Incubators

[Star1]

Has anyone had luck making a home made incubator? My boyfriend thinks he can make me a better one than I could buy so I'm just looking for things that have worked for other people. Or let me know what didn't work for you so we don't try it

 

[Geckomaster743]

The best way is to buy one, Making one is easier, Maintaining it is harder because you have to keep the humidity and plus its not easy because room temperature shifts a lot. Ask some one like meg because i believe she used a couple home made incubators and lost some eggs a while ago.

 

[Star1]

Doesn't the humidity depend on the container you have the eggs in? My friend has her eggs in a covered bowl of hatch-rite in her incubator so I don't see how the incubator would effect the humidity. If it does please explain it because I'm new to breeding.

 

[Caleb C]

I've never bred, but It should be relatively easy as long as you keep it in a good place and have a good thermostat. The temp is normally around 70 degrees, but during summer it's like 75. If you keep it in a closet, the temp shouldn't change too much. A good thermostat is easily over 100 new, so a hovabator might be a bit cheaper if you were just going to hatch a couple.

 

[Star1]

I did hear you should keep it in the closet. I'm thinking I'll just buy one for now and if I get really into breeding he can build me a bigger/better one later.

 

[Josh2]

I have never built one but I dont know that I would trust myself to make something that wouldn't kill the little eggs!

 

[Star1]

He's an engineer student so I would trust him to build it but I think it would be good to get one first so he can base his plans off of one that for sure works

 

[LeoLover1]

I tried to make my own. It was not a successful venture. I'd expect an engineer student to be more able than I however!

The most important thing is the thermostat. Get a good one. Keeping a steady temperature inside is vital, especially when outside temps exceed incubation temps. (My biggest problem is room temps above the 85 degrees I incubate at.) Plenty of insulation is needed to hold temps steady, too. Hovabators use plain old styrofoam just fine, but if you can find an old mini-frig (with freon removed!) you'll have an excellent starting point.

Humidity is easier to control via the incubation medium. I've recently tried Repashy's SuperHatch, and I gotta say, I love it. Much easier to maintain than the vermiculite. Repashy has an excellent 'care sheet' on his site about incubation that I'd totally recommend reading.

Let us know how its going!