Breeder Wannabe?

[bubblez825]

I am thinking about starting to breed. What can I use for hatchling racks and an incubator that wont take up that much space? How do I make a hommade incubator? Any info would help alot please.
Emily

 

[Ccrashca069]

You can buy an icubator for around $55.00 shipped to your house. For making a hatchling rack, the possiblities are endless. You can take a dresser, shelf almost anything and convert it to a rack. As long as you have shelves and you can install flexwatt or heat cable with a therometor to regualate the heat. There are also alot of web sites that sell hatchling racks.

 

[Halley]

Yeah, Hovabator work great for most people. They might be your best option. If you want to buy a rack, that woiuld be the eaiset option. However they are really easy to build. I have to tell you though, i would personally use heat cable, instead of heat tape. The reason for this is beacuse when i used heat tape, it didn't heat up evenly, other people don't seem to have this problem but i did. Then for building the racks, all you have to do, is build a wood shelf. Hope this helps

 

[Ccrashca069]

I use the heat cable and love it.

 

[fallen_angel]

Plus, buying racks pre-made are SUPER expensive. We bought bin/drawer sets from Target that have been working well for us (we aren't building an actual rack until after we move in January). One drawer set holds 4 geckos seperately, and we have just bought more as needed. We use heat tape on the back, and even though it's not direct belly heat, the temp. reading on their paper towel is 90 degrees on one side and 80 on the other. Don't be discouraged by heat tape and all that stuff, it's actually very easy to set up.

Here's a pic of one drawer set from Target

This is the only bin set that works though, they have others where the drawers aren't tall enough, and we had two hatchling escapees because we orginially bought a different one.. Both Chance (hence the name because he almost got eaten by a cat) and Gizmo were the escapees! Luckily I found Giz before he had gotten very far.

I have heard bad/good things about heat tape and heat cable, so it's really all up to you or your parent's preference. We have heat tape because I didn't even know heat cable existed when I was preparing our bins.

 

[bubblez825]

ill try to find what i need. Thankyou for all your help! Any more info on how to build or make a hommade incubator would be helpful.

 

[Rep-Tails]

I use a homemade incubator, I found an old refrigerator on the side of the road and thought it would be worth a shot. I figured its made to hold cold air in why not heat? I use the freezer section for males and the fridge part for females. I took flexwatt and wired it in both sections with a DBS-100 thermostat. I love it, the only cost was in flexwatt and a thermostat. I love it, it works great. I am actually ready to build a second one.

 

[fallen_angel]

that sounds really awesome Sean!!!

 

[Rep-Tails]

this is my second year using it, and it has worked great

 

[Mel&Keith]

Be careful with those drawers from Target. We have identical ones for storage and the drawers open pretty easily! They also warp over time.

 

[fallen_angel]

That's odd, ours don't open that easily, we actually have some problems with opening some (always the top drawer for some reason, and the bottom drawer on two of them, and that's been my annoyance with them!).

I was thinking that once the leos got older though, they may be able to push the other drawers open, so thanks for that Although we are keeping one adult in there right now, and she hasn't opened her drawer... I am really not sure, but it did cross my mind. These Target bins are temporary until we move in January and make a rack, but they are working nicely for now :main_yes:

 

[bubblez825]

Any info on HOW to build a incubator? I've seen alot of people use those plasitc bins, so wt do you use for the heat? Any other incubator options?

 

[thegeckoguy]

i made an incubator. It was super easy and i didnt have to buy anything except perlite(everything used to make it was just stuff i already had)

So i took a tupperware container. You can use larger ones or small ones of like even those plastic(not foam) take home boxes from resturants with the clear plastic tops if you want to be able to see without openeing. I filled that with perlite and mixed it with water till it felt a little moist(perlite feels dry even when wet) I didnt use the ratio just an estimate. Then i took a heat pad and stuck it under the 'incubator' and found the temps. The temps were to high at first so i used some thin, hardcover books till i found my temps(im sure you could use something else but i had those books lying around)

Thats it. Once i found my temps i was good. You could modify it for a larger incubator or whatever but it worked great for me! it hatched out 2 beautiful healthy babies. All in all it took like 10 mins to actually make it and about 1hr to find the right temps.

 

[david13]

i should have made the incubator instead of buying one, but i guess just to be on the safe side...
I think Jess said she uses heat tape on the back of the bins

 

[GeckoGathering]

Maybe you too.

I have an incubator, but I only use it for trying for males.....no incubator for females. I searched around, setting up thermometers with humidity gages, in different areas of the house. I found a spot that stays at 80 to 82 degrees, by a gas water heater, in a shower room. Fixed a shelf area to put the containers on.....Ta-Da---Free Incubator room.
take care. / HJ....

 

[Rep-Tails]

Any info on HOW to build a incubator? I've seen alot of people use those plasitc bins, so wt do you use for the heat? Any other incubator options?

did you read my post on my fridge incubator?

 

[bubblez825]

Yeah, I read the post, but I don't have a refridgerator handy right now. Not unless you want to tell my parents that they have to give up the fridge!!! lol

 

[mrcsk8ter44445]

I use a homemade incubator, I found an old refrigerator on the side of the road and thought it would be worth a shot. I figured its made to hold cold air in why not heat? I use the freezer section for males and the fridge part for females. I took flexwatt and wired it in both sections with a DBS-100 thermostat. I love it, the only cost was in flexwatt and a thermostat. I love it, it works great. I am actually ready to build a second one.

I'm curious where do you keep the fridge at?? I wanted to make one of these a while back, but do you think if I kept it in my garage will the constantly fluctuating temps mess with the temps in the fridge?

 

[Rep-Tails]

Emily, you can find free fridges all over the place. I look on Craigs List all the time, or even your local paper.

Marc - I had room for the first fridge in the gecko room, but the second I think will have to go in our laundry room. I was thinking about the garage also, so I placed a few thermometers out there one day. Its not even summer yet and I was hitting mid 90's in the day. So I decided that would not work. You dont have to find a big fridge, try to find one of those small half ones like in college dorms or an RV.