Incubating Temperatures

What Are your Preferred Incubating Temperatures and what is safest minimum and maximum you'll tolerate.

As wanting yo breed I to am curious to see what will be shared...

89 degrees...

No tolerance at all for temp swings. If properly hooked up to a good thermostat the temp should hold steady.

But if your asking the max or min temp ppl incubate at, I prrsonally would range 88-90, thats it. But im sure alot of ppl have had success incubating at temps lower and higher


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Interesting That People always try to go with 89 degrees... i read some opinions in various forums that Slightly lower temps around 86-87 degrees are better because of better yolk absorption... and less chance of premature undeveloped hatchlings...

Any BIG and experienced Breeder gonna share they Opinion ???

I'm curious to see answers here too...

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Sometimes I hate tapatalk. Didn't know this was a poll. :(

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you do not want to incubate lower than 87 imo.

We incubate at about 88,5 and generally have pippers around 54-55 days

i do try not to go under 86 and over 91

Steady at 89deg, with pippers around day 57.

I keep my incubator between 88 and 89. Even with the fans, there is a slight difference from top to bottom of my up-right freezer incubator.

It fluctuates from 88-90. I don't pay much attention to it anymore

Haven't gotten to use my incubator yet, but I have it set to 88.5 inside the egg tub. It is about 89 outside the egg tub.

I run the interior at 89.5-90

88.6
:p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aes_Sidhe

Interesting That People always try to go with 89 degrees... i read some opinions in various forums that Slightly lower temps around 86-87 degrees are better because of better yolk absorption... and less chance of premature undeveloped hatchlings...

Any BIG and experienced Breeder gonna share they Opinion ???

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People dont "try to go with 89..." They go with that temp because its been proven to work.Yes a few degrees higher or lower will only affect the length of the incubation process. Im sure if 89 wasnt a suitable temp, word wouldve spread by now.

I can go on other forums and find people saying its ok to house 4 males in a 20 gallon tank, doesnt mean its the way to go for everyone. All you do is experiment yourself and see what works for you over the next few years. I personally wouldnt incubate at 86 degrees ever. I run mine at 89, the inside of the tube sits at 88.5. Last year, day 54, if there is no pipping yet (i dont cut my eggs) i turned it UP to 90, making the egg box 89.5-89.8. Dont kno if it was a fluke but every egg pipped the next day and all snakes were out of the eggs the day after that, wieghing from 75-81 grams! big babies with BIG bellies. Ill be trying that again this year, but thats just me.



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I've had my herpstat thermostat set to 89 in a wine cooler for the past two years and had consistent pipping at 53 days. Previously I used a helix with a hovabator set to 89 but with eggs pipping at 55 days. This year I decided to temp check my incubator with 2 other thermometers plus a temp gun (which is only for the surface area) and had readings ranging between 88.5 and 91. I'm concluding that my incubator was in fact running closer to 90 which would explain the 2 day early pipping. Haven't had any issues incubating the last few years but I did decide to turn it down a degree (88 on my herpstat) for some slower cooking.

last year i did cook my eggs from 86 to 90 and i will explain,i had small wine cooler 40"x24"x24" with 12" heat tape glued on the back and one fan,the 6x 6.5qt tubs that was possible to fit in have front temp (close to glass door) temp 86 and back temp close to the heat tape was 90,the center was perfect 88
first egg pip at day 54 (the one close to the back) and i cut all the remaining eggs and all come out in 24-48 hrs,this year i have bigger Coca-Cola cooler incubator so front and back is nice 88-90
thanks

Last year was my first season. I had 9 clutchs and I incubated them all at 90 degrees (inside of the incubator temperature, not inside the egg tubs). I had pippers between day 52 and 54. I think the next step to this poll would be to see what the correlation between incubation temperature and day of pipping is and, if the people have the data (I know I don't), what the correlation is between incubation temperature and hatchling weight is? Just a thought.

I had one clutch "accidentally" incubate at 86 degrees last year and the clutch almost killed me, lol.

