Building an incubator

I have a few questions...

1.)we are thinking that we would like to put a clear door on it so we can look inside and not loose heat by opening it. What would be the best material to use that will insulate well? I'm guessing glass isn't good (lol Been there!!!)... how about plexiglass?

2.) the box is going to be 48"h x 30"w x 18"d. does anyone have any idea how much flexwatt it would take to heat this thing? I know im going to have to play around with it, but im just cruious as to an average.

3.) for when i DO have to open the door, is there anything i can do to increase heat recovery time? ive read that filled water bottles can help, is there anything else?

Okay, I think thats it for now. Thanks for all the help everyone :)

you can try plexi or acrylic. instead of one piece use two pieces and make a sandwich out of them with a 1/4",3/8" airspace in between to act as an insulator. kind of make a window in the door with that.if the box is sealed tight one 4ft strip of 11" flexwatt should be plenty to heat that size. i would run the flex on a helix. and use a fan at the top to move air. the 4" 120volt fans at radio shack work good. i don't know what would be better than water jugs as a heat sink or thermal mass.



vaughn

If it's a temporary/quick fix, why not just use one of those large igloo coolers?


I did one last year for a clutch of JCP's using a medium sized igloo cooler and a no-substrate method. Used 12" flexwatt attached to a Helix, lined the bottom with water bottles, a layer of egg crate on top of the water bottles, sterilite tub on top of the egg crate, 2 layers of egg crate in the sterilite tub, filled the tub with 1/2" of water, set the eggs on the egg crate just over the water, set the Helix at 89F and waited 55 days.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/IMG_0354.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/IMG_0449.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/IMG_0474.jpg

Well, that's actually exactly what i was going to do :)

but then i told my dad about it and he's like "OOOO I wanna build it I wanna build it!!" LOL.
which is fine because i'm *hoping* for more than 1 clutch this year, and many more than 1 clutch in the years to come. He's building it for 8 clutches, which ill be able to use for a long time.

Love my daddy:love:

BTW, that picture is amazing! So freakin cute!!

That's cool, what about converting an old fridge into an incubator?



That's what I plan on doing once I start breeding BP's in the next 2yrs. I'm keeping my eyes open for one of those glass front fridge from a closing restaurant or business. Last year I saw a nice one from a closing bakery, two doors similar to this one, could've held 12-15 BP clutches for $100. Since I mainly bred boas I didn't think much about it!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/Shop1290.jpg

if you want to do the no sub method, this is probably the best design i have seen.

http://www.kingsnake.com/salceies/Incubator.htm


he also tested this with NIST calibrated thermometers, very precise temp testing. :2cent:


vaughn

That looks like a great set up..

I didn't have an incubator at first, so I read somewhere online that you could put a fishtank heater (submersible) in a fishtank with a few inches of water, then put a smaller tank inside the larger one, then cover with plastic wrap. i hatched my first clutch this way. ( I have an incubator now, though)

I used the cooler method. Instead of filling bottles with water, I used small rocks (aquarium gravel). The rocks hold heat well and I dont have to worry about bottles leaking. :)