3 deformed pastels, any ideas why?

[StopStaringAtMyBalls]

I had a similar problem last year one baby had a deformed mouth and did not survive. The same male produced 5 clutches last year and 6 this year including the clutch with the same pairing. Zero more have been deformed.
Sometimes this just happens and I would agree to try the same pairing again to find out exactly why. Key is not to change incubation methods, change one thing at a time to find out why. Hope this helps.
Jonas

[slither9192]

Well I'm not sure if these were the eggs closer to the top but I would imagine the top eggs being hotter because they are closer to the heating element. In the end I have 1 pastel and 4 normals all healthy. I guess I'll have to see next year.

[slither9192]

Hovabators are ok if you use a tub with a lid inside and a good thermostat.

.

This is what I did, although the week before they hatched I took the cover off because the humidity was getting high.

[rabernet]

This is what I did, although the week before they hatched I took the cover off because the humidity was getting high.

Did you use the thermostat that came with the hovabator, or did you use another thermostat instead?

[Darkice]

The Hovabators make for bad incubators. And thats because its not a stable temp. The hovabator turns off and on evey few minutes. Heat up cool down heat up cool down. See where im going with this? You need a solid unchanging temp especially in the first few days.

[slither9192]

Did you use the thermostat that came with the hovabator, or did you use another thermostat instead?

I used the thermostat that came with it but also put a digital thermometer/hygrometer in with it. I feel stupid now because I had a ranco thermostat I could have used.

The Hovabators make for bad incubators. And thats because its not a stable temp. The hovabator turns off and on evey few minutes. Heat up cool down heat up cool down. See where im going with this? You need a solid unchanging temp especially in the first few days.

Ya, what does anyone suggest for a better incubator for next year?

Or is a good thermostat enough?

[LadyOhh]

Natures Spirit Incubators are a great choice..

And thermostats should be, in my opinion, proportional for incubators, so I would suggest Herpstat or Helix.

By the way, I still stand by my thought on it being the incubator issue. Lets put it this way.. Just as the odds for hatching out Pastels are, so were the odds on hatching out your kinked babies due to the incubator. It just happened to be the Pastels.. I'm sorry, and good luck!

[TankMasterOG]

O no i just got a free hovabater...i think i no y it was free now....

[rabernet]

I used the thermostat that came with it but also put a digital thermometer/hygrometer in with it. I feel stupid now because I had a ranco thermostat I could have used.

A Ranco certainly would have been better than the wafer thermostat that comes with the Hovabator, but I agree with Heather, I use a Helix for my incubator.

Incubators are so easy to make, and I've heard way too many horror stories about hovabators - there are some success stories, but there were too many tragic stories for me to ever trust a ball python clutch to a chicken incubator.

I use a mini-fridge that has a fan and a strip of flexwatt and a Helix, and I've (knock on wood) hatched 5 clutches in it so far with no issues. I know that's not a large sampling, but it's been worry free.

Deborah made an incubator using Degei's design.
http://www.eyehit.com/degei/supportf.../inc/index.htm

[Jerhart]

...one of my incubators was made using the hovabator heating element. Seeings you already have a hovabator, get yourself a nice sized cooler, a T-stat and you have a hovabator on steroids.

I never lost a clutch in this guy. No spikes.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ghlight=cooler