The eggs looked funky at day 55 so I cut and not one had absorbed any of the yolk and the pewter het clown died :(
The cinny het clown and het clown made it, barely, but are doing excellent now.

I would never incubate that low again, not that I tried to that time ...

I incubate at 88 because my bator does better at that temp. Don't ask me why, but my incubator can hold a steady temp at 88, but at 89 it swings back and forth from 88 to 89. I typically cut on day 52 with no issues and they are out by day 56-58.

I am incubating at 89. Temp on the Herpstat is set to 89, temp in the egg tub reads 88.9. :gj:

This will be my first year of hatching and I bought my GQF incubator from a reputable breeder who has the incubator set already, I have an accurite therm. with the box on the top shelf and the probe on the bottom shelf. The top shelf is reading at 91 and the bottom shelf with the probe is showing 89. This is incubator temps. not in the tubs. Does this sound OK. Or should I put the probe in a tub?http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/02/vynyhunu.jpg

1.1 pastels, 1.0 lesser, 0.1 het blurry, 0.1 spider, 1.1 norm. 0.1 dinker,

Put the probe in the tub, isn't that where the eggs will be? That is the temp that matters. I put the whole unit in the tub. Also, I would add some bottles of water in there to help stabilize the temps. It seriously helps.

88-89 55 days no issues here.:gj:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Put the probe in the tub, isn't that where the eggs will be? That is the temp that matters. I put the whole unit in the tub. Also, I would add some bottles of water in there to help stabilize the temps. It seriously helps.

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Yes, the eggs will be in the tub. However, consider this scenario: You take the tub out and peek in at your pearly whites. The tub temperature drops from opening, and you trap the cooler air inside with the lid before returning the tub to the incubator. Now, the entire incubator is increasing in temperature until that one tub is back to 89deg. Now, your other tubs have been getting hotter, the water bottles have been getting hotter, and the tub with the probe will now overheat because of all of the ambient increases around it (tub will continue to heat when the tape shuts off because everything else is hotter).

IMO, the two ways to place a stat probe in an incubator are to either place the probe in an EMPTY egg tub (which could still create the microcosm that then creates large temp swings in the rest of the inc), or suspend the probe in the vicinity of your tubs and place a thermoMETER probe in an egg tub as a check (this is how I do it, and get minimal swings). I do agree wholeheartedly with increasing the thermal mass in the incubator with as many water bottles as you can squeeze in there.

This is my first year with eggs and they were just laid a couple weeks ago. My thermostat is set at 89.6 and I get temp swings from 89.2-89.6 inside the egg tub. Hopefully everything goes well.

My incubator has a built in thermostat that regulates the temp in the incubator. I also added the accurite to tell me what the temp is the top shelf shows 91 and the probe is on the bottom shelf showing 90. A pan of water has the humidity at 61% in the incubator and the water in the tubs will increase the humidity there. I also have bottled water on the shelves behind the tubs. I got the incubator from Tim Lane who has incubated many clutches in it. I went ahead and added the water to the substrata and put the accurite inside one tub on top shelf and the probe in the bottom. Then I tweeked it a bit now its holding 89 in both tubs and 99% humidity. I'm so stoked.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/03/yduvy3ys.jpg

1.1 pastels, 1.0 lesser, 0.1 het blurry, 0.1 spider, 1.1 norm. 0.1 dinker,

I thought that inc looked familiar, Miles!

Yep Anna I was gonna build one but then I foundout that Tim was getting out so I jumped on it. I was feeling good about the temps 89 in the top and bottom tub with 99 % humidity. Then someone posted that the accurite was only accurate +/- 4 degrees now I don't know. I guess I should check it with my temp gun. I have the unit in the top tub and the probe is in the bottom tub. oh and I bought a light diffuser I'll cut it tomorrow. Now do I just sit the grate on top of the vermic?

1.1 pastels, 1.0 lesser, 0.1 het blurry, 0.1 spider, 1.1 norm. 0.1 dinker,

Quick question! My egg tub is about a degree cooler than the rest if my bator. Is this normal?


