Do you add water to Hatchrite?

I have always used perlite to incubate my eggs in the past. I have had a good hatch-rate until this year....ugh, long story.

So I recently picked up a bag of hatchrite...I still plan on using perlite for most of my clutches, but I figured I would give this a whirl and a couple of clutches to see how great it is...

But I am confused...do you add water to it? The instructions basically say empty contents of bag into egg tub. Put in eggs. Put on lid. Stick in incubator.

Am I missing something? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Jerhart

I have always used perlite to incubate my eggs in the past. I have had a good hatch-rate until this year....ugh, long story.

So I recently picked up a bag of hatchrite...I still plan on using perlite for most of my clutches, but I figured I would give this a whirl and a couple of clutches to see how great it is...

But I am confused...do you add water to it? The instructions basically say empty contents of bag into egg tub. Put in eggs. Put on lid. Stick in incubator.

Am I missing something? :confused:

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No, you don't need to add water.
I am using it for my first clutch this year and it maintains the humidity well.

I used it my first year and won't again.
Yes I had to add water but my tubs were not "sealed" and the hatchrite dried up.

I think if you use seal a meal and truly seal the tub up you shouldn't need to add water.

I switched to Vermiculite under light diffuser.

Interesting....


Anyone else?

I thought there would be more than 2 people on this forum who have used this...?
:omfg:

Josh, I used it this year and it dried up pretty badly. Had to add a lot of water (~1 cup in a 6 qt box) about a 1/3 of the way into incubation

to expensive for my blood and I've heard it can be to dry..or to wet.. I'm still anal about that stuff..

I have used HatchRite, and have never added water. I do not seal my tubs, and have never had any issues with it drying up at all. All of the ball eggs on the HatchRite hatch perfectly. Good luck.

Good God...could the results be anymore split down the middle? :D

I am hesitant to use it now...I thought this stuff what suppose to eliminate the guesswork?

Well...thanks for the responses everyone!


Keep the reviews coming if you have them...

I used it this season and put it under the light diffuser. I added alot of water but that was just to be sure. I dont know if I will use it again simply because of the cost if you are doing a few clutches. I would say use substrateless and that eliminates pretty much most guess work. Good luck on the upcoming season

I used it my first year - the only reason I don't use it now is the price. To your finger tips, it will feel dry - but if you touch the back of your hand to it - you should be able to feel some moisture.

Watch the eggs, if they start to dimple early on - I simply added a TBS of water to each corner of the tub and it was fine.

I had no problems with Hatchrite.

I now use straight Perlite, and I mix it to roughly the same consistency as the Hatchrite. I also put my eggs directly in the Hatchrite or Perlite, have never used a light diffuser. In my 3 seasons of breeding, I've never had an egg go bad.

Why not just use substrate-less incubation brother?

Thats what I used last season and was quite happy.

Ill do it again this season God willing

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jerhart

I thought there would be more than 2 people on this forum who have used this...?
:omfg:

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My last clutch with hatchrite was was up until the last 2 weeks the humidity started to drop a little so I added some water around the edges.

At the start though no, I didn't add water to get it going.

Thanks all...

Yeah it is a bit pricey...I am leaning on going back to perlite...I may or may not give this hatchrite a try...As I said, I have always used perlite, but just got a bit discouraged this season with a poor hatch rate.

Buuuuut I am guessing that has more to do with the fact that my incubator, full of eggs, was unplugged for roughly 8 hours as I moved from Minnesota to Kansas over the summer...not so much the incubation medium.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2kdime

Why not just use substrate-less incubation brother?

Thats what I used last season and was quite happy.

Ill do it again this season God willing

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I have contemplated doing this...I am just affraid of a hatchling get tangled in the diffuser and drowning themselves...I know it's unlikely, but after this season, I didn't want to rule anything out...


Oh well...I have a few months to contemplate all of this.

Thanks again all!

All I did was waited for the first one to pip and then I cut the rest and put em on wet paper towels, no worries.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jerhart

I have contemplated doing this...I am just affraid of a hatchling get tangled in the diffuser and drowning themselves...I know it's unlikely, but after this season, I didn't want to rule anything out...


Oh well...I have a few months to contemplate all of this.

Thanks again all!

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i used it for my leos and it worked great, some i added water too some i didn't. I have heard people saying that the water crystals will take moisture from eggs but i didn't have any problems with that.

just my 2 cents hope it helps

Coming to the forum almost always has ppl agreeing and ppl disagreeing. lol. I got the hatchrite with my incubator because it was a package thing. It says it didn't need water. I didn't use my incubator till day 58 when I slit them; so i dont know on that front. I do know that a few of my hatchlings came out their umbilicus still attached but no yoke. Some of the hatchrite was attached to the umbilicus which was a pain to get off. It came of for the most part after I ran the hatchlings under warm water. Not that I know anything different, but I think I'm going with the vermiculite for my next clutch to see if its better. Good luck to you.