Any good incubators out there?

I recently got into the idea of breeding BP's. Specifically Pieds. My dream is to produce a albino pied. However, I don't want to lose an egg that could have been a AP due to the incubator failing. So what are my options? I saw the hova bator and it seems pretty good. Has anyone used it. Is the zoo med relit bator good? Has anyone lost eggs due to any of these incubators? I also like the Exo Terra incubator, I doubt it's any good though. Thanks!

Holà Bator are nothing more than a Styrofoam cooler with a very unreliable thermostat, some people have lost clutches because of those.

If you want something that small and in Styrofoam make your own.

The other two mention are expensive for the size and will not get you far, you want to be able to grow into your incubator.

The thing to remember is that the most important component will be your thermostat which will run $100 to $150, the incubator mention lack that and I would personally not trust my eggs to those.

The nest on the market are hotbox and nature spirit, if that is out of your budget consider building your own.

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Thanks a lot Deboarh! Do DIY Incubators work well? If so, how do I make a good reliable one? I see DIY vids on them but I dont trust the source. I would rather get some reliable info from a breeder :)

I got a Little Giant Still Air Incubator 9200 from someone who was moving several years ago and tried it out without any eggs or anything in it. It's fairly large. It holds the temp where it's set nice and steady and seems to work great. If some time in the future I were to breed some ball pythons, would this be a good incubator to use?

I built my own incubator and my temps have been solid and have had no issues with my humidity.


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If it's just a couple clutches I recommend the hova bator. But you must pair it with a good thermostat

I have used the ZooMed Reptibator and had nothing but success so far. The main reason is the Reptibator is one of class by itself with a "built in" proportional thermostat. The drawback is the size and it only can hold max 2 five to seven egg ball python clutches. I used it mainly as a intro incubator but plan to upgrade to the C serpents hot box incubators down the road. :gj: All my eggs have hatched out healthy and i had no problems with spikes or loss of power or temperature issues. You set it and monitor it and you build trust in it. Zoos and veterinary institutions use the ZooMed Reptibator.

Built my own out of a large cooler and haven't had any problems!

The ZooMed Reptibator worked well for me. I had problems with my eggs, but that - I believe - stemmed from humidity problems and a (separate) glitchy hygrometer. I'll be switching to a larger incubator for next season from a local company. (http://cornelsworld.com for Canadian peeps)

Nature's Spirit incubator is my go to

Built my own with a large cooler, heat cable and a good thermostat. Temp fluctuation is only half a degree Fahrenheit which I think is great.
One of the guys I know had a reptibator and he said the temp fluctuation was ridiculous and when you take the lid off it takes an insane amount of time to heat back to your ideal temp so he never used it after his test.
Don't know much about the others except the Temp readings can be way off on the "all in one" incubators but as long as it's monitored with good equipment I can't see that being a problem at all

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Originally Posted by danielwilu2525

Thanks a lot Deboarh! Do DIY Incubators work well? If so, how do I make a good reliable one? I see DIY vids on them but I dont trust the source. I would rather get some reliable info from a breeder :)

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There are great DIY on the forum


http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tyle-Incubator

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...bator-Tutorial

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...oler-incubator

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

I have used the ZooMed Reptibator and had nothing but success so far. The main reason is the Reptibator is one of class by itself with a "built in" proportional thermostat. The drawback is the size and it only can hold max 2 five to seven egg ball python clutches. I used it mainly as a intro incubator but plan to upgrade to the C serpents hot box incubators down the road. :gj: All my eggs have hatched out healthy and i had no problems with spikes or loss of power or temperature issues. You set it and monitor it and you build trust in it. Zoos and veterinary institutions use the ZooMed Reptibator.

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Awesome! I probably shouldn't get the reptibator since I'm planning on having 4-6 breeding groups. Time to find a biggest cooler I can find!

Thank you all for the helpful info! I'll be building my own for now. Probably Invest In a hot box.

If you are looking for a small digital incubator I would highly recommend this one, it's an ExoTerra incubator, selling for about $150. I have three of them, they are actually so much more than incubators. They have some fantastic technology in them where they can both heat and cool without Freon, it uses some kind of fancy electrical heating / cooling device. I can turn it to cold and chill my drinks, then turn it up to 110 to thaw out my mice to feed my snakes, turn it down to a medium setting to hold my chicken eggs in 'stasis' before they go into their incubator. All kinds of uses for this one, way more than just an incubator. It doubles as a fridge.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Exo-Terra-In...EAAOSw~oFXLva9

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/3EEAAO...va9/s-l500.jpg

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Originally Posted by Scottywelsh

Built my own with a large cooler, heat cable and a good thermostat. Temp fluctuation is only half a degree Fahrenheit which I think is great.
One of the guys I know had a reptibator and he said the temp fluctuation was ridiculous and when you take the lid off it takes an insane amount of time to heat back to your ideal temp so he never used it after his test.
Don't know much about the others except the Temp readings can be way off on the "all in one" incubators but as long as it's monitored with good equipment I can't see that being a problem at all

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Wow, that's really surprising! He should have returned it right away bc ZooMed warraties that reptibator for 1 year and it's a 100% one for one if the PROPORTIONAL THERMOSTAT is found to be defective. I am going on my third season with no problems at all. :) Maybe his temp fluctuations came bc he was using different tubs to incubate his various clutches? You take the lid off and it depends on how long the lid is off and what your incubator temp is set at? I don't keep the lid off for any extended period of time bc i know it's important to gather your equipment and be prepared to do what you have to do to minimize the time the incubator is vulnerable.

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Originally Posted by danielwilu2525

Thank you all for the helpful info! I'll be building my own for now. Probably Invest In a hot box.

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Yes, absolutely the only drawback is it's size. Hot box is definitely the way to go if you want more space and a high quality incubator. :)

I saw recently that AP is getting into building incubators as well.


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Originally Posted by Rob

I saw recently that AP is getting into building incubators as well.

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Do you know if they've made more progress recently? They've had the same message on their site for a long time.

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Do you know if they've made more progress recently? They've had the same message on their site for a long time.

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Didn't ask, too busy ordering cages lol. I didn't know it was up for that long, just noticed it the other day.


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