I know this has probably popped up before, but I can't find real results.

I'm going to be buying a hovabator for my first clutch, (spiderXnormal, wish me luck!) and I have two questions for you guys:
1) Do I need a substrate? I've heard that you don't necessarily need a substrate for hovabators, but I could be wrong.
2) What herpstat should I get? I'm hoping to find one that's not too crazy expensive, as in, I don't exactly feel like paying $200 for one.

ALTHOUGH, if there's an incubator that costs $200 and needs to modifications like the hovabator, I'd happily consider that option instead.
Thanks for the help!

Oh, and for anyone following my previous post about the mysterious cannibal-rat massacre, all ten babies eventually died. No idea why, but I now have ten snacks.