Incubator progress

I got a little more work done on the incubator build today. All that is left is Heat tape, Thermostat, Fans, and a little painting on the shelves. Inside dimensions on this is 48" wide by 24" deep by 54" tall

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Maintaining the same thread, It is almost time to order heat tape and a thermostat. To any of you that have used a DIY incubator similar to this. The best I can figure this thing has about 40 cu ft of interior volume. I am going to use 11" wide flexwatt 110V and am questioning now if I go down both side walls and across the bottom, that would be around 14 ft of heat tape. Do you think this will be enough? if so, I will go with a Herpstat 1. If I also need to run a shorter piece down the back wall and up to the edge of the bottom strip, I would be adding another 7 feet and would go with the herpstat 2 since the 2 pieces arent the same length.

Opinions please?

Since it looks like your incubator is well insulated and seals up well, you will probably be good with one long strip on each wall and down the bottom. I also used a commercial fridge for mine and once it's up to temp it stays there with very minimal heating. I rarely see the herpstat at more than 15% power. To keep your temps more even, you could add a fan to circulate the air and some water jugs along the bottom to retain heat. If you set it up and still have a cooler spot in the middle, you may have to add a strip in the middle.

So much room for activities!!!

I agree Id probably get it running with 1 strip of heat tape plus a fan and water bottles and see how well that holds temp and then possibly add a second strip.

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Delivery is here. Time to get back to work.

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Originally Posted by Bistem

Delivery is here. Time to get back to work.

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Can you post links to what you ordered please?

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

Can you post links to what you ordered please?

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It’s pretty easy, I got it all from The Bean Farm. It is

18 feet of 11” wide 110v Flexwatt heat tape
Herpstat 1 with steel tipped probe
the cord with clips for the heat tape.

I hope you didn’t mean links to everything in the incubator build cause that is a home made project

Drink cooler from Craigslist
fan from staples
LED light strip from Lowes

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Originally Posted by Bistem

It’s pretty easy, I got it all from The Bean Farm. It is

18 feet of 11” wide 110v Flexwatt heat tape
Herpstat 1 with steel tipped probe
the cord with clips for the heat tape.

I hope you didn’t mean links to everything in the incubator build cause that is a home made project

Drink cooler from Craigslist
fan from staples
LED light strip from Lowes

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No. You answered my questions.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by Bistem

Delivery is here. Time to get back to work.

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

Can you post links to what you ordered please?

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very good research Sky!

Bistem, can u post links to where u ordered that bottle of pop and fidget spinner please? ;)

anyways that incubator is an impressive size! wow i'm jealous lol. did your LED come w/ a remote control? i love using the strobe mode on my lights lol.

I have a cooler incubator that is the same height but not as wide with just a single glass door. I bought my Flexwatt heat tape from Reptile Basics, they cut it to size and assembled the cords before they shipped. I initially put one strip down the center back and it wasn't enough. So I put one more on each side so tubs are surrounded on each of three sides. Now the problem is the front glass door, about one to two inches away from the glass door the heat in there is about 86F, but all other places in the back it's 90F. It makes me think I should have run heat tape even on the front door. And if that's the case I probably shouldn't have gone with a glass door fridge, probably should have went with a regular refrigerator with more insulation. I have two pretty good size fans in there too and it's OK, I just have to be sure to slide the egg boxes back away from the front glass door.

Also, you should be able to control all of the heat tape with just a single heat controller, I use a VE-300. Doesn't really matter if there are differences in size, just put the probe on one of the biggest heat strips for better control.

You'll have to be sure to set it up and let it run for a few days to equilibrate, then take a temperature probe and place it in a different spot every day and 'map' the whole incubator to see if there are any cold spots. It took me a few weeks to get everything under control.

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Originally Posted by Ax01

very good research Sky!

Bistem, can u post links to where u ordered that bottle of pop and fidget spinner please? ;)

anyways that incubator is an impressive size! wow i'm jealous lol. did your LED come w/ a remote control? i love using the strobe mode on my lights lol.

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LOL....Hey....no checking out all the junk on the desk. If I had taken the picture from farther away, you would have mentioned the computer monitor. How many people use a 50" 4K TV for a monitor?

The LED's did come with a remote. Going to wait till they hatch then give them a disco show of colors.

As for the bottle of pop. I need a bunch of empty 2 litre bottles to put in the bottom of the incubator. Cant beat 57 cents per bottle of WalMart's brand of soda and eventually I will have enough bottles. I laid 2 bottles in the bottom and they will go 2 bottles deep and I dont know yet how many wide. I will eventually cover the entire floor of the thing with them.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I have two pretty good size fans in there too and it's OK, I just have to be sure to slide the egg boxes back away from the front glass door.

You'll have to be sure to set it up and let it run for a few days to equilibrate, then take a temperature probe and place it in a different spot every day and 'map' the whole incubator to see if there are any cold spots. It took me a few weeks to get everything under control.

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Thanks for the info on your experiences with yours.
I have Desk fan on the top shelf near the back. It is probably an 8" fan. It is pointed up and back kind of blowing into the top rear corner of the cabinet. If feels like this approach makes the hot air roll down the back wall, across the floor, then back up the front glass.

18 feet was enough heat tape to go down both sides, across the floor, and across the celing. I I plugged it in and ran it until it came up to temperature before finishing my wire routing. It ran at 100% power for about 30 min to reach temp and all 3 of my digital thermometers inside read the same top to bottom.

