Incubation Temps

Ya, it never fails for me, I'll always get a temp spike once or twice while the eggs are cooking. Nothin bad ever happens though...

88 to 90. If the temps are holding stable enough, it should be 89.

it seems that the majority of you incubate at 88 ish
what effect does a lower incubation temp have on the eggs?.
i have never had bp eggs but i have all my colubrids, geckos and dragons at 85 degrees. just want to know for when the time comes. Kirk

If they're below about 86, people have had eggs mature and then fail to emerge. Most Ball Pythons need to be incubated higher than that. They also tend to take a lot longer at lower temps.
At 88 to 89, mine take 55 to 65 days to hatch (suggesting that development rate may be partially genetic, not just temp-based).

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Originally Posted by mooingtricycle

Where have you placed the probe?

I placed my probe IN the eggbox, buried in the perlite ( ill be using perlite again this year) During my testing for this years setup.

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NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO AND NO !!!!!!!

YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT !!!!!

I have never incubated yet but I know this is WRONG !

Physic 101 : Heat move and temperature fluctuate. and mass retain energy (heat in that case).

By placing the probe IN the eggbox, you ask the thermostat to adjust the temperature inside the eggbox.

While, if you place the probe OUTSIDE the eggbox, the thermostat will adjust the temperature of the AIR SURROUNDING the eggbox to 89, making the eggbox to 89.

You will have LESS FLUCTUATION in temperature INSIDE the eggbox by placing the probe OUTSIDE the containers.


It's like placing a glass of water in a pot of water on the stove. Measure the temperature inside the glass and in the pot and play with the stove. If you put the temperature to "HIGH" you will see that the glass of water will take more time to get to the same temperature than the one in the pot, but then, if you close the heat, it will remain warmer than the outside, then you put back the temp on, and the outside will get warmer and the glass of water won't drop as much.

Same apply to an incubator.

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Originally Posted by Python Dreams

I even heard (through the grapevine) of a breeder claiming that hes noticed if you incubate at 89 = 60 days, incubate at 90 = 55 days, and incubate at 91 = 50 days...
I dont stress out as much if I see the incubator go up a few degrees... I have a closet incubator now and I set the HELIX at 93 degrees. I have 5 probes inside the incubator and I generally have temps right about at 90 to 90.5.... My clutches have been hatching at day 52 with higher numbers of females.:P

I would rather a little warmer than colder... Just my opinion...

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That follows what I did last year.
90.5 to 91 degrees inside the tub.
6 eggs gave me 5 female yellow bellies and one male normal.

53 days incubating time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Watever

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO AND NO !!!!!!!

YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT !!!!!

I have never incubated yet but I know this is WRONG !

Physic 101 : Heat move and temperature fluctuate. and mass retain energy (heat in that case).

By placing the probe IN the eggbox, you ask the thermostat to adjust the temperature inside the eggbox.

While, if you place the probe OUTSIDE the eggbox, the thermostat will adjust the temperature of the AIR SURROUNDING the eggbox to 89, making the eggbox to 89.

You will have LESS FLUCTUATION in temperature INSIDE the eggbox by placing the probe OUTSIDE the containers.


It's like placing a glass of water in a pot of water on the stove. Measure the temperature inside the glass and in the pot and play with the stove. If you put the temperature to "HIGH" you will see that the glass of water will take more time to get to the same temperature than the one in the pot, but then, if you close the heat, it will remain warmer than the outside, then you put back the temp on, and the outside will get warmer and the glass of water won't drop as much.

Same apply to an incubator.

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Had no issues with it this year. Lots of people follow this method. I also used Water bottles in the incubator, to hold a stable temperature. The Thermostat barely fluctuated, and was only on REALLY after i would open the bator. Id have to say, with my experience this year incubating three clutches, and the one last year, with the probe outside the box, and no water bottles, this was the much more stable thus far for my incubation stuff.

I also had a SECONDARY probe in the eggboxes, that measured the temperatures, and they remained SPOT ON.

Every single egg hatched. and all the babies came out healthy!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mooingtricycle

Had no issues with it this year. Lots of people follow this method. I also used Water bottles in the incubator, to hold a stable temperature. The Thermostat barely fluctuated, and was only on REALLY after i would open the bator. Id have to say, with my experience this year incubating three clutches, and the one last year, with the probe outside the box, and no water bottles, this was the much more stable thus far for my incubation stuff.

I also had a SECONDARY probe in the eggboxes, that measured the temperatures, and they remained SPOT ON.

Every single egg hatched. and all the babies came out healthy!

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the water bottles no doubt made your temps stable.
i dont put my probe in the egg box.

