Incubator recommendations?

Since both Mona & Nerissa have been locking for a while now, I guess it's time to get an incubator! :) Anyone have recommendations on one that's easy to use, good for chilly climates, and the right size for 2-3 clutches? Oh, and preferably around $100-150 not including the thermostat (I already have a spare that should work fine). So far I've only looked into the J&J or Hova-bator, and also considered building my own... but I'm really not handy like that, and would be too afraid of making a costly mistake. Any thoughts?

I'm in pretty much the same boat as you, first year breeding and thinking I gonna need to get an incubator before too long. I've been looking at the ones here: http://www.jwexotics.com/economyincs.html they're pretty good price and you can get ithem with or without the thermostat.

I put an ad out for broken mini fridges and got two of em. 3 ft of flexwatt and a thermostat and you're gold. You can do the window thing, but its not necessary. And you can put a fan in it, but you dont have. Its easy-ish, even for the those least handy.

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Originally Posted by AMPearce

I'm in pretty much the same boat as you, first year breeding and thinking I gonna need to get an incubator before too long. I've been looking at the ones here: http://www.jwexotics.com/economyincs.html they're pretty good price and you can get ithem with or without the thermostat.

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Oops! I meant to say JW, not J&J. :D Always getting those two confused, especially since each one has sold me a snake. I may just go with JW's, since I have heard good things about them - whereas the Hova-bator seems to have mixed reviews.

If you can get hold of an old fridge or an old catering hotbox, you can make your own dirt cheap. Both are made to keep stable temps are are perfect for DIY. I use a catering hotbox that is huge, has a glass front door, and only cost me $20 to get the guy to haul it to my house. All it then needed was some prewired flexwatt run down the back, a small fan in the bottom to prevent air layering, and wire shelves to hold my egg tubs. I went ahead and added extra insulation to the outside, but it didn't truly need it. More for my own peace of mind than anything.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alls/eggs4.jpg

The premade incubators are nice, but they're so expensive and rarely hold more than a few eggs.

Best of luck.

Or you can go even cheaper and get ya a foam cooler, a foot or two of flexwatt, and your thermostat. Will work just as good for just a few clutches, it's what I used for my first few years. Wrap the flexwatt around the sides and tape in place, set a dish of water in the bottom, and stack the egg boxes either on top of the water dish or on top of a grate thats over the water dish depending on how big of a cooler you use. Total cost will be about 20$ :D I also miss the humidity containment my old foam ghetto incubators held.......I rarely had to ever add water to the substrate in my "coolerbators" other than keeping the water dish full. In my fancy big cool kid incubator I have to almost always add some in the last few weeks.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Oops! I meant to say JW, not J&J. :D Always getting those two confused, especially since each one has sold me a snake. I may just go with JW's, since I have heard good things about them - whereas the Hova-bator seems to have mixed reviews.

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Ahh, okay I was confused about you saying J&J since Josh is at outback now. I may try making something like that myself and if you've already got a thermostat it might not be a bad idea to try that. If you screwed up all you really would have put into it would be the cost of the flexwatt. Either way good luck!! Just out of curiousity how many clutches are you expecting?

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Originally Posted by Ridley

Or you can go even cheaper and get ya a foam cooler, a foot or two of flexwatt, and your thermostat. Will work just as good for just a few clutches, it's what I used for my first few years. Wrap the flexwatt around the sides and tape in place, set a dish of water in the bottom, and stack the egg boxes either on top of the water dish or on top of a grate thats over the water dish depending on how big of a cooler you use. Total cost will be about 20$ :D I also miss the humidity containment my old foam ghetto incubators held.......I rarely had to ever add water to the substrate in my "coolerbators" other than keeping the water dish full. In my fancy big cool kid incubator I have to almost always add some in the last few weeks.

