Neon Aurora
New Member
- Messages
- 1,376
- Location
- New Mexico
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?
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?
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