Incubators

[chondrogreen]

So much technology in incubating containers, and still no domed lids to aid in condensation returning to the medium.

 

[GeckoJosh]

So much technology in incubating containers, and still no domed lids to aid in condensation returning to the medium.

I've noticed some people use those lettuce storage containers, I bet that's the reason why.

Thanks Gex

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

So much technology in incubating containers, and still no domed lids to aid in condensation returning to the medium.

Makes them harder to ship with domed lids. We do have more options this year including domed lid.

I have actually hatched Carpet pythons and bearded dragons in a hovabator as that is actually the incubator you are talking about. No doudt they work. I dont think you have any proof that US stock is weaker and I would like to see documented cases of this. Most python eggs also sit on top of each other with only the bottom layer touching the substrate surface. Lizard eggs are also laid in circular shaped holes and only the outside ones touch the soil. They absorb water from the humid air.

So to answer your question, yes I have hatched eggs in hovabators. Many in fact.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

KatshirT: "regards to our style of incubation should have been conducted by the Aus rep prior to sales being made and mention of the mode of incubator being required being made crystal clear."

You involved us in the thread, that why we responded.

Hovabators were the quick solution when there was nothing on the market to specifically hatch reptile eggs. Better products arrived when we gained better insight into hatching reptile eggs. I have never pushed people to use this product. Its everybodys own choice; if you think hovabators are the way to go then fine. And if $2 tubs work for you, then great. But dont rate these tubs if you have never even seen or held one.

 

[dtulip10]

i have been using a hovabator for the last few years and have had some success. personally i feel they work ok but just limited on room inside. this season i will be shopping for a old fridge a thermo and heat cord. for the price of a hovabator though i feel you would be silly at not looking into building your own.

cheers Dayle

 

[GeckoJosh]

Lizard eggs are also laid in circular shaped holes and only the outside ones touch the soil. They absorb water from the humid air.

This statement is not true when it comes to lizard species that only lay small clutches such as geckos that only lay 1 or 2 eggs at a time.

Thanks Gex

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

Of course there are exeptions. There are also geckos that lay their eggs on leaves and rocks?

 

[JasonL]

I really don't think incubating reptile eggs is rocket science, if you find something that works, then stick with it. I incubate a few eggs each year just leaving them on a shelf in a warmish room, funny enough, it they usually ake about 2 weeks longer but tend to be much larger hatchies than the "incubated" ones. Next year I will test it with snakes and see how they do. I have friends who use Hovabators, and they seem as fine as any other method.

 

[ShaunMorelia]

I really don't think incubating reptile eggs is rocket science, if you find something that works, then stick with it. I incubate a few eggs each year just leaving them on a shelf in a warmish room, funny enough, it they usually ake about 2 weeks longer but tend to be much larger hatchies than the "incubated" ones. Next year I will test it with snakes and see how they do. I have friends who use Hovabators, and they seem as fine as any other method.

Do you use a humidifier in that room or do you find there is enough mositure in the air?
Cheers

 

[KatshirT]

Once again presumptions will always lead down the road to failure...

I infact have held 5 of these SIM containers in my little hands and have aided in setting up 2 of them and watched them during the test phase over 3 weeks, I am familiar ith what they look like, how well lids fit and am more than knowledgable enought to understand how varying species of reptiles in Australia dispose of there eggs for incubation purposes.

How ever you, CarpetPythons, have yourself mentions on a few occasions that you yourself have hatched Bearded dragon eggs in the SIM I merely referred to and will now identify that Bearded dragon eggs are laid by the females upto 45cm from the surface of the soil and are then completely submerged beneath soil for 70+ days being heated by the soil surrounding them which is ultimately being heated by the SUN.. glorious SUN...

Now the Hoovabator style incubator has been adopted by ReptaPets and is being sold by them as a reptile incubator... Are we now to note that you are saying ReptaPets is selling an inferior product that is nothing more than a "CHEAP FIX"?? and further more not appropriate for reptiles at all?? as I belive that would be considered SLANDER I do not expect an answer.

Documentated cases would be near impossible to source as most reptiles in the US apart from you Pied Ball python standard upmarket reptiles all others are dispensable to the average joe as $5 is far from a huge investment and when one goes a wry you simply purchase another... spent much time over there to see for yourself??

So my question directed to you CarpetPythons is, did you look into the SIM style simply because you lost so many reptiles at full term that were unable to pip?? and simply put it down to a poor incubator without taking into account the possibility that JasonL brought up of low calcium and other nutrient levels in the mother/s of those poor unfotunate little reps that lost their lives due to a lack of product from the US and SIM containers?

Do I sound abrupt?? sure do... many many many keepers around Australia use and have done so for upto 43 years the hoovabator style incubator setup. These same keepers evolved much of the basic knowledge that any primary school student knows about reptiles these days and have written and continue to write articles, books and journals on all fasets of reptile keeping. Further more these same keepers created much of the species attributes we see today e.g. albinos, hypo, reduced pattern and striped etc etc etc...

Are they all cheap people?

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

"Now the Hoovabator style incubator has been adopted by ReptaPets and is being sold by them as a reptile incubator... Are we now to note that you are saying ReptaPets is selling an inferior product that is nothing more than a "CHEAP FIX"?? and further more not appropriate for reptiles at all?? as I belive that would be considered SLANDER I do not expect an answer."

I would like you to show me where i have said this? I in fact was one of the people who helped them out with the design and was the first person to test their prototype incubator? It was damaged during the shipping from china. I hatched 2 clutches of beardies in their prototype and then multiple clutches of carpet pythons in 2 of the first to arrive in Australia. Whose eggs and photos do you think is on the cover of the box for the incubator?

