Here are the explanations for the items I've put on the list and their importance
1. Thermostat: You'll need a reliable thermostat to regulate the temps in your incubator. You would want them at a steady 89 degrees so you don't want a thermostat that fluctuates. Once you incubate the eggs and they have come out of the eggs and shed you will be able to put them in your hatchling rack. Just unplug this same thermostat you were using for the incubator and start using it to regulate your temps on the hatchling rack. But if you would like as a just in case you could buy a cheaper thermostat for the hatchling rack if you would like.
2. Incubator: I recommend using a wine cooler as a first incubator because they are already empty on the inside so you really don't have to gut anything on the inside. And if you really want to make it lighter you can take off all the cooling stuff and the motor and everything that makes it heavy. But since mine is going to be sitting in one place for a long time I didn't bother to do all that.
3. Incubator fan: This helps circulate the air inside the incubator so the air won't get stale.
4. Hatchrite: There are a couple of different incubation mediums you can use to incubate eggs in. There's perlite, vermiculite, Hatchrite, and a substrateless method that I know nothing about. With perlite and vermiculite you have to mix in water in a 1:1 ratio. Meaning 250g of perlite or vermiculite or both mix with with 250g of water. A 1:1 ratio by weight. If too much water is used the eggs will be too wet and they will die. If not enough water is mixed in the eggs will dry up and die. So I didn't really want to work with those and just got some Hatchrite which is already mixed with water, so all you have to do is pour it in your egg tub, put in the eggs, and put it in the incubator. But Hatchrite isn't perfect I've heard of some people using it that had to add water to the Hatchrite because their eggs were starting to dry up, but I've heard a lot of people that have used it that have had no problems with it, same as with the perlite and vermiculite. All are great mediums when used properly
5. Heat tape: you'll have to buy some heat tape for the back of the incubator so it will keep it warm. Once you find the right wine cooler you want, your going to measure the back of the cooler so you'll know how much heat tape you will need.
6. Aluminum Foil tape: this is what you will be using to tape the heat tape to the back of your wine cooler. The aluminum foil tape doesn't disrupt the flow of heat by the heat tape. It's just like wrapping a potato in aluminum foil. It warms up along with the potato or heat tape lol.
7. Egg Tubs: you'll need to put your eggs inside of something so that they will have the perfect conditions to incubate in. So you need an egg tub/ plastic Sterilite tub that you will be putting your incubation medium inside. This will help keep that eggs at the perfect temperature and help hold in that 100% humidity that the eggs need.
1. Hatchling Rack: after the babies come out of their egg breeders wait until they have had their first shed to put them in their new home. Since they have already had their first meal from the yolk sac they absorb it usually takes a week or maybe even a couple more days for them to shed. During this time most breeders keep all the babies together and on a moist paper towel so they will have enough humidity to shed. Once all of them shed or each on sheds they put them in their new homes where they will stay until they are sold. Unless they are hold backs of course.
2. Hide Boxes: these hide boxes will be going inside each of the tubs on the hatchling rack. Now some people don't have hides inside of their tubs because the tub itself is secure enough and basically the whole thing is like a hide. So if you want you don't have to buy any hides to put in the tubs, but for me I personally don't think a little extra security will hurt. So I put hide boxes in the back of the tubs which will be the hot spot. This is completely up to you so you can do whatever you think is best on this step
3. Water bowls: Even though the snakes get a lot of the water that they need from the rodents that we feed to them, it's always nice to have some water for them to drink whenever they feel like drinking. This is a luxury because in the wild they don't go to the water and drink they just stay home and wait for prey to come.
4. Substrate: Each tub will need to have some kind of substrate at the bottom. I use aspen because it's easy to spot clean and I just like it overall. But any substrate will work great, so whatever substrate you use for your animals put it in for the babies
That's the end of my list and explanations
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