Incubator Help

[moleo4444]

I REALLY need help, if someone could give me a list of supplies i would need for a homemade BP incubator pleaseeeee do! I need to know the general cost for everything, a list of every little thing needed, and if the homemades are better than a store bought one? PLEASE

[AK907]

Unless you spend buku bucks on a really nice factory made incubator, homemade are definitely better. All those cheap ones (Exo-Terra, Zilla, Hova-Bator, etc) are junk.

Made mine out of a cheap cooler from Wal-Mart. You can get a nice one for less than $50. For heat I used some old heat mats I had lying around. Flex-watt is another good choice. I foil taped the mats to the bottom and filled the bottom with bottled water for thermal mass. Then I used a piece of egg crate to make a shelf and mounted a computer fan over the heat mat to keep air circulating. I have an Accu-rite thermometer double checking my temps and everything is regulated with a Herpstat. I drilled a small hole in the side for the cords to run through.

Being as I had most of the stuff laying around and I bought the Herpstat used, I have less than $100 into it. If you buy everything new you'll probably spend about $200.

A simple youtube search will produce a lot of step by step videos on making them.

[Maddumpling]

well depends on how many clutches you want it to hold

for 2-3 clutches: a thermostat 70-120 dollars, a cooler like the large igloo coolers, 2-3 foot heat tape, a fan, water bottles, and a thing that you use for egg tubs that light thing where you put the eggs on.

for a 5-8 clutch: a thermostat 70-120 dollars, a broken mini fridge, 2-3 foot heat tap the 11 inch kind or heat rope, a fan or two, water bottles, and thats it.
THe fan for both incubators I dont know yet. Some people have fans and some people dont. If your ambient temperature isnt 87-89 throughout the whole incubator than a fan would be good to regulate the heat.

Everything in total can be around 160 dollars in total i guess. Depends on the thermostat and heat and fan cost. Thermostat people use proportional or the johnson and ranco thermostats. Some people use other on/off thermostats and have had good results. I talked with Brian gundy and he says that the temperatures dont have to be dead on and there can be a few degrees fluctuation.

[AK907]

I talked with Brian gundy and he says that the temperatures dont have to be dead on and there can be a few degrees fluctuation.

There can some, but the least amount of fluctuation the better. I've never seen my Herpstat vary more than 0.3 degrees. 99.9% of the time it is dead on.

For an incubator I would buy the best thermostat you can possibly afford. Don't waste your money cheap thermostats like Hydrofarm, Zilla, ZooMed, Exo-Terra, etc. Herpstats, Helix, Ranco and the like are worth their weight in gold. If money is an issue, look for a used one.

[Bigfish1975]

I just built an incubator for last season and it worked great. As stated above, it depends on the number of clutches you're planning on having....think ahead. You may have one or two now and 10 next season. I looked at a number of youtube videos for ideas and talked to the local reptile shop guys before putting it together. Here's basically what you need.

Insulated box: cooler, mini fridge...I used an old full size freezer.
Heating element: mats, ceramic bulb...I used 11" flexwatt.
Thermostat: Your choice, can be fancy or not.
Fan (optional):Reduces temperature variance...I used 2 set at different angles.
Thermometer: I used 2, one on top and bottom shelf to make sure everything is working.

As for the little things:
Foil tape (different from duct tape) is used to tape the flexwatt to the back wall.
Old charger (phone charger or something to wire the computer fans) look at the power rating.
Insulating foam to fill the hole made for the wires... I made one hole and was able to fit everything through it.
power strip
drill and bit
containers for water (depends on size, fill empty space to prevent large temp fluctuations when opening and closing.

I'll try to post some pics in the next day or so to give you and idea. Just know that is really simple to build. Took me 45 minutes and cost about $150 or so. Maybe a little more. The freezer was donated. One last thing, get a calender so you can mark down the big day. Good Luck.

[moleo4444]

Thanks you all SOOOOOOOOOO much! I am definitly going with home made!

[EverEvolvingExotics]

Sorry for hijacking this thread but to drill the hole through a wine cooler can you just use a power drill with a wood bore? I have a 1" wood bore at home. I've only used it to cut through wood, I just don't want to crack the cooler. Should I go and buy a hole saw or what do most people use?

[Bigfish1975]

That's what I used on my freezer. I the metal was 2 layers with insulation in between. I don't think the wine cooler is anything different. You can always drill a small inspection/ pilot hole where you plan to drill through just to get an idea. Good luck.