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Did you ever have any problems and did all your eggs hatch out ok? if so that seems like a cool idea... Some people (like me) have flexwatt laying around. :)

I know that this is out of your target price, but if I were to buy one - this is the one that I would buy:

http://www.nsreptiles.com/incubator.html

Right now, this is what I use:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../Incubator.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Incubator2.jpg

My first season I used these 12 quart tubs:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...ubator/Inc.jpg

Now I use six quart tubs and can get 8 in there at a time.

Natures Spirit

You can also get a Chicken egg incubator for like $30 will hold 2x clutches and already has heat and thermometer included. They are identical to the hovabator, but the big difference is the way the heat is distributed evenly, not from a single disc in the top. Also has a window in the top which I like. I know people that have been using these for years and everything is good with them.

I use a big cooler. Slap some flexwatt on the bottom, put a layer of water bottles to help stabilize temps, hook it up to my Herpstat, and you're golden. Cheap and effective.

The HovaBator has a heavy-duty heating element that forms a square around the inside of the top. The little disk is the thermostat. You shouldn't use the simple wafer thermostat it comes with--just hook it up to a proportional thermostat instead.

With a proportional thermostat, HovaBators hold their temperatures and perform suprisingly well for such a low cost solution, and they hold 2 clutches comfortably--however, the clutches must share the same space, as egg boxes will not fit inside the unit, and you have to put the medium directly in the bottom.

I have a couple of them, and I have used them for 2 years now. I found you need to add some water mid-way through incubation, but they did the job perfectly, and all viable eggs developed well, and hatched healthy babies.

I'm curious as to WHICH chicken egg incubator you're talking about (particularly since you said it's identical to the HovaBator). The HovaBator is a chicken egg incubator--it's simply usable for reptile eggs as well. Forced-air models aren't suitable for reptile eggs, as they are too drying.
I'm unaware of any incubator that can hold 2 clutches that is only $30, so I'd really be interested in the brand name.
HovaBators are usually between 40 and 60.

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Originally Posted by pavlovk1025

I put an ad out for broken mini fridges and got two of em. 3 ft of flexwatt and a thermostat and you're gold. You can do the window thing, but its not necessary. And you can put a fan in it, but you dont have. Its easy-ish, even for the those least handy.

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Exactly what I was going to recommend. Easy to make and does the job perfectly. When I was breeding for a living, I bought an upright freezer and did the same thing. Exactly what the doctor ordered.:banana::banana::banana:

Jim Smith

There is another option but I don't like it as much as a refrig or freezer. I have a friend that bought a broken Coke cooler, the upright version with the glass door. It's set up the same way as a freezer, except you can look through the glass. His does have a built in fan so that's something you wouldn't have to buy.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

There is another option but I don't like it as much as a refrig or freezer. I have a friend that bought a broken Coke cooler, the upright version with the glass door. It's set up the same way as a freezer, except you can look through the glass. His does have a built in fan so that's something you wouldn't have to buy.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

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That is exactly what I have been hoping to find is a coke cooler.... I have contacted coke and pepsi both in my area and they both have repair centers they have to send broken units to....I want one of those to build my incubator out of... I like the glass door, makes it more desirable than refridgerator... dont have to open the door to see whats cookin

I would say I'd look for one for you but you're about 2800 miles from me. Go to all of the mom and pop shops and see if they have any. Also, I think I've seen small ones sitting on top of counters.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

The ones I have are still air incubators by Little Giant, I got them for $30 each. The heating element is like a wire fixed to the top half and goes around the perimeter of the lid.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../7/picture.jpg If the Hovabator went to this style than it's the same thing. From what people have told me in the past was that it had a disc in the center for heat and the middle got hot and the edges weren't consistent.

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Originally Posted by SNIKTTIME

The ones I have are still air incubators by Little Giant, I got them for $30 each. The heating element is like a wire fixed to the top half and goes around the perimeter of the lid.

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I used a Little giant brand incubator last year connected to a Herpstat and had a 100% hatch rate. This year i expect a lot more eggs so i'm in the process of putting together my own cooler incubator with a 120qt cooler i got at Walmart.
U can see the little giant one in this video from last year at about 35 seconds in.
YouTube - Ball Python Eggs Update