Incubator

[DLS Reptile]

I apologize, In my last message about the herp stat it was supposed to read plus or minus .3 degrees not 3 my bad...

 

[justindh1]

Why would you use a rheostat on an incubator to begin with??? Why would anyone use a rheostat at all??? They are unreliable... The cheapest thermostat is far better than the best rheostat... A rheostat is just the cheap way out... Honestly, if you can not afford the proper equipment to breed reptiles, you should not breed reptiles...

Well some people havn't tried everything as obviously it seems you have. Its a trial and error kind of thing and thats life. You don't have do be a rude *** about it. Some people don't have the experiance on everything so they have to try it out and see if it would works. Theres a differance between trying to help someone and trying to show how much you know and being arrogant about it. If people would realize this then every forum out there wold be so much better.

 

[DLS Reptile]

Listen, I am by no means a novice breeder. I have been breeding for 10 years and have kept reptiles all my life (a better part of 30 years) I used a hovabator to hatch over 400 eggs with nary a deformity. I am sorry but the bottom line is what works, works period..I wanted to build my own incubator. I can afford to spend the money as I have a pretty decent paying job. Would I also like spend my money on other husbandry products to, well yes I would. I love these little reptiles and would not do anything to jeopardize them. I put a lot of time into them. I understand the statement "if you dont have the money you have no business breeding" I strongly agree, but do you have to spend 10's of thousands on equipment to produce top notch geckos. No you do not and I as well as many others have proved that. Like I said before I have an alife thermostat, this is more accurate than my hova and not to far off from the more expensive thermostats and probably 90% of your breeders use hovas. Holy cow you ask a question and it has to turn into a argument every time!

 

[justindh1]

I'm with ya on this one DLS! People need to be a little more open and not be so negative and not have the i'm better then you theory. Forums would be alot better!

 

[Gregg M]

Dave, I was directing my post at people who refuse to buy a proper thermostat because they do not want to spend the money or cant afford it... To me people like that should not be breeding because as you know, the cost become much greater when neonates start hatching...

Justin, my are not insinuating I am better than anyone else... You need to relax and read between the lines... My posts are full of useful and backable info... You can either read my posts and get bent out of shape because of how I construct my paragraphs OR you can take the info and learn a little bit... Its funny how some people are quick to call someone arrogant who knows what they are talking about... It is almost like a jealous reflex... I have been doing this a long time Justin... I have hatched several species of snakes and lizards, used many different incubation methods and even invented and patented my own... If this makes me arrogant, thats fine, I will take that title...

 

[justindh1]

Its not what you said its the way you say it. I know many people who are knowleagable in this field and they are willing to teach you in a mannor that is forward but isn't demeaning to the person. I am going to school to be a teacher and the way your present your material and is just as important if not more then how you convey you ideas.

Well to me not every one need top of the line equipment to do anything that they want to. As long as what they have serves them good and does the job good then it should work shouldn't it? I'm sure either way that the hatch rates are higher then in the wild. If someone hatches a few eggs a year then why should they get the best if its not a business and they don't hatch hundreds of eggs? The equipmet isn't bad at all its just not the best like yours and it doesn't need to be the best.

People in america are wanting to be the best and want the best. They want the best car, biggest house, and the best equipment no matter what. Not everyone can do this and live their dream. Sometime you have to think realistically. Why don't you think we are in this situation now with the economy. Everyone big and small thinks they deserve more and they can't afford it and screw them selves. If people would just do with something that does a good job but doesn't look the the greatest or is as advanced then we might be in a differant situation.

 

[Gregg M]

I never said your equipment needs to be top of the line... I said it needs to be proper... Why not do things the correct way??? Instead of just buying an incubator that is not that great, why not spend the 30 to 75 bucks to run it on a proper thermostat???

Seriously, if you can not afford that much to upgrade your incubator, you should not be using one to incubate eggs at all... Even if you have 2 or 3 breeding females, the cost to raise the hatchlings they produce will far exceed 30 to 75 bucks... Thats what I am getting at... People who are new to hobby rarely take things like this into consideration...

 

[justindh1]

I can tell you this much, the 30-40 dollars thermostats arn't worth the time to mess with let alone the money. The do not work worth a crap with the hovabator. I had more of a fluctuation with the Alife 1000, +-5 degress, then i did with the waffer on the hova. Most all proportional thermostats are at least 100 dollars if not more, plus shipping because you can't get them anywhere round here.

My hova fluctuated yesturday from 86.4 in the day to 85.3 at night. So that isn't good enough for anyone to use. Why is something that just has 1 degree fluctuation not good enough? I guess its not proper equipment if it just fluctuates a degree cause its a hova.

Theres a difference between buying something you need and buying something that you want. I have the money to feed and raise every hatchling i will hatch. I TAKE EVERYTHING INTO CONSIDERATION. I just don't see why i would need to spend 100+ dollars to get something that isn't needed. If my hovabator fluctuated more then 2 or 3 degrees then ya i would see spending the money to fix that, but there is no problem to fix.

 

[DLS Reptile]

I can tell you this much, the 30-40 dollars thermostats arn't worth the time to mess with let alone the money. The do not work worth a crap with the hovabator. I had more of a fluctuation with the Alife 1000, +-5 degress, then i did with the waffer on the hova. Most all proportional thermostats are at least 100 dollars if not more, plus shipping because you can't get them anywhere round here.

My hova fluctuated yesturday from 86.4 in the day to 85.3 at night. So that isn't good enough for anyone to use. Why is something that just has 1 degree fluctuation not good enough? I guess its not proper equipment if it just fluctuates a degree cause its a hova.

Theres a difference between buying something you need and buying something that you want. I have the money to feed and raise every hatchling i will hatch. I TAKE EVERYTHING INTO CONSIDERATION. I just don't see why i would need to spend 100+ dollars to get something that isn't needed. If my hovabator fluctuated more then 2 or 3 degrees then ya i would see spending the money to fix that, but there is no problem to fix.

I beg to differ with your statement. I used an alife thermostat with my cooler incubator with water bottles for a heat sink. My temp fluctuations were exactly as follows. (I had the thermostat set for 86 degrees).
Highs went to 86.7
lows went to 85.2,( so plus .7 degrees. and minus .8) This is less than my hovabator which went from highs 87.2
to lows 84.6. This is the same hova that I have used since day one and never had an issue. The water bottles make a big difference in the temp stability.. Note: this is the first time I tested my hova with a digital thermometer, the Analog thermometer that came with it always read the desired temp and was not as accurate as I thought it was.

 

[justindh1]

Theres a big difference between the hovabator and a cooler incubator so you can't really compair them together with the Alife 1000. The cooler is more insulated so it will keep temps more contant. Its kinda like compairing a t-shirt to a sweater.

My Hovabator with the waffer actually fluctuates less then your cooler and the alife 1000. Your cooler fluctuates 1.5 degrees and my hovabator fluctuates 1.1 degrees, its 86.4 in the daytime and 85.3 at night time. Both are good enought to work. of course my house only goes from 74 in the day to 72 at night. That also helps me out.

I'm just saying that the hovabator works better without the cheap thermostats. The waffer stays more consistant then the Alife.

Look at your Alife 1000 thermostat and count the number of lines between the 80 and 90 degree mark. Did you count 10? Last time i remember there isn't ten numbers between 80 and 90. I just don't trust the cheap thermostats.

I will buy a proportional thermostat sometime in the future but my equipment is stable enought right now that its not needed. I look at my temps all the time and keep a eye on everything so i trust what i have and will keep doing that.