First Clutch on the Ground

[TheSnakeEye]

My first clutch ever is finally on the ground. The pairing was a Pastel Lesser x Mocha. The Mocha was a mere 1500ish grams when I started to pair her, and she was a small 1500 grams. She has a very small frame so I was expecting about 3 or 4 eggs but I got 7 beautiful eggs. One of them is a boob egg, but hardly so. I candled all of them and they all have veins.

Now I have a question. I placed my probe from the Herpstat Intro in the egg tub, as well as an Accurite thermometer. They are side by side, by the probe is reading 88 degrees, the accurite is reading 90 degrees. What do I do? Do I stuck to what the Herpstat says or the accurite? Or go with something in the middle?

Also, is placing the probe in the tub ok? The ambient temp in cooler outside the tub is 92 degrees, but the inside of the tub is reading 88. Is this normal?


Anyway here are some pictures. Hopefully every one of them is a Pastel Blue Eyed Lucy.

[Andybill]

Very cool congrats on your first clutch!

[TheSnakeEye]

Thanks!

[prodigyak]

First of all congrats.

Secondly I'm experiencing something very similar. I'm using a VE-200 and it is reading 89 degrees while my acurite reads between 90-91. The probes are right next to each other in the egg box. So I don't know if I should leave the VE on the setting or lower it.

[Mike41793]

Congrats!

88 and 90 degrees are both ok to incubate eggs at. I wouldnt worry about it too much.

[TheSnakeEye]

Alright cool. Thanks guys!

[rlditmars]

I had similar questions myself about the temps and setup as ours was very similar. I ran into someone from this forum at Repticon Atlanta today, MasonC2K. He took about 10 minutes out to talk to me even though he was really on a tight schedule, but those 10 minutes were invaluable. Thanks Chris, it was really helpful.

As he described it, have the thermostat probe about the center of the incubator but not in a tub. Either hang it or place it directly on top the tub if you just have the one clutch as I do. If you have more then go back to centering it among them as best possible. With regard to thermometer probe placement, he also said that recently he found some variances in the thermometers as he tested 4 of the same kind and had 4 different results. So he recommended using an infarred temp gun to check the tub temps when you open it for air exchange. I went and picked one up from HD for about $40 and after shooting temps inside the tub and incubator, I found that I needed to make some small adjustments. If you compare the temp shown on the thermometer to what the temp gun is showing, then you will know to what degree it is accurate or how much it differs. You can keep the thermometer probe in the tub. As long as the variation, if any, stays consistent when you check temps with the gun, then you can guage/monitor it with the thermometer in the interim of opening the tub for air exchange.

I believe I am on the right track now and I hope this helps answer your questions a little more thoroughly.

[TheSnakeEye]

I had similar questions myself about the temps and setup as ours was very similar. I ran into someone from this forum at Repticon Atlanta today, MasonC2K. He took about 10 minutes out to talk to me even though he was really on a tight schedule, but those 10 minutes were invaluable. Thanks Chris, it was really helpful.

As he described it, have the thermostat probe about the center of the incubator but not in a tub. Either hang it or place it directly on top the tub if you just have the one clutch as I do. If you have more then go back to centering it among them as best possible. With regard to thermometer probe placement, he also said that recently he found some variances in the thermometers as he tested 4 of the same kind and had 4 different results. So he recommended using an infarred temp gun to check the tub temps when you open it for air exchange. I went and picked one up from HD for about $40 and after shooting temps inside the tub and incubator, I found that I needed to make some small adjustments. If you compare the temp shown on the thermometer to what the temp gun is showing, then you will know to what degree it is accurate or how much it differs. You can keep the thermometer probe in the tub. As long as the variation, if any, stays consistent when you check temps with the gun, then you can guage/monitor it with the thermometer in the interim of opening the tub for air exchange.

I believe I am on the right track now and I hope this helps answer your questions a little more thoroughly.

This is all sounds good. But I wonder if placing the thermostat probe on the inside will also work. I mean by placing the probe in the tub, you are heating it to the exact degree that it needs to be.

[rlditmars]

I too had my probe inside the tub just as you, thinking the same thing. However, I believe the idea of having it outside the tub, is that it would adjust more quickly to any variance as it wouldn't have to wait for the interior temperature of the tub to be effected first.

As an exageration, lets say the temps started to spike pretty high, by the time the probe inside registered it, the ambient could be very high and the reaction of the thermostat would be delayed taking longer to start letting it cool. Conversely the opposite could happen too. The probe outside would have the t-stat react quickly and make the necessary adjustments before it could conceivably even impact the internal temps at all.

At least this is how I understood it.

[TheSnakeEye]

I too had my probe inside the tub just as you, thinking the same thing. However, I believe the idea of having it outside the tub, is that it would adjust more quickly to any variance as it wouldn't have to wait for the interior temperature of the tub to be effected first.

As an exageration, lets say the temps started to spike pretty high, by the time the probe inside registered it, the ambient could be very high and the reaction of the thermostat would be delayed taking longer to start letting it cool. Conversely the opposite could happen too. The probe outside would have the t-stat react quickly and make the necessary adjustments before it could conceivably even impact the internal temps at all.

At least this is how I understood it.

This makes perfect sense, the only issue I'm seeing here is that the ambient temps in the incubator are a couple degrees hotter than inside the tub.