Official Incubator Thread-Tips & Comments

[bigballs]

im posting up pictures of my first attempt at making an incubator. it consists of a styrofoam box, plastic tub, "egg crate" lighting cover, and fish tank water heater. i will add a thermostat later on for precise temps.

styrofoam box



inside w/ egg box



inside w/o egg box



inside w/o "egg crate" cover



the materials used are easy to find. the styrofoam box was given to me by the fish department of a pet store. the water heater and plastic tub(small kitty litter tub) were purchased at a pet store. the "egg crate" ceiling tile was purchased at home depot. the egg box can be found at any department store. and i will be ordering the thermostat online.

so far the temperature inside the egg box is hitting 92-93 w/o a thermostat at full power. those temps are too high for bps eggs and i will be adding a herpstat or helix to get the temps perfect.

i have read that ball python eggs must be incubated at 88-91 degrees.

the egg box measures 10" x 16" and i will be using vermiculite as a substrate.

i'm not sure what the wattage of the water heater is but without regulation at full power it reaches 92-93 degrees inside the egg box so the addition of a thermostat is all that is needed to correct this.

right now i am testing the incubator before i get eggs so i am ready for them when they come!

many people ask about incubators so i hope this thread can help out. please comment on my incubator and make suggestions on what i can improve. i encourage readers of this thread to post pictures and information about their methods of incubating eggs whether its 1 or 100 clutches.

enjoy!

[RegiusCo]

Your incubator set up looks good, I did the same thing back in my colubrid days.

A few pointers I can share, keep an eye on the aquarium heater, not sure of the quality you are using but the ones I had would crack from over-heating after a while. I then purchased a Ebo-jagger and never had that problem afterwards.

You also might not be able to incubate more then 2 clutches of BP eggs in that setup. Looks good to go after you calibrate it with a rheostat or t-stat. As for temps, aim for 89 and you'll be fine.

Good luck

Marc

[elevatethis]

One word:

Helix.

[bigballs]

im kind of a herpstat kind a guy...

i guess ill have to make another incubator to be safe then. im hoping for at least three clutches this year.

do you think that the water heater can create hot spots directly above it?

[CntrlF8]

No, it won't create hot spots. One thing I would suggest would be an airstone just short enough to fit inside the long side of the tub, opposite of the heater, and an air pump. This will get your humidity up to 98-100%, and will circulate the water sufficiently to keep it "fresh"

I would also suggest getting the highest wattage aquarium heater you can find that will fit in your tub, or possibly two smaller ones. This will reduce the load on the heater(s), and lessen the likelyhood that you'll have a burnout.

[Sputnik]

im kind of a herpstat kind a guy...

I'm a herpstat guy also!

[rabernet]

Wow, you have me re-thinking my incubator plans. Yours is so simple (and that's a good thing)! Thanks for posting that!

[bigballs]

anything for you robin!

im actually going to buy two 200 watt water heaters and build another incubator just like this. then ill wire the herpstat to control each one. i may need more room for the clutches.

the air stone is a good idea!

thanks guys.

[AjBalls]

anything for you robin!

im actually going to buy two 200 watt water heaters and build another incubator just like this. then ill wire the herpstat to control each one. i may need more room for the clutches.

Why dont you just get a fridge/mini fridge off craigslist? It would cost you less than one herpstat. Then you could go with a different heating element, such as flexwatt. And thne you would only need one herpstat.

[bigballs]

i will only need one herpstat to control both styrofoam incubators as well. the heat source for both incubators is a 200 watt water heater so one herpstat should be enough to control them.

i only hoping for a few clutches this year anyway so hopefully this works for me!