Help with DIY incubator

[Sarahann31190]

What is the easiest/best way to make an incubator?

Can someone give me a step by step way or a good link?

Looking for a styrofoam most likely.

Thank you!

 

[im faster]

easiest way is to buy one

 

[Terrain_pull up]

I've been using a styrofoam bator for the past couple seasons. I just bought a submersible aquarium water heater, filled the cooler with water set the temp I wanted on the heater and dropped it in. It works pretty well actually. I use a digital temp probe in the cooler to monitor temps. You'll have to figure out some way of putting a platform in it though so you can place the deli cups in there. It will take some temp tweaking to get it to stabilize where you want it. You'll also have to keep a pretty constant ambient air temp in what ever room you put the bator in.

 

[ElapidSVT]

i made mine from a foam Huskee ice chest. the thick foam walls really help keep the temp stable. inside the ice chest, i placed a layer of 1" thick slate pieces to keep the incubator from moving when bumped and also to act as a heat sink. for heating, i used pipe heating cable from Home Depot wound around a sealed 1/2 gallon juice bottle filled with water which acts as a heat sink to keep the temperature stable. the temp is controlled by a helix db1000 thermostat. I tried using a fish tank heater in the jug but it wouldn't hold a stable temp but i keep it in as a backup in case the heat cable fails. redundancy is a good thing in critical applications!

HTH!

 

[James Lamantia]

Find a refrigerator that is being thrown out, add heat tape to the back wall and hook it up to a good thermostat. I know a few guys that use this method with great results...most of them cut a viewing area in the front and cover it with see through plastic window.

 

[Sarahann31190]

Anyone else have any other plan/ideas?

 

[JTG Reptiles]

Theres another way where you get a styrofoam box and make a little slit on the top(to put the cord through) and tape a uth to the top( i think you can use aluminum tape to secure it) and you might wanna get a thermostat too (controls the temp).

 

[Zeetrain]

Unless your trying to make something really big then just buy one. Making a small one is not worth it.

 

[LZRDGRL]

The Think Geek mini fridge incubator is probably the cheapest one you can buy on the market: It's for 99 bucks, and you won't need a thermostat. If you get the Hovabator for 39 bucks, you need an expensive thermostat for over 100 dollars. If you build your own one from a styrofoam box, you still need a thermostat, and the good and reliable ones are over 100 dollars, so home-made incubators get more expensive than the Think Geek. Unless you want something really big (a huge old fridge), I wouldn't recommend it.

Chrissy

 

[Fencer04]

I have been using the ThinkGeek Fridge for this entire season and it has worked well. One word of caution, the displayed temp isn't even close to accurate. You are gonna want to have a digital probe thermometer in there at all times and make sure you calibrate the set temp vs. the actual temp before you have eggs.

The other issue is that there is a difference in temp of about 2 to 3 degrees from the bottom of the incubator to the top. Stacking your deli cups can result in pretty drastic temp differences. I'm going to be building two of my own incubators and use proportional thermostats instead of the on/off variety for less temp fluctuation.

Like I said, I haven't had an issue with it and I have hatched out all healthy geckos. I just think if you are going to be doing more than a few clutches a year it can be done better.

 

[roger]

Anyone else have any other plan/ideas?

Here is mine.I use it with a herpstat.It fluctuates .25 of a degree with the same temp on the bottom or top