Incubator Ideas for Upcoming Season

EDIT: Whoops, meant to post this in "Egg Incubation". My bad. =S

Hello all,

I know it's not all that close to breeding season yet, but I want to get prepared much earlier this year than last year. I finally have a good breeding stock. Male Rainwater Eclipse (banded, so not typhoon) firewater cross, female super hypo tangerine het eclipse, and female rainwater no hets firewater/GG tang/Sykes tang cross.

If anybody has an affordable, reliable set up they would like to post pictures of, I would be happy to see!

So I had a pretty stable incubator last year even though the season was terrible experience (the only female I had developed gout while she was laying...), and I like to keep it simple/affordable, so I'm just using a styrofoam cooler for the base. This year I want two incubators. I'm considering my options and can't quite decide how I want to heat it. One idea is to wrap vinyl tubing in it to completely line the sides and maybe the bottom, and then pump heated water through the tubing. Since water is the best way to hold a stable temperature, I thought this might work. I am wondering, though, was type of water heater I could get that would be reliable enough, and I wonder if the temperature would stay stable while it is circulating the tubes, and whether or not I could reliably circulate it. Has anybody tried something like this or have any thoughts about it?

My other option is to just use heat tape. If I did this, I would be using Herpstats to regulate the temperatures, and I still might line the inside with vinyl and pump water through it to protect against temperature fluctuations. I got this to work fairly well last year, except I was using a crappy thermostat. If I don't HAVE to buy two more Herpstats (they are quite expensive, but I do have the money set aside for two more if I decide this is the best option), than I would rather not.

Any other ideas for heating methods or bases? I don't have tons of money, so expensive commercial incubators and wine coolers and mini fridges are out of my range. Although, if I end up with any money at all from breeding, I would like to invest in something nicer eventually. I know Hovabators are pretty cheap, and I used to have one, but I didn't really like how it functioned, so I think I can make a better one for around the same price.

EDIT:
Thought I would add another question I had. Last year I had a problem with eggs denting (I'm not sure that any laid were actually fertile, but regardless), and I think it's because maintaining humidity where I live (New Mexico) is really difficult. Does anywhere else live somewhere very dry and have a problem too? What's the best way to combat this? I was thinking I would just need to buy a bunch of good hygrometers and add water as needed. If I use the ratio of water to vermiculite in closed containers, a lot of moisture still escapes when I open the lids for fresh oxygen. Do you think the GEOs would be a good solution? I heard you don't need substrate if you use those, and just having sitting water in the bottom would be easier to maintain to properly wet substrate. Any thoughts?

I would grab a Little Giant or a Hovabator incubator. They cost $40-60 depending on if you can find one at a local Tractor Supply or feed store and save the shipping or not. They work great in my experience and cost about the same as you could make a homemade one. I've just used the built in thermostat but I've heard of people removing the regulation disc and using a herpstat on them as well. Not sure how the disc is removed but I'm sure there are tutorials online somewhere. In my experience suspended incubation methods like GEOs or SIMs do not work well in this setup but simply placing the eggs directly on properly measured perlite works great.

I have a friend that made an incubator from a cooler, 1 square foot of heat tape and a computer fan. Temps were a bit unstable without the fan but once he added a fan and elevated his eggs off the bottom it worked well and he successfully hatched a couple BP clutches in it. He was using a herpstat to regulate the temperature.

As for humidity it shouldn't be an issue if you are using unventilated containers. I use sandwich sized disposable tupperware with perlite at a .8 ratio with water (so 20g of perlite to 16g of water for example). Just keep the containers sealed and open them once a week to let some fresh air in. Eggs should be recessed in the perlite but not covered.

To add - you can use standing water for any suspended method but its safer if you have something to absorb the water so it won't splash on the eggs which could potentially kill them. Most folks use perlite or vermiculite but I've seen water crystals and sponges (as long as they don't start growing things) used as well. These methods work best in incubators with distributed heat or bottom heat since top-heat incubators like the hovabator tend to dry out the air on top so the humidity isn't as uniform inside the container. If your using a top-heat incubator I would stay away from suspended methods.

Can you explain how a hovabator is any different from a styrofoam cooler with a heat source?

The top heating method is a problem for me. The air is so dry here, anything with the potential to dry the air more makes it impossible to maintain humidity. Bottom heat works better because it rises and vaporizes the water from the substrate into the air instead of drying out the air and top of the substrate. I'm even struggling with keeping my humid hides humid. Unless they're over the heat tape, they don't get humid at all, just wet, but with the freezing night temperatures here, my heat tape can't produce enough heat to get through the tub and the tupperware of the humid hide. I think I'm going to have to switch the humid hide to the cool side to give my geckos the proper temperatures. The humidity problem is really pretty drastic here.

I did use closed containers last time with the proper ratio of water to vermiculite, but just opening the containers once a week to get more air in still caused too much of a loss of water. My substrate significantly dried after a few weeks, and adding more water became a problem because I couldn't properly mix it into the substrate without disturbing the eggs.

What do you think about using water to stabalize the temperatures instead of a fan? Water is really good about staying a stable temperature. Temperatures are also harder to keep stable where I live because of the dryness of the air. There's no substance to the air to hold heat.

Hovabators also come in a model where the heating element is at the bottom of the incubator instead of the top. A simple water bottle like you mentioned in the bottom will help to stabalize temps.

As far as humidity inside the egg container. Maybe try pearlite or a 50/50 mix of vermiculite to pearlite. I think the vermiculite dries out pretty fast. I cant imagine how dry your air must be.

Hmm, I'll have to do some research into hovabators. Maybe I'll try it. It still doesn't seem terribly different from some heat tape in a styrofoam box regulated by a good thermostat.

And I'll try using perlite. I haven't tried to use it before because it was harder to find without any miracle grow in it. But to give some point of reference, the humidity here is typically at 20%-30%.

I wonder if there are any breeders on here that are stationed in Colorado. Their air is pretty dry, too.