Incubators??

[bradleymoore]

That looks good. was that $50 with or with out a thermisat? That is something I plan on building in 1-2 seasons when I have more then 2-3 clutches at 1 time. I can handle 3 right now and only have 2 females that are mating so I'm good for 1-2 more years..

thanks. without a thermostat. i wish it was with one... but everything can't be free. i just threw my herpstat on it, set it at 89 and within 5 minutes... it hit 89 and has showed within a degree on the thermometer inside that it's true ever since (last weekend).

 

[Shadera]

Coulda sworn I had some pictures of mine since I updated it, but no go.

Here's a shot of it a few years ago when I got it. It's steel inside and out, and holds temps very well.

 

[Cp3_Pythons]

WOW lot of diffrent designs and makes going on Almost to much for my brain to take in at once LOL Thank You to every one for sharing I belive Im going to go with the Mini Fridge or Wine Cooler design as I plan on only produceing 1-3 clutches at a time but through out the year. I guess My next real question to every one is How to wire it up I know the basics of installin Flex Watt (Thanks to Fauna Users) But when running it a incubator do I have to do anything diffrent? Also Would a silicone be okay to cover any holes that have to be drilled into the incubator to run the wires?

 

[Cp3_Pythons]

Shadera,

What is that your using? As it looks alot like the Bread holder used at Quizno's to hold the bread for the subs?

 

[Shadera]

Shadera,

What is that your using? As it looks alot like the Bread holder used at Quizno's to hold the bread for the subs?

I modified a catering/proofing box that I got for free. I ran 11" heat tape down the inside back of it, installed some wire shelving, and use a helix to run it.

Something like that.

 

[Cp3_Pythons]

Thanks Shadera I must have missed that all together Thanks for Pointing that out to me Im sorry I made you repost it Thank You though

But it does hold heat and humidity good? How many Clutchs do you think would fit inside of it?

 

[Shadera]

It holds twelve 15quart tubs with room for air flow around them. I keep my individual tubs closed and maintain the humidity in each so I can't tell you whether or not it holds humidity well.

 

[Matt2979]

This is what I used last year. I can't take any credit for building it. That would go to Trey Barnard of Fire Ball Pythons. He built this several seasons ago and sold it to someone else when he moved to a "full-size" unit. I bought it last season and was planning to use it again this year, but I'm probably moving up, only because I have an extra fridge (just replaced mine).

These pics show you that it's about as basic as you can get, but it served me well. I can fit (10) 6-quart tubs in it, but the 9th and 10th are a tight fit. Fortunately my timing last season was good and I only had 9 in it at one time, and the 9th was literally only there for a few days. I think 5 or 6 were in it for the majority of the season. (And please look past the speckling of vermiculite on the bottom...it'll get a thorough cleaning before I need it! )

And concerning plugging a hole that you drill, probably use an exterior grade caulk to resist the heat and humidity. Just be sure that you have as much slack as you need in your wires before plugging those holes. And that's really only if you make a big hole. If you keep it small enough for the wire to fill most of it, you probably won't need to worry about it.

 

[Focal]

Sorry about the cell pic, but I have a wine cooler. I haven't used it yet but it's pretty neat. It has blue lights so I can monitor the eggs and an upper and lower temp reading of the ambient air. I will use a herpstat to read and control the temps inside the tubs. Both top and bottom have built in fans in the back. It sucks because by the time I get to using it, I will have to many eggs going BTW, it's reading different temps top and bottom because I just plugged it in. After the air circulates, it balances out.

 

[Clay Davenport]

Since my incubator was mentioned, and the talk about thermostats, I thought I'd chime in.

With the superior insulation of a refrigerator or freezer, a proportional thermostat, while an excellent choice, is not required.
I have been using the one detailed on my site for I think 8 years. The first 3 or 4 years it was operated on a ZooMed Repti Temp 500R thermostat that retailed at the time for $22. It held +/- 2 degree accuracy with that thermostat.
At the time the incubator was in use year round, and the room it was in had an ambient temperature that fluctuated with the seasons from 45-50 degrees in the winter to 70+ degrees in the summer (it was used as a brumation room in the winter).
Despite the differences in room temp, I never adjusted the thermostat. It continued to hold the temperature I set regardless of the room temp.
Now it's operated with a Ranco t-stat and holds +/- 1 degree accuracy.

Unless you're dealing with a species which exhibits TDSD, you don't need even that precise control over incubation temps.

There's nothing wrong with a proportional t-stat, it's just not necessary with this specific type of incubator, and is an unnecessary expense.
My incubator originally cost $40 total to build (the freezer was free). Had I used a Ranco to begin with it would have cost about $95.

The one addition I would suggest to my design is to add a fan to circulate the air. I have intended to install one in mine for years, but I never have.
It doesn't cause any problems by not having one, but if you're building one from scratch, I'd put one in even though mine still doesn't use one.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

I was planning to use it again this year, but I JUST had to replace my fridge so I think I'm going to keep the old one and do the same thing. My advantage with the old kitchen fridge is that I can use the freezer as a separate incubator for my BD's eggs.

I was just thinking about this today. My fridge has started making funny noises (it's only 5 years old, but it's a cheapy) and I'm not sure if I should root for its demise or not. I don't particularly like the idea of having to replace it (but I do so love those french door stainless steel ones!), but the idea of having ONE incubator that I can setup for two temps is very appealing. The only thing, I'm a bit uncomfortable with not being able to see into the incubator...How difficult is it to cut the fronts (neatly) and replace with thick plexi?

I myself have a purchased incubator from Jungle Habitats (no longer in business) that I've been using for several years.

 

[preacher]

Just a novice here but the unit pictured below took me one Saturday to put together. I used the many forum posts here in Fauna and made one modeled after the ones I liked best. The unit is a non working upright freezer that I got for free at a local appliance dealer they even took out the Freon and where glad to have me take it or they must pay to take it to the scrap dealer. One thing to note if you do use a fan use just one the unit I built has three fans in the top and it creates to much heat and I had to add a dimmer switch to control the air flow and a timer to turn on and off the fans every hour to maintain a temp of +/- 2˚ and the unit maintains a temp of +/- .7˚ top to bottom. It has a herpstat and two 4’ X 11” heat tapes down each side. The thermometers on the sides are to check temp top and bottom while the thermostat probe is in the middle of the unit. This one will hold up to 16 of the tubs that are now in it. However, I did not get any eggs last year to prove the design but this year I am hopeful. It holds humidity at 80 -85 % with a tub of water on the bottom.

 

[Cp3_Pythons]

Clay, Your advice is always welcome As everything you have done and posted for us DIY's is simply amazing and easy to understand even for people like LoL

Stephanie I dont know how hard it would be to remove the insides and replace with plexi glass but Im thinking removing the door and framing a Sheet of Plexi glass isnt hard ( other experiance But Ive never done it for an incubator)

Rev. Richard Nice design Could you let me know how it holds out in the future (heat humidity etc etc)