DIY Incubator Ideas...

Store bought or do it yourself either way you have good and bad. My first one was a hovabator which got the job done but liked to give me heart failure do to the constant temp fluctuations. I built my own out of a full size fridge. I use the freezer section to hatch out geckos and the bottom for bp's. This will be the third season and it has worked flawlessly. I got it up and running well in advance so I could have time to work out any bugs. Plenty of DIY on YouTube also.

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Originally Posted by mikeandsheleen

In all honesty, if it will be a couple of years before you need it, why not save up enough to buy an actual incubator instead of jerry-rigging a cooler? Yes I know people have some luck with homemade incubators, but I also know people have problems like temperature stabilization that causes things like missing eyes, kinks, stubby tails, etc. I never could understand why people spend so much on nice racks, new morphs, and then put the eggs in something that Bubba built.

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If you paid attention to what I said, I was asking which was better: store bought or DIY. I also said if store bought was better, then what's a good model to buy? Because I won't be needing it until next winter at the earliest, I'm fine with either. I just wanted yalls opinion.

As for all the ones on the DIY forum, I KNOW they are there and i've browsed the threads. I just wanted a collective opinion on them and what most people liked the best (LIKED not necessarily was easiest to build). My grandfather was an electrical engineer back in the day, so he loves to build things. He could build me any incubator I wanted, so I just wanted to know what peopled liked.

That said, if most just liked a certain store bought incubator that holds 3 clutches, then I wanted the model. If people felt DIY was better, what kinds work better and are generally liked by most.

Repti-bators do suck. They don't hold humidity, and the thermostat sensor is in the top, so the temperature where the eggs are can be 2 or 3 degrees off from the thermostat reading.

Hovabators, however, are all that I use, now. I think the folks who have complained about them were probably trying to use the wafer thermostat that they come with, instead of hooking them up to a proper proportional thermostat.

Hovabators hold humidity very well, and hold temperatures extremely well, even when room temperatures fluctuate a lot. In terms of construction, they're made of styrofoam, but the heating element is pretty much bullet-proof. Mine are over 4 years old now, and still work just fine.

The only drawback to a Hovabator is that you cannot use separate egg boxes in them. However, you CAN fit up to 5 ball python clutches in one, if you place them directly into the base with vermiculite. I've fit in 6 clutches using substrateless, but you have to seal the unit up extremely well with tape if you go that route.

Having 'all of my eggs in one basket' makes me nervous. I would rather have several smaller incubators than one large one that would result in disaster for the entire season if it failed.

A more sophisticated, more expensive incubator is not necessarily a better incubator. In terms of specialty reptile incubators, I would suggest that if it doesn't have a proportional thermostat, don't even look at it.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

The only drawback to a Hovabator is that you cannot use separate egg boxes in them. However, you CAN fit up to 5 ball python clutches in one, if you place them directly into the base with vermiculite. I've fit in 6 clutches using substrateless, but you have to seal the unit up extremely well with tape if you go that route.

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Are you saying that you fill the bottom of the hova-bater with vermiculite and sit the eggs down in them without using egg boxes at all? Just want to be clear.

I've heard mixed reviews about hova-bators. Some good, some not. I'm not sure what they were using as a thermostat. I personally, have placed an order for a herpstat for my rack and quarantine room and I'll probably buy another specifically for my incubators.

I'm also not opposed to having several incubators. Ideally, I'd love one per clutch, but I know that's not always realistic. So if I can get two in one incubator that would be awesome. I know with corn clutches, you can get 20-30 eggs easy so each hova-bator can hold one or two clutches max. Not to mention, because of temp differences, I'd need two anyway.