I only sold those quantities to 2 people in vic so i am pretty sure I know who you are.

"Documentated cases would be near impossible to source as most reptiles in the US apart from you Pied Ball python standard upmarket reptiles all others are dispensable to the average joe as $5 is far from a huge investment and when one goes a wry you simply purchase another... spent much time over there to see for yourself??"

Some more assumptions!

"So my question directed to you CarpetPythons is, did you look into the SIM style simply because you lost so many reptiles at full term that were unable to pip?? and simply put it down to a poor incubator "

You make me laugh!

I can guarantee you that high end animals do not get hatched in Hovabators.

I would love to know how you bred Rough scaled pythons over the years when you are in Victoria? They only came on the list in October last year? Are you just telling porky pies about all the things you have bred in Hoovabators?

 

[maanz641]

ding ding round two

 

[Kristy_07]

I'm not sure I understand why it is such a problem that some people want to continue to use older, but tried and tested methods, whilst others want to move on to newer methods that are popular overseas. I understand why the differences in the two methods would be discussed on a reptile forum, but I don't understand the need for people to argue about it, making some fairly abrupt and personal comments along the way, in two separate threads. Isn't it simply horses for courses?

 

[Kristy_07]

Maanz - much more succinct. Thanks

 

[ihaveherps]

I would have thought a superior product would hold up as well, if not better than technologically challenged home jobs.

For anyone to dig at any form of incubator is lunacy. If the concept of the design is completely understood, and applied correctly, then there is really little fault to be found in even the most archaic of incubation systems. To even suggest that achieving stable temps and humidity in a water heated incubator is unlikely, foolish at best.... large heat sinks are an advantage in achieving stable temperatures, even more of a plus in cases of power failure, and you would have to be insane to argue they couldnt create efficient humidity....

I suppose the point I am trying to convey, is that if one tub is to be better than another, then it has to perform better. I fail to see how, by any logic, that any tried and tested method, that uses the most basic of tupperware, can become redundant and outdated because a newer tupperware model cant perform in the same manner, if not better..... And as I understand the thread, thats the topic at hand.

 

[Southside Morelia]

I only use the hovabator......but i'm old school and have not bred in mass. I plan to change one day when the volume makes me....or i'll have a heap of little foam boxes over the herp room. :lol: What's the problem anyways, I have has 100% success rate to now with them!

 

[cris]

I suppose the point I am trying to convey, is that if one tub is to be better than another, then it has to perform better. I fail to see how, by any logic, that any tried and tested method, that uses the most basic of tupperware, can become redundant and outdated because a newer tupperware model cant perform in the same manner, if not better..... And as I understand the thread, thats the topic at hand.

Glass is a better conductor of heat than plastic so will be less suitable in an incubator that isnt completely stable. Plasitc is much better for this reason IMO. I have played around with lots of dodgy cheap inucbation methods, in an envoronment with a stable temperature you can get accuracy within +/- 0.1C with an on off thermostat that varies by 2-3 degrees, by using suitable insulation, heat sinks and common(aka rare) sense. Its much easier just to use a dimming thermostat and a fan though.

 

[KatshirT]

Ok so I see.... Carpet pythons seems you like to jump on the band wagon of every new item that comes on the market...

Oh and also, "Hoovabators were the quick solution when there was nothing on the market to specifically hatch reptile eggs" so as there model works on the same principal.. make of it what you will... btw that was a straightquote there carpet pythons.

I more thing... Yes I do reside in Victoria but have been interstate and overseas for some parts of my life so I have been able to experience many many things and reptile keeping of both Australian, Indonesian, Chinese, South American and American reptiles just to name a few. This reptile world is far smaller than some give credit to, and you really have no idea who the person your talking to really is and what experience they may hold.

As very few have owned up to using the Hoovabator or similar styled incubators this thread is becoming useless to it's intended use so Mods do close it.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

I have never said the hovabators were inferior. They were as good as my new home made incubators. Space became an issue as there is just so much you can put in them. They have see through plastic panels in the top that allows you to view into the incubator without opening it. These viewing holes make it impossible to keep a stable temperature, especially on a hot 46C day in Melbourne. The best air conditioners struggle to keep a room at 35C.

I was lucky to meet someone from Kingloc refrigeration that had some working but decomissioned commercial fridges. I exchanged 2 of these fridges for two boxes of Crownies! How can you beat that. They work great and can handle the fluctuating temperatures of Melbourne really well.

I believe the hovabators would work even better if you lived in places with a more stable climate or colder parts of the world.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

Ok so I see.... Carpet pythons seems you like to jump on the band wagon of every new item that comes on the market...

And what is wrong with helping out a dear, close friend of mine? I was not paid. I did it because they dont keep and breed reptiles and i wanted to try it out.

Oh and also, "Hoovabators were the quick solution when there was nothing on the market to specifically hatch reptile eggs" so as there model works on the same principal.. make of it what you will... btw that was a straightquote there carpet pythons.
Their unit is actually very different to the Hoovabators as you keep calling them.

You dont need water in its base for instance, you also have a dimming stat with a digital display panel that controls the temperature very well unless its warmer outside the incubator, they also have a hygrometer attached to the temperature probe that gets placed inside the incubation container that gives a very accurate reading.

The truth is that hovabators were made to incubate chicken eggs! Its on the instructions that Gregg posted. We are not just making it up. Reptile keepers started to use them all over the world as it was cheap and looked better than a tub drifting in a fistank with a aquarium heater in it. Of course they have been refined over the years and still function exactly the same way after all these many years.

If it has been around for this long then i agree that its might be around forever. We all know that we can keep snakes in fishtanks, but do we?