Hatchrite Product Questions

[SlitherinSisters]

Thanks for the feedback: Question what did you do to go substrateless? can you take a picture? for me? describe in more detail.

Thanks,

I live in a small town and didn't want to wait till the next trip to get the grate stuff, so I went to Dollar General and bought one of those plastic racks you put dishes in to dry and cut the bottom out so I could use it as a grate. I put that on top of the hatchrite, which I soaked. If you give me a minute I can get a picture. I still have the 3 dead eggs in there because they are attached...it won't be a pretty picture!

[ScubaDiver007]

I use hatchrite and think its great. never had any problems. the dimple shouldnt be a big deal. I had a clutch hatch a couple weeks ago that some were dimpled from the start. And no holes-theyll get the air exchange during periodic check-ups.

I just covered up the two holes that I had in it. Did you use the press and seal on the top of the box?

[snakesRkewl]

Hatchrite dries out with holes in the tub, had that issue last year.
I'll never use it again, cost too much and dries out too easily.

Vermiculite and water and light diffuser , can't get any simpler than that

[ScubaDiver007]

What does that mean? If you're talking about the eggs, you don't really need to cover them at all. Fill the egg box with a couple inches of hatchrite and place the eggs in.

Thanks for the picture.. Did you use the press and seal to cover them up? or just the lid of the box?

I read someplace in a manual that you shouldn't cover over 50% of the media with your eggs? I will have to try and find it and dig it up. It looks to me your eggs are centered and are not covering 50% of the box. Thanks for the picture.. I have no dew forming on the sides of the box, I've covered the two holes that i had.

[SlitherinSisters]

I'll never use it again, cost too much and dries out too easily.

I'll have to agree. It was expensive and definitely not as easy to deal with as some people find it. Substrateless is way easier. I wish I would have done it form the start


Here are my eggs and how I have the set up. The egg that went bad on day 18 just started to grow some mold. I haven't used any powder to keep the mold at bay. To be honest, I wanted to see what happened since I couldn't take them apart and they weren't covered with mold right away. I checked my calendar, they are at day 46 now, and all candled good. You can tell the order in which they went bad. Hopefully I won't lose any more, the grate seems to have fixed the problem. The one egg on the left detached from the middle egg, but not the top egg yet. I was not comfortable with pulling them apart or cutting the bad ones off. Plus I really don't want to cut open the bad ones and have that nasty goo all over the place. (they aren't touching the hatchrite at all anymore)

[ScubaDiver007]

Thanks Stephanie!! Im sorry for the 3 you lost but thank you for your feed back on this. Being my first time Im trying not to open the door on the incubator that much. And I am probably being overly cautious.

Thanks again

[snakesRkewl]

The rest of the eggs look good now, hopefully no more issues.
Good luck with the remaining eggies!

[rabernet]

I used Hatchrite my first year and followed the instructions on the bag - if eggs start to dimple early on - add a teaspoon of water to a corner of the tub.

Now I just use straight Perlite, mixed to the same slightly moist consistency as Hatchrite - I don't use light diffusers, the eggs go directly into the Perlite.

I hatched all my clutches last year on Perlite, and I'm using it again this year. I have 4 cubic feet of the stuff, it will last me for YEARS!

If you go that route, get it from a nursery and make sure it doesn't have Miracle Grow or some other type of fertilizer in it.

[SlitherinSisters]

Thanks Stephanie!! Im sorry for the 3 you lost but thank you for your feed back on this. Being my first time Im trying not to open the door on the incubator that much. And I am probably being overly cautious.

Thanks again

No problem and thank you. It was a real bummer I was all worried about them too and was overly careful. I only added a pop bottle lid full of water to two corners when the eggs dimpled It didn't even feel wet to me. Oh well I guess. A friend of mine keeps reminding me it's my first year and it was a learning experience.

The rest of the eggs look good now, hopefully no more issues.
Good luck with the remaining eggies!

Thank you! It seems like it fixed the problem. I sure hope so!

[jjhall8]

I've used hatchrite for 3 years and 100% hatch.No holes in the box and I use Press N Seal.I buy the 20lb. bag and I have a place local that carries it for $40.00.