Last year I bought 1 gravid female that laid 9 eggs, 6 slugs and 3 good eggs. I bought a micro fridge off of Craigs List and used 3 inch 10 watt heat tape controled by a VE-300 thermostat (from Reptile Basics) to incubate them. I filled empty soda cans with sand and sealed them with silicone sealant to great a thermal battery (instead of water, easier clean up if any leaked). This was really stable and had room for 2 clutches. This year, I built my own incubator from scratch. I designed it myself and spent close to $1,000 on it. It can hold over 25 clutches. I have successfully hatched 7 clutches so far and have 1 still in it. I have only lost 2 eggs, 1 egg was actually filled with only white and no yolk (no embryo in it) and the other died because of a twisted umbilical chord (I do not cut the eggs until the first hatchling in the clutch pips on its own). This incubator is constructed with multiple layers and also has many soda cans full of sand and sealed. It will hold it's temperature for over 1 day without power if I do not open the door. I can give more details (with dimensions and such) if anyone wants, however, I was in such a rush to build it, that I did not take good pictures during the build, so I have not writen it up in the DYI section. Here are some pictures:

This shows the incubator's inside. The top 4 shelves can hold (3) 12 quart tubs each, and the bottom 5 shelves can hold (4) 6 quart tubs each. You can see the soda cans full of sand at the bottom and on some unused shelves. I had 6 clutches in it at the time.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ncubator_2.jpg

This is a detail picture of the door edge. It shows the layers, 1/8 inch melamine, 1 inch foam, 1/4 inch plywood, 1 inch wood frame with 1 inch foam between frame supports, and 1/4 inch plywood.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ncubator_3.jpg

The door seal. 3 strips of "D" weather stipping on the two faces, on the face that meets the 1 inch foam in the above picture and on the face that meets the 1/4 inch plywood in the picture above.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ncubator_4.jpg

Shows the depth of the incubator, a little less than 2 feet and the 3 draw claps. I used 2 door hinges on the other side.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ncubator_5.jpg

Exterior, shows the height around 6 feet, width around 3 feet and the VE-300 proportional thermostat that controls and the VE-100 on/off thermostat that is the back-up.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ncubator_6.jpg

As for incubators that you can purchase, I know a number of people, who are using Georgia Quail Farm incubators. They will adjust some of the features on the their bird incubators and make it specific to your application. The breeders I know using these are very pleased. Here is the Georgia Quail Farms website: http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus...idCategory=35#

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Originally Posted by snakehobbyist

Are you saying that you fill the bottom of the hova-bater with vermiculite and sit the eggs down in them without using egg boxes at all? Just want to be clear.

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Exactly. It comes with a plastic reservoir--I put that in just to prevent water leakage, and then fill the base with the moistened vermiculite. I can put one clutch in each corner, and one in the middle. (If they're huge clutches, maybe only 4 will fit; most of my clutches are 7 to 8 eggs).

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I've heard mixed reviews about hova-bators. Some good, some not. I'm not sure what they were using as a thermostat. I personally, have placed an order for a herpstat for my rack and quarantine room and I'll probably buy another specifically for my incubators.

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I use Herpstats on mine. Just remove the wafer thermostat completely, and tape over the hole from it. They even stack that way.

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I'm also not opposed to having several incubators. Ideally, I'd love one per clutch, but I know that's not always realistic. So if I can get two in one incubator that would be awesome. I know with corn clutches, you can get 20-30 eggs easy so each hova-bator can hold one or two clutches max. Not to mention, because of temp differences, I'd need two anyway.

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Well, with corn eggs being so small, I'm not so sure about that, but you'll be surprised how much these things hold.

If an incubator was made out of an old refrigerator would it keep the temp where it needed to be even if the room got hotter than the temp in the incubator?

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Originally Posted by angeluscorpion

If an incubator was made out of an old refrigerator would it keep the temp where it needed to be even if the room got hotter than the temp in the incubator?

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The short answer is "No".

The explanation is as follows: Remember that a refridgerator is an insulated box that is supposed to keep a stable temperature based on the the thermostat and device controlling it. So if you are heating to 89 degrees and it is cooler outside of the cabinet, the thermostat will put electricity to the heating element to keep the temperature where you want it. Conversely, if the temperature rises above that, the thermostat simply shuts the flow of the electricity to the heating element off, so that it is not continuing to heat. All the box does is insulate so that the temperature effects from external conditions are minimized. If the temps were to climb above 89 and stay there for a day or more, it is very likely the interior cabinet temperatures would rise above 89 as well as it will acclimate, and since there is no device to cool it it can't force the temps down. Keep your incubator in a place that will stay below the desired incubating temp and then it can always turn on to make up the difference. I hope that makes sense.

That's what I thought, just wanted to make sure.