Confusion on incubators.

[Phantomtip]

Yeah that thermobator looks really cool but I wasn't going to touch it. Plus I have no room for a big incubator except outside and its too cold. Thats another reason I want a small one. I am going to get a good thermostat for the incubator just like I did for my BPs enclosures. If there are fertile eggs I want to try and get them hatched. Ive hatched chicken eggs in an incubator but have never done reptile eggs.

[SlitherinSisters]

Do not get the hovabator. You might as well buy a sytrofoam cooler if you are going to use that. I highly recommend making your own. If you are going to use a Hovabator but use a different thermostat you're already half way to making your own incubator. If you want something small/temporary you can use a regular cooler, or an old/broken fridge. If you use something small enough you don't have to worry about a computer fan. There are a TON of DIYs on making your own incubators, it's super easy.

[BHReptiles]

Where do you live? I'm sure there's a local enthusiast that can help you rig up a styrofoam cooler.

The incubators listed are junk. I wouldn't risk my eggs by incubating in them.

[sho220]

Making your own incubator is incredibly easy:

1. buy a styrofoam cooler, a foot or so of heat tape from reptile basics (they will wire it for you), some aluminum foil tape, and a thermostat (preferably something like the herpstat intro +)
2. Using the foil tape, tape the heat tape into the cooler
3. Pass the heat tape cord out of the cooler and plug it into the thermostat
4. Place the thermostat's probe inside the cooler and set the thermostat to the desired incubation temperature.
5. Add eggs

If I had to chose between the 2 you listed I would go with the hovabator, but personally I wouldn't trust either of them.

This ^^^ A cooler type of incubator is the way to go for a few clutches per year...

Incubating bp eggs is a very simple process...don't make it any harder than it should be. All you need are heat (and a way to control it) and humidity. Heat tape and a thermostat takes care of one, substrate the other. A cooler is ideal for this...

Temp controls



Heat tape...


Routing the wires...



And eventually you get this...

[grcforce327]

Get the hovabator, it has hatched tons of reptiles. Set the hovabator at a good 91 degrees, and also buy a Herpstat. When you have the hovabator "dialed in", plug it into the herpstat, put the herstat probe about 1" above the screen, and set it at 88.5. good luck.

Casey hit the nail on the head!!! With more clutches,his incubator is awesome!

[Phantomtip]

I suck at wiring things. Also is it just me or what but are the hovabator and reptibator the same thing? I mean except for he whole plastic lid, and a digital thermo its the same right? I would prefer a nice incubator so if I get eggs I will have a nice set up. I wasn't planning for eggs this year but my hubby is a goober and put my male with my female because his parameters were off a bit. Now I need to be ready if I get some. I know there is a local breeder but I don't know who it is in my area. He sold my yb to a lps and I bought him the next day. I would love to meet this person though because my yb is a very nice boy and healthy too. He might be able to give me pointers on my 2.

[sho220]

I suck at wiring things. Also is it just me or what but are the hovabator and reptibator the same thing? I mean except for he whole plastic lid, and a digital thermo its the same right? I would prefer a nice incubator so if I get eggs I will have a nice set up. I wasn't planning for eggs this year but my hubby is a goober and put my male with my female because his parameters were off a bit. Now I need to be ready if I get some. I know there is a local breeder but I don't know who it is in my area. He sold my yb to a lps and I bought him the next day. I would love to meet this person though because my yb is a very nice boy and healthy too. He might be able to give me pointers on my 2.

You don't need to know how to wire anything to make an incubator. If you can operate a pair of pliers, you can take care of wiring. I think it was already mentioned but some online stores offer pre-wired flexwatt.

[sho220]

Casey hit the nail on the head!!! With more clutches,his incubator is awesome!

If you're going to use a Herpstat on a hovabator, why even bother? It seems like it would be better to either use a hovabator and hope for the best, or just make an incubator...

[Brandon Osborne]

Buy the Hovabator, scrap the expensive reptile thermostats, and go to Grainge.com and buy yourself a Penn industrial thermostat. You DO NOT need a proportional thermostat to hatch ball pythons. A simple on/off stat will do the job and has for me for over 20 years. I still have the same Penn thermostat I got from Grainger in 1995 and it is still working as well as it did the day I got it.....for around $40. I've hatched everything from Burms to Balls to Chondros with it. If you convert your Hovabator, you can fit about 50-60 ball python eggs in it. Think simple and don't over-think it.lol.

[sho220]

Buy the Hovabator, scrap the expensive reptile thermostats, and go to Grainge.com and buy yourself a Penn industrial thermostat. You DO NOT need a proportional thermostat to hatch ball pythons. A simple on/off stat will do the job and has for me for over 20 years. I still have the same Penn thermostat I got from Grainger in 1995 and it is still working as well as it did the day I got it.....for around $40. I've hatched everything from Burms to Balls to Chondros with it. If you convert your Hovabator, you can fit about 50-60 ball python eggs in it. Think simple and don't over-think it.lol.

Is Penn and Johnson the same thing? I can't find anything when searching for Penn thermostats...just comes up with Johnson stuff. Any pics of your hovabator setup?