Egg Hatching Boxes

Alright...

I know everyone has their own way of doing things, but I wanted to know what size tubs, what type of styrofoam boxes, what size of etc.. you use to incubate your eggs in.

I've used a couple of different kinds, and need to decide which ones to use this year...

:oops:

6qt or 15qt sterilite tubs with vent holes and vermi.

Cheers,
Kat

We got a GQF MFG 1250R incubator. Mike from Ballroom Pythons South is helping us set it up how he sets his up. He was the one that recommended it to us. It can hold up to 9 clutches. He has been great so far in support during this project. Only thing I don't like that I may change out is it uses a primary and secondary wafer type thermostat, then Mike backs these both up with a Ranco. I'm thinking of just replacing both wafer type thermostats with 2 Ranco electronic type with one being primary and the other being secondary. I'm supposed to call him this afternoon to get info on how he sets up his trays. From the way the set up is going so far I am guessing he does not use lids on his Iris shoe boxes as the incubator has a box to hold water that the warm air flows over and keep the humidity up. Other than the wafer thermostats I am pretty happy with the overall construction of the incubator. I should have probably bought the 1550R as it comes with electronic thermostats, but Mike uses the wafers and seems to have good results. :bow: to Ballroom Pythons South as he has been one of the best E-mail/Phone friends we've had since getting into this. I guess when you buy two snakes for $2500.00 dollars the breeder wants to keep your business in hopes of repeated purchases! (Which he will probably get next year as we expand our genetic pool again. :D )

Sterilite shoeboxes with 50/50 - vermiculite/pertile...Using the same old incubator I've been using for the last few year - Converted chest freeze heated with 11 inch flexwatt...Works like a champ...Gotta love simplicity...
BT

I do a 50/50 split between maternal and artificial incubation - for the ones I pull - I use a 5 qt. rubbermaid tub - I fill it about half full with damp course vermiculite - add a layer of dry vermiculite - add eggs - insert thermometer/hygrometer - strategically place probe - put on lid - stick in hobavator - helix (89*) - wait 60ish days (occasionally do air exchange and candle) - remove snakes.

http://jetpythons.com/IMG_5719.JPG

12 qt. tubs. vermic/perilite mixture. incubated in an old freezer. With no helix or flexwatt. I just use a little $14. space heater with a built in thermostat.

6 qt sterilite's with Hatch Rite incubated at 89.7F with a Herpstat Pro and they usually hatch at about 56 days; no cutting.

My eggs are in a 15 qt sterilite tub with press and seal over the top, then the lid is also on.

Later this season when I (hopefully) have more than one clutch in the incubator, I'll be using some custom egg boxes I built out of panes of glass and aquarium silicone. I wanted to have decent sized boxes but also be able to fit as many in the incubator as I can, which would be six 12" x 12" x 10" boxes. I was initially going to use plexiglass but the guy supplying the glass had other ideas. From what I understand, the smaller the egg box, the less medium you can use, which makes it harder to keep the humidity up.

Rubbermaid Shoe boxes with Hatchrite...No more perlite or vermic any more....and no holes in the boxes...