incubator will be built :)

Here are the key ingredients; thanks to Reptile Basics, they are now here safe and sound. I have either a plastic cooler, a styro one, or an apartment fridge that Mark might get by tomorrow.. yay!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...es/flexxee.jpg

Awesome :rockon:


Can't wait to see pictures of how it turns out. If you have any questions while building it just shoot me a PM more than happy to help. :)

Thanks :)
The problem thus far is, the place I wanted to put it in at home, is not going to work b/c the outlet in the wall is only two-pronged :( I am going to have to rearrange a bit.. I don't think that one of those adapters would be safe to convert it to two-prong?
What is the best placement of the FX in the cooler; around the walls or on the floor of it?
I bleached out the two egg boxes and plan on going substrateless.

Here is what i came up with so far.. I bought the 3' of FW assuming we were getting a fridge, but if I could use the cooler.. is this an OK setup, or is the heat too lopsided being on only one side in a small area like this? it has a lid of course.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...cres/styyy.jpg

No don't do what you have in the picture.


Here is how I recommend you set it up.

Lay the flex in first (along the bottom and up the sides
Then put full water bottles in on top of the flex (just basic drinking water bottles) - these bottles will buffer the heat so the flex doesn't have to run as hot and risk hot spots.
Lay something on top of the bottles to act as a shelf (you can the light grate from Home Depot (like you are using in the substrate less egg boxes)
Then you set the egg boxes on the grate and there you go a simple setup.

Set it up and see how well it holds temps...also move the temp probe around to several locations to make sure you don't have hot spots...if so you will need to add a fan.

Let me know if you have questions.

Sounds cool; I actually wanted to put the FW underneath but wasn't sure I could.. I am going to monkey with it and i will post an updated pic. :)

Here are pictures of mine...it isn't currently turned on so no eggs but it is close to what you are going to be doing.


http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/IMG_0695.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/IMG_0697.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/IMG_0696.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/IMG_0698.jpg

I take it the more water to act as a buffer the more stable the temperatures or is there a cut off point beyond witch there is little effect?



dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

I take it the more water to act as a buffer the more stable the temperatures or is there a cut off point beyond witch there is little effect?



dr del

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The more volume that you can take up in the box the more stable the temps. I have a lot of bottles in the pictures because the first time I used it (this year) I only had 1 clutch...I should have 3 more this time so I will end up removing some the bottles.

This setup never moved from 88.7 degrees the entire incubation period.

here goes..

without tubs:
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...rigbottled.jpg
With.. tubs do not have water or perlite (to prevent sloshing) in them yet. They are air/water tight. Think I should just use 2-liter bottles? Seems like too much dead air..
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...es/rigged1.jpg
Tub.. I am getting a third brick to break into pieces to put alongside the one in there, to add more support as the plastic grid is a tad flexy. The water will not touch the grid. Your thoughts?
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s.../riggedtub.jpg