Incubation experiment

I just found an interestng thing that some of you may have already heard of called spitballs :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Wje...2&kw=spitballs
Me being the curious type and one who likes 'sciencey' things lol I ordered some and after fooling around with them a bit I got the idea these things might be good to use as incubation medium.Not to sit the eggs directly in of course but on top of egg crate with these 'spitballs' underneath.

I'm thinking they could provide 100% humidity easily since they are essentially water pearls, they could hold heat just like a bottle of water but at the same time give off moisture and if kept airtight(like in an egg box) they wouldn't dry out. Hatchlings couldn't drown in them, they are nontoxic and they are reusable just simply let them dry out and shrink.

I haven't been able to try this yet cause I haven't been able to get my hands on a thermostat like I need to complete my incubator but I plan on putting this idea to the test soon as my first clutch is due to be laid the end of Feburary.

I just want to hear peoples thoughts on this.

I think it will be more work than it is worth trying to keep those things hydrated. That's just me though, if you want to give it a try all the power to you.

P.S. The angry face next to the thread title is extremely misleading. :P

lol yea I didn't know how to fix that for a minute but I changed it, was a misclick :P

but as for keeping them hydrated, I've got a decent 2gal bag of these thing right now to see how long they stay hydrated if kept airtight without adding any additional water, its been one day and so far none have shrunk , if they go a week and none of them have lost considerable size it will be a good sign.

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Originally Posted by kyote19

lol yea I didn't know how to fix that for a minute but I changed it, was a misclick :P

but as for keeping them hydrated, I've got a decent 2gal bag of these thing right now to see how long they stay hydrated if kept airtight without adding any additional water, its been one day and so far none have shrunk , if they go a week and none of them have lost considerable size it will be a good sign.

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Seems interesting, I'd be interested to see if it works...

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Interesting, my main concern is that it changes size drastically as it loses water, and that they may not release enough moisture in a closed container.

You may want to check out Calcined Clay (Superhatch). It has many of the benefits you are looking for in an incubation medium. I have had great results the past few years with it. Amazing Stuff

I doubt that they will release enough moisture into the air

Well as I said I'm working on figuring this out myself.
I moved the spitball batch into my incubator now set up in a egg box.
right now humidity is reading 75-80%, but this is without stabalized temps and they have only been in for about 45 mins.

I hate that I know I have a Repti Temp 500R lying around this house somewhere that I never used and now when I could actually try to use it for something I cant find it anywhere, actually thinking I might have thrown it away cause I couldnt get it to work on flexwatt previously :confused:

At a price of 10 bucks a small bag i dont see what the benefit is of trying a gimick to incubate the eggs you put so much work in to get. Vermiculite is alot cheaper and its a proven medium. Not to mention i wouldnt buy any product and think its worth a crap from the guys doing the video lol. Theres things worth screwin around with and tryin but doing it with precious eggs is not the thing to be screwing around with.

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Originally Posted by kyote19

Well as I said I'm working on figuring this out myself.
I moved the spitball batch into my incubator now set up in a egg box.
right now humidity is reading 75-80%, but this is without stabalized temps and they have only been in for about 45 mins.

I hate that I know I have a Repti Temp 500R lying around this house somewhere that I never used and now when I could actually try to use it for something I cant find it anywhere, actually thinking I might have thrown it away cause I couldnt get it to work on flexwatt previously :confused:

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The Repti Temp 500R is crap, those pet store thermostats aren't worth the plastic they are made of and certainly will not work well enough for an incubator.

Seems to me that the way they work would draw moisture away from the eggs and do the opposite of what you'd want them to do.

Are these things possibly just the same material as cricket water polymer crystals?

And wouldn't cricket water gel work the same way?

However, if you're going to do that, why not just go substrateless and use actual water? I guess if you used the gel, you'd eliminate the risk of sloshing.

The polymer crystals are pretty cheap. 1 oz makes a gallon of the stuff, and costs under $5.

