Quote Originally Posted by enginee837 View Post
I might get flamed for this but it worked for me. I used a cooler with water and a fish tank heater (thermostat built in) in the bottom. I used an elevated floor with holes in it and placed eggs in Tupper ware containers full of vermiculite. This gave me plenty of humidity, air flow was not an issue and although the fish tank heater was not accurate to the temp the eggs needed to be at, it was consistent. Once I figure out what setting to leave it at to give me the ambient air temperature I wanted, I just left it there. I successfully hatched multiple clutches of house snake eggs and a couple clutches of chondropython eggs with an 80-85% success rate if I recall. It was about 18 years ago.
This was my first incubator at I think the age of 12. Hatched several leopard gecko eggs with it. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn it off when I finished and the heater burned out a hole in the bottom of the Styrofoam cooler when enough water evaporated to uncover it.

Now I use a converted fridge for dragon eggs and a cabinet hatchery model for bps.

Ebay has some interesting incubators coming out from sellers in China. They cost $100 and are in between the quality of a hovabator and nice professional cabinet model. All digital. I haven't used my poultry one yet (has egg turners) but they have gotten consistently good reviews. I haven't looked but I'm sure there's a good model for reptiles that could replace the $200 garbage we see in pet stores.