I have it on again now and once it settles again, I will grab a picture showing what percent the Herpstat is running at to maintain. My 3 thermometers are magnetic so I will be sure to move them around in there to check for cooler spots.

Ok, Im calling it Done.

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Looks great! My only worry is that fan may be too much even on a low setting. Might pull some humidity off your egg tubs.

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Originally Posted by treaux

Looks great! My only worry is that fan may be too much even on a low setting. Might pull some humidity off your egg tubs.

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I agree that the fan may be to much you don't need a lot to move the air around inside the incubator.

I used the fan from an old computer and an old 3V cell phone charger and it was free nothing beats recycling.

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Originally Posted by treaux

Looks great! My only worry is that fan may be too much even on a low setting. Might pull some humidity off your egg tubs.

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Thanks for your input. You may be right but I’m just wondering how it would lower the humidity inside the tubs when they will be sealed with press and seal. Correct me if I am thinking of this incorrectly. It’s not a big ordeal for me to change this and computer fans wouldn’t limit my top shelf space like this thing does.

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Originally Posted by Bistem

Thanks for your input. You may be right but I’m just wondering how it would lower the humidity inside the tubs when they will be sealed with press and seal. Correct me if I am thinking of this incorrectly. It’s not a big ordeal for me to change this and computer fans wouldn’t limit my top shelf space like this thing does.

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I agree, Id switch out the fan too. Ive also never needed to use press n seal in my boxes to keep humidity on point. Seems it leads to more issues with condensation dripping = wet spots and mold.

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I have been slowly drinking up a lot of Walmart brand soft drinks mostly just to get the empty 2 litre bottles for the incubator. Only got 6 in there now but from looking at them on the floor, and buying more tubs today, if I fill each shelf with 8 tubs I will have room for 2 water bottles on each side of the incubator shelves and 4 in the middle added to the 20 bottles that fit on the floor that would give me 44 of the 2 litre bottles in a 40 cu ft space. Is there a meaning for Overkill on temperature buffer bottles

Mind you. these are 15 qt tubs so that I should be able to fit any size clutch they throw into a single tub.

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Originally Posted by Hannahshissyfix

I agree, Id switch out the fan too. Ive also never needed to use press n seal in my boxes to keep humidity on point. Seems it leads to more issues with condensation dripping = wet spots and mold.

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This. I try not to use press and seal because if it's fully sealed, you can get condensation forming on it that can drop on the eggs. A little airflow helps keep it from getting condensation while still being high humidity. With too much airflow around the tubs, it may pull some of that humidity out of the tubs as well and lead to too dry conditions. A single low speed 120mm computer fan would probably be plenty to keep the air moving inside your incubator.

Not sure how important it is with snakes but if you don't have enough fresh air coming in with chicken eggs they will die from suffocation. I tried paper towels over the top of the shoe box then put the lid on, it was too much and the paper towels got soaked, some even started to mold by themselves without eggs in the box after a couple weeks. If water drips on the eggs they can die too. So I folded up paper towels into half and then half again and put them under the lid on each end. Works pretty good, but it seems I didn't have quite enough humidity so I added sphagnum moss (soaked and squeezed to dampness) in the box around the eggs (but not touching). Seems to be about perfect. I use a plastic grate with square holes on top of pearlite.

It seemed like the eggs in the rear most part of the egg box were dimpling a bit too soon, that's when I added the damp moss. I'd suggest adding water and letting is sit for a week or two, then you'll know how the humidity is in the box. I also have quite a bit of condensation around the glass door in front, I like to wipe that off when I check the eggs every day. Some people suggest checking twice a day, I like to check just once to keep most of the heat and humidity in there. When you check them be sure to wipe any condensation off of the top of the egg box under the lid. I also like to separate any that are molding or smell bad to isolate them and keep them from ruining other good eggs.

Here's another neat trick you can do, add the substrate and water to the proper level and then the eggs. Then weigh the whole box (excluding paper towels or anything you will replace as you go). Then after a few weeks you can weigh again and add the difference in additional water to keep it just right.

Good luck!!

Found a friend on Facebook that obviously drinks a LOT of Pepsi in 2 litres. Posted on there that I needed about 30 emptys since it is taking me a long time to get enough with just me drinking them. He said that he had at least 30 emptys right now so I will be going to meet him tomorrow.

Just watched Justin Kobylka's latest video and turns out he does press and seal over even egg tub and uses a big fan in his incubator. Also mentioned he never "burps" the egg tubs and leaves the press and seal on until they hatch and has done so for a long time with no problems. So sounds like you will be good either way! :gj:

Also, I just bought distilled water jugs from the grocery store to put in my incubator so I can always pull one for the proper temp water if I need to set up an egg tub.

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Originally Posted by treaux

Just watched Justin Kobylka's latest video and turns out he does press and seal over even egg tub and uses a big fan in his incubator. Also mentioned he never "burps" the egg tubs and leaves the press and seal on until they hatch and has done so for a long time with no problems. So sounds like you will be good either way! :gj:

Also, I just bought distilled water jugs from the grocery store to put in my incubator so I can always pull one for the proper temp water if I need to set up an egg tub.

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I had watched that one from JKR also and I highly respect the work that he does. I am not sure I agree with the not burping them at all part. I am thinking of setting up the tubs with a small plastic pole in the center in order to make the press and seal form a very slight roof shape under the tub lid. That way, any condensation on the press and seal would run to the outer edges and down the tub walls and not drip on the eggs.
I highly appreciate the idea on reuse of water jug contents for perlite water. I had not thought of that but it makes perfect sense.