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Incubator question

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bekah1spar

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I very recently purchased a breeding pair of albino Burms. The female is gravid, and this will be my first attempt at incubating eggs. I have about 5 weeks to get my s*** together, and I'd like some suggestions and tips from those with more experience! They came with a small Hovobator, but it obviously won't hold all the eggs- I could probably squeeze a dozen in it, but that would be the maximum. So, my question is, would I be better off purchasing another similar incubator and using both, splurging a little on a larger incubator, or fashioning my own out of something like a refridgerator?

What have you used in the past, and what have you had the best luck with?
 
Get a big old refridge, and outfit it with heat tape, helix etc. (Btw, I don't think you'll get 12 burm eggs in a hova lol. Maybe 5?)
 
Get a big old refridge, and outfit it with heat tape, helix etc. (Btw, I don't think you'll get 12 burm eggs in a hova lol. Maybe 5?)
 
Rebekah I don't know how easily you can get a hold of an old up right freezer, but here's what I did.

#1 my 9 to 5 I'm an appliance tech so I came across an upright freezer with wire racks.
#2 go to a junk yard and pull 2 good condenser fans of of refrigerators
#2 mount a 100 watt light bulb to the bottom of the freezer, as well as one of the fans pointing up.
#3 mount the other fan to the top of the freezer pointing down. Then cover the lowest shelf in the freezer with aluminum foil because the direct light will unevenly focus heat. This will just create a box of heat and the fans will circulate it.
#4 Then you need to use a good quality proportional thermal control. I went with the Herpstat II. It's $239, but well worth it. My temps fluctuate about one tenth of a degree on a really hot day.
#5 is optional but if you're worried about the humidity in your substrate & tubs I put a 28 qt plastic tub of water on the bottom shelf, and to keep the temps more stable I filled pop bottles with water and put them on the door racks.

Also make sure you drill a small hole in one of your tubs to place the thermostat probe in the tub. The ambient temps in the incubator will be way different than in the tubs. Also it's best to keep the incubator in the coolest place in your house. It's better to make the incubator work harder to heat than to get temperature spikes and make snake egg omlettes.
 
I'm going to be making my own soon...But I know that many can't...I used Nature's Spirit and love them...I also used a very tricked out cooler incubator by Jake Wallace of JW Exotics...They are pretty much plug-and-play bators, but you do pay the upcharge for that...
 
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