Egg humidity

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Originally Posted by MikeM75

This is my first year breeding, so I don't have a lot of experience, but...
I purchased an incubator from Hot Box Incubators about a month before I was expecting eggs, and when it came in I set it up and turned it on to make sure temperatures would stay consistent. Temperatures did very well the whole time, I set them at 90 degrees. I am using the 6 qt sterilite with vermiculite, about 2 inches, with the light diffuser on top. I made sure the vermiculite was saturated with water, just shy of soupy so it wouldn't splash up on the eggs when I move them to check on them. I also used the press n seal on the top of the tub and then put the lid on it, not sure right now why I kept the lid on but... whatever. So far I have opened the press n seal twice just to sort of ventilate for a couple seconds and make sure they were visually ok for what I can see. The second time I opened the lid and peeled back the press n seal I candled them to make sure I wasn't getting excited for nothing and the were great.

So far so good, they aren't dimpling or anything, I see a little condensation point on the side of the tub, to me it just says there is still plenty of water in there, not that it has a choice because it is sealed with no holes but...

Anyway, I will see if this works out long term as my clutch is due 5/10.

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everything sounds good so far. I also place a lid over my press n seal. helps hold it on. I remove the lid the last 2 weeks and peel the press n seal back to make a very tiny opening in one of the corners. the humidity isn't as important and the fresh air is. sometimes you will get an egg that didn't dent. stays fully inflated. those in my opinion needs to be cut a few days before they pip. it doesn't need to be a big cut. just a tiny cut to relieve the pressure. good luck and post some pics when they come out of the egg! don

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Originally Posted by KatStoverReptiles

Last year (1st clutch) I used a 6qt Sterilite tub. The lids are loose, at best and I had humidity issues on day 2. I used the substrateless method with about 1.5" of vermiculite soaked and a light diffuser. I ended up having to press n' seal them to keep the humidity in. Had 100% hatch.

This year I've found some sterilite locking tubs. They are significantly smaller than the 6qts, but the lids are much tighter. I used more like 2.5" of vermiculite soaked and 2 layers of light diffuser. Haven't had the eggs in the 'bator long enough to evaluate, but during my test runs I had condensation buildup on the sides of the tubs...which I never had during testing last year.

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^ This. I use cross-stitch plastic under one layer of light diffuser to hold it up over the perlite.

By the way, Kat, Walmart has 7-qt. locking lid tubs that fit a clutch even better than the 6-qts. They are about the same floor dimensions, but a little taller, in case you have a clumped clutch that you can't/don't want to seperate.