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Originally Posted by ironpython

Yep Anna I was gonna build one but then I foundout that Tim was getting out so I jumped on it. I was feeling good about the temps 89 in the top and bottom tub with 99 % humidity. Then someone posted that the accurite was only accurate +/- 4 degrees now I don't know. I guess I should check it with my temp gun. I have the unit in the top tub and the probe is in the bottom tub. oh and I bought a light diffuser I'll cut it tomorrow. Now do I just sit the grate on top of the vermic?

1.1 pastels, 1.0 lesser, 0.1 het blurry, 0.1 spider, 1.1 norm. 0.1 dinker,

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Yeah just set it on top. If its real soggy, it will sink.
I cut mine with a pair of snips. Snapped off any remainder with some needlenose.

Reviving this bad boy from the dead.

I just read an article on Maternal Incubation where they said the average temp was 83 degrees. The babies hatched in 70 days with a median weight of 70g, all healthy.

I've heard a fair amount of pretty scary stories of deformations and weird incubation issues from too much heat.

There's one instance here where issues were believed to be caused by incubation at a low temp. Anyone have any more?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrLang

Reviving this bad boy from the dead.

I just read an article on Maternal Incubation where they said the average temp was 83 degrees. The babies hatched in 70 days with a median weight of 70g, all healthy.

I've heard a fair amount of pretty scary stories of deformations and weird incubation issues from too much heat.

There's one instance here where issues were believed to be caused by incubation at a low temp. Anyone have any more?

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It makes a lot of sense that if you incubated at lower temps, it would take them a little longer to hatch and the babies would come out bigger.

I think it works similarly in crested geckos if I remember correctly.

I think our notion of ~86.5º for incubating is really just the highest you can go and still have a really good (and quick) hatch rate. Maybe this has something to do with impatience? I know I am getting pretty impatient! 4 weeks to go!!

Perhaps one season I will try incubating at 84 or 85 and see how it goes. I will admit I was a little nervous at first putting my eggs in the 87º incubator. It felt so hot I thought I was going to make some hard boiled eggs! But everything is fine. I am 50% though incubation of my first clutch and all eggs candle strong veins and lots of movement.

I haven't started breeding yet, but when I do I will be sure to keep it at 88.5-89 degrees F :cool:

We maternally incubate, and use ambient heat only (no back or belly heat). The room is kept at 85F. Last year we saw hatch times from 60 days to 79 days. Our hatchlings ranged from 75g to 95g, and we didn't have any issues that I would attribute to the lower temps. Out of 28 clutches (I think) we had just 2 or 3 twisted umbilical cords, no issues with kinks or anything like that. This year I want to keep a more detailed spreadsheet, so I can get a good average of weights and time to hatch. I would also like to figure out a way to get a female or two to keep a thermometer probe in with the eggs. I want to know what temp the females actually maintain.

I've got my herpstat dialed in at 88 degrees but the actual temp is 89 in the incubator (plus or minus .5)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

Yes, the eggs will be in the tub. However, consider this scenario: You take the tub out and peek in at your pearly whites. The tub temperature drops from opening, and you trap the cooler air inside with the lid before returning the tub to the incubator. Now, the entire incubator is increasing in temperature until that one tub is back to 89deg. Now, your other tubs have been getting hotter, the water bottles have been getting hotter, and the tub with the probe will now overheat because of all of the ambient increases around it (tub will continue to heat when the tape shuts off because everything else is hotter).

IMO, the two ways to place a stat probe in an incubator are to either place the probe in an EMPTY egg tub (which could still create the microcosm that then creates large temp swings in the rest of the inc), or suspend the probe in the vicinity of your tubs and place a thermoMETER probe in an egg tub as a check (this is how I do it, and get minimal swings). I do agree wholeheartedly with increasing the thermal mass in the incubator with as many water bottles as you can squeeze in there.

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This.

I never put any probe in the tub.

I have 2 probed thermometers in the incubator, one marked top, one marked bottom, and STAT probe in the middle. I simply foil tape the probe cords to the wire shelving in the incubator.

And I go for 88-89 as well

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...57376569_n.jpg