Home made incubators anyone???

[bman123]

Has anyone here made their own incubator on a budget for very small scale breeding? I'm only looking for eggs from one female, so it can be small.

Right now I am wrecking my brain thinking about what to do about making a super cheap incubator, that will work.

So if anyone has made a super cheap incubator please post and let me know what you did, thanks guys..

 

[Tony C]

For small to medium scale breeding you really can't beat a Hovabator. You can try to build your own with a styrofoam cooler, heat pad or tape, and thermostat, but I doubt you can do it for under the $40 price tag of a hova unless you have some of that stuff laying around already.

 

[NycGecko]

shipping box with styrofoam lining inside place a heavy duty garbage bag on top of the styrofoam lining and add coconut fiber inside mist and add a heat pad between the foam and plastic bag so it doesnt get wet then container the eggs with your choice of vermiculite or perlite or whatever medium you have i have hatched 3 out of the 4 eggs that were laid with no complications ! just pm me if you want more this is just an idea that was under 20 bucks !

 

[CapCitySteve]

I incubated my first ever eggs in an aquarium with a heat pad under it. The eggs in a tupperware container placed in the tank on top or patially on top of the heat pad area, and I simply put a thermometer in the container to monitor the temp. Or place them on top of anything that emits heat and monitor the temp. My buddy Tim uses the cabinet above his super old and energy inefficient fridge with the door cracked open to keep the temp right. Be creative and monitor the temp between 80 and 90 and the eggs will hatch.

 

[bman123]

I thought about setting up a spare tank I have with a uth and doing that I knownit would work I just got to get it set up and play with it a little.

 

[TokayKeeper]

Just short of 13 years ago I hatched my first leo. The method was an aquarium as mentioned above, but done differently.

I had 2.5 leos back then and was a spunky 15 years old. Incubator design consisted of a 10 gallon aquarium, a piece of glass that fit the plastic rim perfectly, a sterilite shoe box, 1 submersible aquarium heater, and 2 standard bricks with holes in them for rebar (the holes were to allow for water flow under the shoe box). I maintained the water level at about 1/2 inch below the bottom of the shoe box and set the aquarium heater to 86°F. I had 89 of90 eggs hatch that year, with the 90th having a full term embyro. Incubation media was the original ground coconut fiber, Bed-A-Beast. Best incubator I've had to date!