Incubators

Hi, I was wondering what the best commercially made incubators may be. All I have is a Hova Bator and is just so unreliable. I have been looking for a long time and there are a number of names out there; Avey, Big Apple, Nature's Spirit, Lyons etc... I am looking for something versatile that can handle a number of species from womas to Indian pythons. If anyone has experience, good or bad, please share.

Thanks,

Jon McMahon

Hi Jon,

I have either personally used or have close friends that have used all of the brands you listed except Lyons. You really can not go wrong using any of them. You can also try building your own large capacity incubator. I have built two myself that have been every bit as reliable as the ones listed above.

Here is a link on how to build your own. These are the exact directions I followed when building mine. http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml

One thing I did different on the converted fridge/freezer is that I used 4 feet of flexwatt. I also added a computer case fan to circulate the air.

Here is a pic of the medium sized incubator I made, I cant find any pics of the big one but the link I gave above is almost identical to my large one.

My suggestion would be Nature's Spirit. For quality merchandise and excellent customer service you can't go wrong.

This coming season I will be trying an alternative. I will not have enough eggs to merit building a homemade-refrig-heattape one. About the size of a NS at 1/3 the cost.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/6ad2/

Sara, i think the Think Geek one is a good idea actually. It would be fun to test it out either way, and when youre done for that year.. youve got a minifridge for other stuff... hehe.

I like the idea of keeping it on a second thermostat too.... just in case. BUT, a question i have for it on this same topic would be.... if the temp got too high inside and it wasnt reliable enough to keep its own temp, and the second thermostat like we mentioned putting on it in chat went off,( and shut the entire machine off), would it reset it? Id be worried about that above anything else.

what about rewiring the thermostat with a better trustier one? Just throwing random stuff out.. ^_^ i love that thing, but im skeptical about it too. I guess, if its what youre going to try, youll have to do some interesting tests on it for us! because it truly is perfect for small clutches, and its cheap! hehe.

I will probably have to play with it to make sure that for example: i set it to 82* for beardies, that the eggs inside and dirt will be that temp, or that will be the air temp. I might have to set it higher to make sure it's that high in the tupperwares. I don't expect a problem since it's such a small space. I will be testing it with several thermometers. I don't expect to have a problem with the built in thermostat. If anything i would plug it into a surge protector/battery powered so if the power goes out it can still run for a while and not turn off/on and reset.

I am currently in need of upsizing my incubator capacity also and am purchasing a Habitat Systems incubator that will hold 9 shoebox size clutches. I currently have a baby rack they built and it is INCREDIBLE to work with!! They are a bit spendy, but for me it's a lifetime investment and I work with gtps which are fairly touchy in their requirements for eggs.

I currently have one of the small Avey units which works great, but can basically only hold one decent size clutch at a time, and last year built a large igloo style cooler that worked pretty well. I did have issues near the end of incubation time with humidity since I was unable to break it down and do a thorough cleaning.

I'm looking forward to a problem free season next year in the incubator!!

http://www.habitatsystemsltd.com/

forgot to post their link, sorry about that!!

About the size of a NS at 1/3 the cost.

I own one of these, and the interior is approx 13"hx8.5" deep x10" wide or approx 1100 cubic inches. The Natures Spirit Reptiles inc is approx. 23x23x17 or approx 5290 cubic inches. The thermostat is unreliable, but it does keep the set point if the power is lost.

Originally Posted by Dewback

Hi, I was wondering what the best commercially made incubators may be. All I have is a Hova Bator and is just so unreliable.

There's a part on those things you are suppose to replace every couple of years.
Mine (brand new last year) keeps the eggs between 80 and 82 without fail. I have a thermometer in the tub with eggs - never below 80 or above 82.

Just don't use the turbofan model.

What failures have you seen with them?