Neon Aurora
New Member
- Messages
- 1,376
- Location
- New Mexico
Okay, I feel a little stupid. I didn't even think about this. I set up my incubator (which is just a Styrofoam box with heat tape in it regulated by a Herpstat 1 Basic) at the beginning of the season and just taped the Herpstat probe so that it was measuring the temperature of the incubator itself (IE, not in an egg tub). I figured the temperature in the egg tubs would be the same as the temperature of the incubator.
So what led me to wonder about this is that I noticed the average incubation time for the temperature I'm incubating at is around 55 days, sometimes less and sometimes a bit more. My oldest clutch is only on day 57, so I know it's not that late yet, but I'm getting a little neurotic about it and decided to measure the temperature inside the egg tubs. My temperature gun reads 80 degrees (Herpstat is set to 83) right on the substrate. I just stuck a thermometer with a probe in there (I can't speak for how accurate, it's just one of the ZooMed ones) and it measures 80.5 degrees. Now, I know this is probably still an acceptable temperature and they will just take longer to hatch, but I actually upped the temperature a bit recently. For most of the 57 days they have been incubating, the Herpstat was set at 82.2 degrees. I brought it up .5 degrees (so to 82.7) and let that sit for a few days before bumping it up to 83. So I don't know what the temperature was inside the tubs since I (maybe stupidly) measured them from the actual incubator.
Now I'm a little nervous. If I had to guess, they were incubating at around 79-80 for most of the 57 days.
So my question:
I would really like to incubate the rest of that at 82-83. I don't want to just move the probe into one of the tubs have it go from 80-83 in a short amount of time. I'm worried that will negatively affect the hatchlings. How can I remedy this so they incubate at the temperature I want but cause them no harm? Can I just go up slowly, like half a degree at a time every week or something? Or should I just leave them at this temperature and suck it up?
EDIT: Maybe I spoke too soon. Opening the lid to my egg container may have let a lot of the warmth out. Now that the ZooMed thermometer has been sitting in it for a while, it has gone up to 81.2 (so maybe most of the incubation was done at between 80 and 81). That's still low, though, and my question still stands.
So what led me to wonder about this is that I noticed the average incubation time for the temperature I'm incubating at is around 55 days, sometimes less and sometimes a bit more. My oldest clutch is only on day 57, so I know it's not that late yet, but I'm getting a little neurotic about it and decided to measure the temperature inside the egg tubs. My temperature gun reads 80 degrees (Herpstat is set to 83) right on the substrate. I just stuck a thermometer with a probe in there (I can't speak for how accurate, it's just one of the ZooMed ones) and it measures 80.5 degrees. Now, I know this is probably still an acceptable temperature and they will just take longer to hatch, but I actually upped the temperature a bit recently. For most of the 57 days they have been incubating, the Herpstat was set at 82.2 degrees. I brought it up .5 degrees (so to 82.7) and let that sit for a few days before bumping it up to 83. So I don't know what the temperature was inside the tubs since I (maybe stupidly) measured them from the actual incubator.
Now I'm a little nervous. If I had to guess, they were incubating at around 79-80 for most of the 57 days.
So my question:
I would really like to incubate the rest of that at 82-83. I don't want to just move the probe into one of the tubs have it go from 80-83 in a short amount of time. I'm worried that will negatively affect the hatchlings. How can I remedy this so they incubate at the temperature I want but cause them no harm? Can I just go up slowly, like half a degree at a time every week or something? Or should I just leave them at this temperature and suck it up?
EDIT: Maybe I spoke too soon. Opening the lid to my egg container may have let a lot of the warmth out. Now that the ZooMed thermometer has been sitting in it for a while, it has gone up to 81.2 (so maybe most of the incubation was done at between 80 and 81). That's still low, though, and my question still stands.
Last edited: