incubating substrate

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

I used vermic this year and got a 100% hatch rate...



That, and I feel like eggs were meant to sit in something - all the success of people using the no substrate method obviously contradicts that - but it makes me "feel better" knowing that they are sitting in something.

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I agree, i also had 100% hatch rate (with vermic)and feel like if they are not in something they could roll around or be easily disturbed. Others have had success without substrate but I have done it this way for years and if it aint broke don't fix it. At least for me.

I like this thread also. Someone mentioned awhile back on a possible shortage of vermiculite? I am not sure, but I have a large bag waiting for this season at least.. maybe stores were just out of it because a lot of us breeders grabbed it off of the shelves? The only other people I know of that use it are indoor gardeners :)

Has anyone used Hatchrite? I've read some pretty good things on it and seen some people who have used it and love it. I was thinking of trying it.

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

That, and I feel like eggs were meant to sit in something - all the success of people using the no substrate method obviously contradicts that - but it makes me "feel better" knowing that they are sitting in something.

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Actually in the wild they do not sit in anything. They are just on top of the dirt. But both ways seem to work fine.

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Originally Posted by pfan151

Actually in the wild they do not sit in anything. They are just on top of the dirt. But both ways seem to work fine.

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I read it to mean that the egg mass is supported by the mothers coils in the wild ... but maybe I misunderstood.

I agree with you 100% though, as long as they hatch for you, who cares? :D

Everyone should do what works best for them and certainly not be afraid to experiment with a new methodology if it interests you ... no one on the internet can tell you what's best for your animals ... in my opinion a responsible keeper is someone that considers ALL of the information available to them and makes choices based on what they believe will work best for them and their animals. :sweeet:

-adam

Does anyone have pics and instructions on how to set up a no-substrate incubation bin? My concern with it is that the eggs could roll into contact with the sides of the bin, which would have condensation droplets. I'd love to see how people are creating these setups, since everyone using them seems to be reporting good hatch rates.

At Home Depot they have this white fluorescent light diffuser. It's a white grid of squares that are about 3/4" or so. You just cut this stuff to fit inside the tub and it is kept afloat by the perlite(the perlite floats on top of the water in the tub).

I have pictures somewhere and will post them later on today. It's just an easy set up and I would have used vermiculite if I had had a better source for it. You can't really mess up the no-sub method though.

Adam read me right...I could have worded it better, but that's basically what I was trying to say. But like I said, it just makes me "feel" better...there's so many people out there hatching perfectly healthy eggs using the no-substrate method that it apparently doesn't matter at all.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Does anyone have pics and instructions on how to set up a no-substrate incubation bin? My concern with it is that the eggs could roll into contact with the sides of the bin, which would have condensation droplets. I'd love to see how people are creating these setups, since everyone using them seems to be reporting good hatch rates.

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Here is my setup. It uses 6QT tubs.

Full tub - almost zero condensation (till the very end)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...os/Inc-tub.jpg

Top Off - the light grate sits above peralite and water. The peralite keeps the water from sloshing around when you move the tubs.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...side-tub-2.jpg

I used 1" PCV pices to hold the grate off the water/peralite.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...inside-tub.jpg

BTW...I moved these weekly to check on them and let some air in and at no time did the eggs ever move at all.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Does anyone have pics and instructions on how to set up a no-substrate incubation bin? My concern with it is that the eggs could roll into contact with the sides of the bin, which would have condensation droplets. I'd love to see how people are creating these setups, since everyone using them seems to be reporting good hatch rates.

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I don't have any pics, but mine is basically the same as the other posters but I do not use the pvc and use a little more perilite. I just set the egg crate right on top of the perilite. 99.9% of the time my eggs are stuck together so rolling eggs are not really a problem but even the single eggs seem to get a little flat on the bottom so they don't roll either.