Help! incubator temps

[Bruceweb]

Wonder if any one can help..I set up a polybox incubator, left the pulse stat free hanging in the polybox, put a digital thermometer probe in the tub,,eggs have been incubating for over 4 weeks, all eggs are alive & growing..however I tested my eggs surface temps as the eggs felt cool..thermometer reads at 88.5 in the tub but the surface temps of the eggs are 84f..have placed the stat probe inside the egg tub & put the temp probe into the poly box..any ideas

[kellysballs]

your already 4 wks into incubation. Dont change the temps now. If the eggs are doing fine leave them alone. They will just hatch out later than 60days.

[Bruceweb]

your already 4 wks into incubation. Dont change the temps now. If the eggs are doing fine leave them alone. They will just hatch out later than 60days.

Thanks..eggs are looking well & the foetuses are growing well, don't want to do them any harm..grrrr just been relying on the digital thermometer all this time..dont care about the extra time incubating just didnt realize the temps were 'nt true

[dr del]

Hi,

I wouldn't change the temps at this point either.

One other fact to consider though - the digital thermometer measures the temps when the lid is on and everything is nice and snug - but you had to have the lid off to use the temp gun.

It probably didn't make a huge difference but it might have made some as the surface of the egg would cool down quicker than the snake inside initially I suspect.

You could try calibrating a digital thermometer with your temp gun just sitting in your room somewhere and mark down any variance and then replace the one currently in the egg box with the checked one?

It's a bit of a faff considering you probably don't want to vary the incubation temps whatever the result but it might set your mind at rest or let you try and work out how long it may have aded to the incubation time?


dr del