Lowest incubation temperature?

Just wondering what is the lowest incubation temperature everyone has successfully used?

Thanks,
Bristen.

eighty six

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Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

eighty six

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wow, that's low... I should be fine then... everything is between 87F and 89.5F right now... I've never maxed out my incubator and since it's not very sophisticated, the temperature is not consistent from top to bottom or from front to back... I just wanted to make sure everything was going to work.

Thanks for the reply!

Regards,
Bristen.

Bristen,

Two things to consider:

1. Consistent, stable temperature - Keep those fluctuations to a minimum. A well insulated incubator and heat controlled by a proportional thermostat are the best ways to ensure this.

2. Keep it at 90 or under - I prefer not to go above 90. This would be the temperature inside the egg box.

Don't worry too much about the temp being different in different parts of the incubator. Big breeders use room sized walk in incubators. The temperature is different throughout but it is stable. BTW, I am breeding at 87.8 this year. That is the temp in the egg box on the top shelf of the closet incubator. I am putting my potential Caramel eggs lower in the incubator in the hopes that lower temperature will reduce the likelihood of kinking. We'll find out! Good luck!

Jamie

I just turned mine down to 87.5 because the room has a tendency to heat up in the summer months. Incubators usually have no trouble warming up, its cooling them down where the problem lies;)

I see Jon went down to 86 so looks like I could go down further, but then the wait would be longer:tears:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

I just turned mine down to 87.5 because the room has a tendency to heat up in the summer months. Incubators usually have no trouble warming up, its cooling them down where the problem lies;)

I see Jon went down to 86 so looks like I could go down further, but then the wait would be longer:tears:

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I'm willing to wait longer. I think lower is going to work out better. We'll see. I am hoping for bigger hatchlings, better eaters and kink free Caramels. It's a worthy experiment I think. This is my first year in my new place using this closet incubator. It is not insulated (it's inside the snake room) and even though my temps have fluctuated in the snake room during the day the incubator is staying consistent. It's why I use large egg boxes and a lot of medium.

My incubator is heated using heat tape and a Helix proportional thermostat. It's been working perfectly for 4 years now... however, I always ever used 2 shelves at any given time. This year, it's completely maxed out (all 4 shelves). The temperature is stable, but it is not the same on the top shelf as the bottom shelf. From what I'm reading, I should be fine. Another problem is that there is no more room for the 3 to 4 clutches that are not yet laid. So I killed the hot spots for all the animals in the hatchling/incubator room (some sub-adults in there as well), and just raised the entire room to 88F. The RayTek gives me readings of around 87F where I will have the egg boxes in the room, so I should be ok. Normally the room was about 84F.

I will be producing about 4 times more than any other year this year... it certainly won't be boring in this house for the next little while! :S

Thanks for the reply!

Regards,
Bristen.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Bristen,

Two things to consider:

1. Consistent, stable temperature - Keep those fluctuations to a minimum. A well insulated incubator and heat controlled by a proportional thermostat are the best ways to ensure this.

2. Keep it at 90 or under - I prefer not to go above 90. This would be the temperature inside the egg box.

Don't worry too much about the temp being different in different parts of the incubator. Big breeders use room sized walk in incubators. The temperature is different throughout but it is stable. BTW, I am breeding at 87.8 this year. That is the temp in the egg box on the top shelf of the closet incubator. I am putting my potential Caramel eggs lower in the incubator in the hopes that lower temperature will reduce the likelihood of kinking. We'll find out! Good luck!

Jamie

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I'm willing to wait longer. I think lower is going to work out better. We'll see. [...]

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I've often wondered if anybody took measurements of clutch temperatures when they dig them out in Africa? It would be interesting to see what temperature range they find "out in the field"...

Regards,
Bristen.

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Originally Posted by Bristen

My incubator is heated using heat tape and a Helix proportional thermostat. It's been working perfectly for 4 years now... however, I always ever used 2 shelves at any given time. This year, it's completely maxed out (all 4 shelves). The temperature is stable, but it is not the same on the top shelf as the bottom shelf. From what I'm reading, I should be fine. Another problem is that there is no more room for the 3 to 4 clutches that are not yet laid. So I killed the hot spots for all the animals in the hatchling/incubator room (some sub-adults in there as well), and just raised the entire room to 88F. The RayTek gives me readings of around 87F where I will have the egg boxes in the room, so I should be ok. Normally the room was about 84F.

I will be producing about 4 times more than any other year this year... it certainly won't be boring in this house for the next little while! :S

Thanks for the reply!

Regards,
Bristen.

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Sounds like you need a bigger incubator!! I'm using the closet plus I have a full size closet incubator as a standby. You can never have enough incubator space! Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Bristen

I've often wondered if anybody took measurements of clutch temperatures when they dig them out in Africa? It would be interesting to see what temperature range they find "out in the field"...

Regards,
Bristen.

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Sure would. I would guess that it's the last thing on their mind. :) I'd be curious to know though!

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Sounds like you need a bigger incubator!! I'm using the closet plus I have a full size closet incubator as a standby. You can never have enough incubator space! Good luck!

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yeah, well I never planned on having this many babies.. I guess I'm starting to figure out this ball python breeding game lol! Unless something dramatic happens, I won't be producing this much next year and I should be fine with the incubator for another year at least... Thanks for the luck, I'll need it lol!

Regards,
Bristen.

All i can say is FANS FANS FANS if your having uneven temps from top/bottom or side/side. i set my t-stat at 89 an i get a 88.3

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Originally Posted by flameethrower

All i can say is FANS FANS FANS if your having uneven temps from top/bottom or side/side. i set my t-stat at 89 an i get a 88.3

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actually I have a fan installed and everything, but I had a weird problem.. the incubator was cooler on the top (to my surprise) because the top was not insulated as well as I had expected. The fan actually made the problem worst, so for the moment, it actually works better without the fan running...

Part of the problem too is that the incubator has a glass front... so the front is cooler than the back, but this only has meant that eggs in the back hatch a day earlier than eggs in the front, no problem...

Here's a quick picture I had on file before it was maxed out (I can't put a single egg box more in there right now)... the next clutches are estimated to be larger clutches, so I won't be able to share egg boxes either... average clutch size is around 7 or 8 eggs per clutch for us this year...

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/DSCF9713.jpg

Regards,
Bristen.

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Originally Posted by Bristen

yeah, well I never planned on having this many babies.. I guess I'm starting to figure out this ball python breeding game lol! Unless something dramatic happens, I won't be producing this much next year and I should be fine with the incubator for another year at least... Thanks for the luck, I'll need it lol!

Regards,
Bristen.

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Haha...It can go from a few to many very quickly! I hear ya there...Can't wait to see what you produce!

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Haha...It can go from a few to many very quickly! I hear ya there...Can't wait to see what you produce!

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yeah, I think we understand each other quite well on that topic heh... I actually did not get new animals, so I'm not sure there will be much for new stuff... I have a few dinking projects going, but it's "hit or miss" with though... I'll only know when they hatch I guess..

I was particularly concerned with the temperatures because I had never incubated anything lower than 88F in the past. I was pretty sure I read some used 87F but most of what I find says 88F to 90F.

Thanks everyone, hope everyone is having a good season :)

Bristen.