Best store bought incubator

[Marzzy]

Just wondering what the best store bought incubator is ?
And which ones to stay away from.
Wanted to do a bar fridge conversion but not sure on doing that for my first lot of eggs.

 

[Skitzmixer]

I've got the Exo Terra incubator that's 32x425.5x48cm. Its pretty good, managed to hatch 2 clutches of bearded dragons eggs with it. It's rather small though so if your planning on having lots of eggs, you'll struggle with this incubator. As long as the box is kept out of drafts, I've found it keeps the temp rather easy as well.

 

[Norm]

I borrowed a mates Exxo Terra last year and had 100% hatch rate for my intergrades. Found it very easy to use, only gripe I had was theyre not very big. Only just fit a 4L ice cream container that I used to hold the egg mass. I used the over water method.
This year I`m making my own from a bar fridge but would happily use the exxo terra again.

 

[Marzzy]

It's so hard I want to make my own but don't wanna have my first clutch compromised.

Sounds small do you think it would hold BHP eggs comfortably ?

Trying to think of a 4L ice cream container.
Did you place them in as a clump ?
Thanks for the information so far might have to check the size out at the shop

Exo Terra
$389.95

Reptibator
$349

 

[Norm]

I did leave them as a clump, which is why I went with an ice cream container at the last minute, the other containers I had planned to use were a bit small for the job so had to knock up something else. I`ll post some pics of the eggs in the container.
I cant answer about the BHP eggs fitting, never even seen BHP eggs let alone had a BHP. Apprenticegnome is facing the same issue with his BHP`s now, why don`t you flick him a PM and see what he`s doing?

 

[Marzzy]

I did leave them as a clump, which is why I went with an ice cream container at the last minute, the other containers I had planned to use were a bit small for the job so had to knock up something else. I`ll post some pics of the eggs in the container.
I cant answer about the BHP eggs fitting, never even seen BHP eggs let alone had a BHP. Apprenticegnome is facing the same issue with his BHP`s now, why don`t you flick him a PM and see what he`s doing?

Sounds like a good idea ill PM now.

 

[Norm]

Primitive but it worked!

Sorry cant get the other pics to upload right now, I`ll try again a little later.

 

[Marzzy]

Primitive but it worked!
View attachment 292808
Sorry cant get the other pics to upload right now, I`ll try again a little later.

That's awesome as long as it works why not. I haven't seen BHP eggs but it looks like it would be a tight fit.

 

[Norm]

There were 14 eggs in that clump, mesh was sitting up on a plastic tray thingy that I pinched out of my wifes Tupperware (shhh) above about 20mm of water. Probe is a thermometer placed in centre of egg mass and thermostat on incubator was adjusted to give a temp of, I think around 31.5 from memory, measured with the thermometer.
Of course this might not be suitable for BHP`s.

 

[wokka]

I have had BHP eggs of over 200 grams each. They can be long also. I expect you would fit 2 or 3 eggs in an icecream container but you should expect a clutch of 8-12 eggs. A polystyrene brocolli box with a heat cord and thermostat should work and you can reuse both later with the flash bar fridge.

 

[wokka]

It should take about 10 minute to poke a hole with a scewdriver for the temperature probe and another hole for the heat cord. If you look around at aquariums you should be able to pick up a bulk blood worm box which is about 75mm thick poly styrene.

 

[Marzzy]

Ill go check out the local fish shop when I finish work. Usually see them out the front decaying. I can get a glass front fridge for $70 what wattage heat cord ? My house gets quite cold should I get the highest wattage cord available ?

I think I'm gonna either use the foam box method with the fridge or just foam box. Not sure yet.

What thermostat would you recommend for the incubator ??

 

[wokka]

You shouldn't need much wattage once the incubator is heated, provided you can resist the temptation of opening the lid too often. If you put some ceramic tiles or bricks or water in there, it will provide thermal mass to act as a heat sink which should stablise the temeperature a bit. Any thermostat will work with heat cord. normally on/off type are cheapest.

 

[Marzzy]

Ahh good idea ill get some ceramic tiles.
Going to use the on off thermostat with a dial only problem is it has the old wire probe and wire lead but its extremely accurate.

Do you place you probe in with the eggs ? I see some people do and some people don't.

 

[Paintedpythons]

Hi Norm , did you have a lid for your container to keep the humidity in the plastic container or was your whole incubator set up for the high humidity ? .... So many ways some set up their incubators its nice to see evidence of what actually works and seeing that you only get one chance a year to do it right , the right advice is priceless ....

 

[wokka]

Reptile eggs are fairly forgiving and dont require all the accuracy that people often carry on about. Temperature in the egg bundle will be a bit higher than in the air in the incubator, and continues to get higher as the eggs mature and generate heat from metabolism. Placement of the probe probably isn't important. It is just there to detect any major temperature variations. A degree here or there shouldn't matter. There are many ways to hatch eggs successfully so what works for one person may not suit you, but your different way could be equally as successful.

 

[Norm]

Hey there paintedpythons, yeah I had a lid on it but I reckon it would have been fine without it. I had a hygrometer in the incubator and humidity was nearly 100% from memory.
As wokka said I had some fluctuations in temp. I started at about 29.5 and then increased to about 31.5 on advice from Mungus. He also suggested putting the probe in the egg mass. And yes temps did increase, especially in the last 2 weeks or so.

 

[Snowman]

It's so hard I want to make my own but don't wanna have my first clutch compromised.

Sounds small do you think it would hold BHP eggs comfortably ?

Trying to think of a 4L ice cream container.
Did you place them in as a clump ?
Thanks for the information so far might have to check the size out at the shop

Exo Terra
$389.95

Reptibator
$349

My first year if breeding I had two clutches of swcp eggs. I used a bar fridge for one clutch and a broccoli box for the other clutch. 100% hatch rate. At the end if the day eggs are designed to hatch. Making your own is often more stable than the bought ones. I ran them for a week after I set them up. Once I was happy they were holding 31.5 constantly I turned them off until the eggs were due. It's easy and you learn a lot. No one wants to lose their first clutch. Yet I've heard plenty of people that did with store bought incubators :-/

 

[jeffa_8]

is air flow a big concern. I have been told to wire up a computer fan or something to circulate the air.

 

[Norm]

The exo terra I used had an inbuilt fan and I took the lid off the egg container once a week and fanned the eggs a little. More often in the last couple of weeks.
Seeing as I'm going to build one I'd be interested too if air flow is important.