Repti-bator, initial review

[WingedWolfPsion]

First impression--it's not as well built as a HovaBator. But for the price? Well, I set it up, to see how it worked.
I poured water into the base...it overflowed and spilled out of the drainage holes in the bottom, and this was an ongoing problem, as it would slosh when you moved the unit. : \

I put the foam pad in, and put the lid on, set up the thermostat, and let it go.

It's holding temperatures quite well, with a one degree variance. This is about what I expected--it holds temps as well as a HovaBator connected to a HerpStat, actually. So, the thermostat is performing well.

The humidity, however...
The lid does not seal tightly (unlike a HovaBator). It simply rests on the base, and it's made entirely of a tough, clear plastic with a strange foam strip around the point where it sits on the base. It is slightly too large for the base, so the foam strip doesn't fit evenly. The base has holes, one on each side--for cords, maybe? Or ventilation. They're along the rim.

Humidity maxxed out at 75% after 3 days. Unimpressive.
I put plastic sticky tape over the vent/cord holes. This brought the humidity up to about 85%...

My next step is going to be to break it down, use aquarium sealant on the drainage holes and the vent holes around the top, then set it back up, and see how it performs THAT way.

If you put the eggs into sealed tubs or deli cups inside of the incubator, it should work FINE. If you want to put them in directly, using a substrateless system, it won't work for that without modification unless you're hatching eggs from a species that needs a lower humidity.

I'll post details of the results after I modify it. At this point in time, I am less impressed than I hoped to be--still, the entire unit IS less expensive than purchasing a HovaBator AND a herpstat to control it. So, I'm still giving it a chance.

[PassionsPythons]

I'll tell you what I did with mine.

I bought 2 - 6qt. sterilite tubs at Wal-Mart.
I bought 1 - 15ft. roll of weather stripping at Wal-Mart.
I bought 1 bag of vermiculite from Lowes.
I bought 1 roll of aluminum foil tape at Lowes.

When I got home I cut the weather stripping to fit around the top of the styrofoam container. It has sticking backing, so I just removed the excess paper and placed it on the top of the box. Then I covered all the holes in the bottom with aluminum foil tape as well as the ones on the side, leaving only 1 open for my thermometer probe. It made the top sit nice and flush with a near air tight seal. To keep fresh air in the incubator I open it once a day for about 1 minute, so that new air circulates in.

I filled the 2 sterilite tubs with 400g of vermiculite, as well as 400g of water. I put 1 - 1/4inch hole on each end of each tub. I placed both in the incubator. Set it to 99 degrees. It put the temp in each tub w/lid at 89 - 90 degrees for me. That's with an avg room temperature of 80 degrees. The humidity in each tub is plenty to keep the eggs nice and plump. Mine have been in there 10 days thus far with no signs of dimpling.

Hope this helped you out.