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Originally Posted by nixer

the water bottles no doubt made your temps stable.
i dont put my probe in the egg box.

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Me either, my probe gets taped over the flexwatt so it can't be moved.

Sorry to backup an old thread. but I was doing a search on temperature fluctuation in the incubators and found back this thread.

and I doesn't want people to have bad sense of what's going on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mooingtricycle

thats why. Smaller container, less substrate, means its going to be warmer overall.

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Doesn't make sense at all.

Not because something is smaller that it will be warmer.

It's temperature will change faster (for same material) but it won't get warmer.
If you keep giving the same heat, it will get to the same temperature eventually.

Problem you have is either : probe placement make fluctuation in your incubator
Thermometer is not accurate (I had that problem with cheap thermometer, it would say 88.7, then jump to 91.2 in a matter of second, a good laser thermometer and another digital one proved that one to be incorect).

Try to give it some air and make the air move. Also get a good proportional tstat.


What you need to understand : heat element give you energy (not heat or temperature), the egg tubs receive it and stock it when temperature around is higher, and give it back when air temperature around is colder. Everything try to be in balance.

I got the tstat about 90 the tempsI get inside the incubator are about 88.3- 89.6 butI don't have a fan that runs in there. this year but I also setthe incubator up to be humid too (incubator humidity about 86 %) then I got what inside the tubs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Python Dreams

I used to hyper-focus on making sure every shelf in the Natures Spirit was as close to 89.5 as I could... Last year I said screw it, I will just set the HELIX at 90 and go from there... The containers were actually a few degrees colder and I had twin babies die in the egg (Pastel Crystal and probably 5 gram Pastel Mojave) along with a couple kinked babies early in the year... I then paid more attention to the temperatures having to set the HELIX up a couple degrees... I dont believe I had any more problems.
I have always heard about how tough Ball Python eggs are... I have known of someone throwing a clutch in his backpack, hopping on his motorcycle, and then riding ten or fifteen minutes to an incubator. I have heard that they have dropped probes in the egg pits in Africa and have found temps up to 100 degrees without problems.... I even heard (through the grapevine) of a breeder claiming that hes noticed if you incubate at 89 = 60 days, incubate at 90 = 55 days, and incubate at 91 = 50 days...
I dont stress out as much if I see the incubator go up a few degrees... I have a closet incubator now and I set the HELIX at 93 degrees. I have 5 probes inside the incubator and I generally have temps right about at 90 to 90.5.... My clutches have been hatching at day 52 with higher numbers of females.:P

I would rather a little warmer than colder... Just my opinion...

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Hey Tom. I know this is an old thread but I was wondering what you ended up wtih last year in terms of sex ratio? Did the slightly higher temps continue to yield a higher percentage of females? Are they thriving?

Thanks!

Since I wasn't the first to bring it back to the top :P How did your incubation temps match what you did last year? Did you change anything? Did you get more girls or boys, more morphs or more normals? :)

I am cooking my eggs at 88.5-89 and have had only one clutch with 6 eggs one died, hopefully no more will die. We are on day 53. Can't hardly wait to see those little faces :D

I keep mine at 88.7 to 89.1
I have had good luck with this here due to the North West has crappy weather and stays pretty cold..
Not that that affects this but ya know.. It just works for me.. I will leave it at that.. :rolleye2:

89 and I get swings between 88 and 91 from time to time.. :D

I incubate at 89F degrees

88 for me.

My herpstat is set at 89 and the temp stays between 88.1 - 88.7.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

89 and I get swings between 88 and 91 from time to time.. :D

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No problems?

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Originally Posted by Failshed

No problems?

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Hatched out all my clutches just fine last year..Got clutches in the bator now thermostat is set at 89 and never moves..

Two years ago I had my incubator get up to well of 95 for the better part of a day due to my AC going out and the outside temps being well over 100. I just knew everything was dead, but nope they hatched out just fine on worries..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Hatched out all my clutches just fine last year..Got clutches in the bator now thermostat is set at 89 and never moves..

Two years ago I had my incubator get up to well of 95 for the better part of a day due to my AC going out and the outside temps being well over 100. I just knew everything was dead, but nope they hatched out just fine on worries..

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Just what I wanted to hear. I moved and the temps got to the 91-92 range for a couple hours. Adjusted but i get swings from 87-89. I figure it'll be okay, nature isn't as controlled, right?:D

I think Freakie Frog got very lucky, I had an incubator temp spike of up to 93 one year, and had the youngest clutch in there wind up with deformities.

I incubate at 89, and tend to panic if the temp rises much above 90.