Incubation Method

[Keir64]

Hey all,

I assume most home made incubators use heatmats to heat them, but i was reading up online and seen a page where they used a polystyrene box, with a small tank of water in the bottom, a rack and the small tubs with vermiculite on top. They used a water heater to heat the water, this heated the polybox and also created a gentle mist to always keep the eggs nice and moist.

Just wondering if anyone has used this method as opposed to heatmats for DIY incubators. If so, did you face any problems with it? What pro's did it have? What type of eggs did you find it was most useful for incubating? etc etc.. any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[koechingkampung]

i had it successfully for cornsnake for 2 years...

several friends also used it for bearded and other snakes..

gud luck dude..

[kenobi]

for nearly 15 years i have always used a large polybox half filled with water with an aquarium heater heating the water, with a plastic tub like a really useful box floating on the surface for the eggs to incubate in.
beardies, leo's, corns, uromastyx, royals etc i have incubated them all successfully with this method, as long as it is setup and running to correct temp, you should have no problems.
if there is a powercut i have found that the water holds heat for a long time in the polybox, therefore not elading to drops in temp.
Ryan

[Keir64]

Thanks guys,

Sounds like a brilliant idea, i love the fact the light mist will keep the eggs at a constant humidity and temp i might try it out when i start breeding! Oh and thats another plus, with the powercut thing.

Did you ever need to top up the water during incubation? Did that affect the temps at all?

[Keir64]

Anyone else?

[fishboy]

I am using a polybox with heat mat at the bottom. 3 plastic lemonade bottle filled with water sitting on top. 2 skewers through the polybox above them creating a shelf for the 9L RUB to sit on. This contains 2 inches of vermiculite made damp, with eggcrate resting on top for the eggs to sit on. haven't used it yet as i'm waiting for eggs, but it seems to hold temperature well.

[Prem Morph]

I have used heat mat in the bottom of a large polybox with metal garden canes pushed through the sides and 2 inch mesh sat on top of these to create a shelf and then the egg boxes sat on this with the use of a couple of 500ml drinks bottles full of water to act as a thermal reservoir.

I find this method easier for myself no risk of a cheap aquarium heater stat failing on and cooking the eggs and no risk of a flood

Both methods work its down to personal choice

[Big Red One]

All covered here...

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/breed...ncubators.html