the bottom, water bottles, then egg tub on top of that. and of course plugged into my thermostat.

just didn't know if wine cooler incubators had better success rates or anyting like that.

I found I able to look at the eggs wit h something with a glass door most the time with out opening the door. to see if they too dry or humid. But I got an old cola machine for 100 bucks and redone it . I can hold possible 8-10 clutches depending on their size. the cooler works to as you don't have to it taking up space all year around. I reuse my cola machine to store extra tubs and other reptile items during he off season when not being used

I would use your cooler but I wouldn't use heat tape. Figure out a way to get your crates off the bottom, raised up at least 8-10 inches (I don't know what size of cooler you're using but...), fill the bottom with water, and use aquarium heaters to get the temps right in the cooler, done

Its fine to use heat tape if you want to.
Put your flexwatt on the side of the cooler. Then line the bottom of the cooler with water bottles to conduct and retain heat. Then place a light diffuser on top of the water bottles. The light diffuser acts like a solid floor for your egg tub. If your cooler is large, you can put a small computer fan to circulate the air and keep the heat even to prevent hot pockets.

There's a good tutorial in the DIY subforum.

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You should be able to find a larger fridge for less, or maybe even free. I got a small full sized fridge for $10 on CL. Just keep an eye out. If you can't find one soon enough you can use a coleman cooler until you find something that works.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...oler-incubator

this is what I am going to do minus window and light. thanks for all the input

I used a Coleman cooler last season and hatched out two clutches just fine. You'll see that I added a computer fan and my heat tape is on the bottom below the water bottles. It held temps great! This one holds 8 clutches and since I'm expecting 3 clutches this season, 2 in spring one in late summer, I'm making a smaller incubator (will eventually be my backup incubator) that will hold 2 clutches at a time out of a styrofoam cooler. In two years when I'm expecting significantly more clutches, I'll be converting a wine cooler or fridge.

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/4448/8ihb.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7867/6c23.jpg