Theoretically could be re-used after it dries out, too.

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Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

Seems to me that the way they work would draw moisture away from the eggs and do the opposite of what you'd want them to do.

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They only draw in moisture when in direct contact with it (actually sitting in water)
When not in water they slowly loose moisture through evaporation depending on the temperature/dryness of the air would speed that up,they don't really pull moisture directly out of the air, least not to noticeable degree.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Are these things possibly just the same material as cricket water polymer crystals?

And wouldn't cricket water gel work the same way?

However, if you're going to do that, why not just go substrateless and use actual water? I guess if you used the gel, you'd eliminate the risk of sloshing.

The polymer crystals are pretty cheap. 1 oz makes a gallon of the stuff, and costs under $5.

Theoretically could be re-used after it dries out, too.

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I don't think polymer crystals form perfect beads like these 'spitballs' but thats the one one reason why I'm trying these out.Say some eggs hatch over these and some of the goo gets down in them, their perfect spherical shape makes them easy to just rise the whole batch, polymer crystals are uneven ,sometimes granular and I don't think they are as tough as these spheres.
I'm trying to see if I can get something that's not as messy as vermiculite/hatchrite or the other actual granular mediums and far more simple, as well as possibly infinitely reusable.Plus right now I only have 1 clutch and I don't think you can buy 1oz of polymer crystals, I keep seeing 1-5lb bags :P

I'll still be using a traditional medium for most of my clutch, but maybe one or two eggs will be put in a seperate tub over these spheres.

Its the Same thing as Water crystals i give my Dubia Roaches, Crickets. You would have to test it out but in a Air tight container it might be too moist causign condensation.

You can get the crystals from reptile basics cheap. One ounce makes a gallon of water and as long as the lid is air tight the water wont leave.

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Originally Posted by kyote19

They only draw in moisture when in direct contact with it (actually sitting in water)
When not in water they slowly loose moisture through evaporation depending on the temperature/dryness of the air would speed that up,they don't really pull moisture directly out of the air, least not to noticeable degree.






I don't think polymer crystals form perfect beads like these 'spitballs' but thats the one one reason why I'm trying these out.Say some eggs hatch over these and some of the goo gets down in them, their perfect spherical shape makes them easy to just rise the whole batch, polymer crystals are uneven ,sometimes granular and I don't think they are as tough as these spheres.
I'm trying to see if I can get something that's not as messy as vermiculite/hatchrite or the other actual granular mediums and far more simple, as well as possibly infinitely reusable.Plus right now I only have 1 clutch and I don't think you can buy 1oz of polymer crystals, I keep seeing 1-5lb bags :P

I'll still be using a traditional medium for most of my clutch, but maybe one or two eggs will be put in a seperate tub over these spheres.

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Calcined Clay ( Superhatch) does all of the things your wanting and more. It is very clean, can be cleaned (boiled), is simple to set up, and you can see how hydrated it is visually(changes color). Repashy has a good resource page on incubation mediums on there site. I hope this helps.

I have a 1 ounce packet I've been using for months, I got it on Ebay.
I see what you're saying about the round shape, but i would think if you just put them all in a strainer, you could rinse the crystals, too.
It's what they did when the person in the video smashed them that makes me think they're the same substance.

I don't think they would cause any more condensation than plain water. ;)

They probably are made out of the same thing as the crystals, I don't really doubt that I just thought the orbs were somehow stronger but they both do seem toe do the same thing. I was thinking over-condensation might happen but so far I've only gotten humidity up to 75-80 with unregulated temps.

I do have some medium thats like hatchrite or something, its from NSreptiles so I'm not really needing to buy anymore egg hatching mediums this year with only one clutch expected. I'm more in need of a decent digital thermometer/hydrometer that people use for the incubator, cause right now I'm just using one of those analog hydrometers from ZooMed:rolleyes: and a regular glass thermometer from a old hovabator.