How much space does a clutch of eggs use?

[MouseKilla]

I'm going to build an incubator and I'm pretty sure I know what method I want to use but I'm just wondering about dimensions. At first we're talking about one clutch of corn snake eggs but I want to make something that is fairly versatile in terms of using it in the future for multiple clutches or bigger ones. Who knows, maybe I'll be dealing with a hundred burm eggs one day. I've seen some plans that involve a big camping cooler, is that a good size for what I'm talking about?

[vanderkm]

We incubated a clutch of 21 corn eggs in a container that was 4 X 6 inches with plenty of room to spare, but they were adherant in a clump so didn't need as much space as they would have if they were individual eggs and had to be spread out. We used a large picnic cooler (rubbermaid) and it worked great.

mary v.

[MouseKilla]

Thanks Mary! That's the sort of thing I was thinking of using, it seems easy to seal up enough to hold heat and it helps that it's insulated. I'm just wondering if it will end up being too small... I suppose if you can get a pretty big clutch like the one you mentioned in a 4 x 6 egg box then you can probably get a bunch of those into a cooler that size.

[Stockwell]

Eggs should always be put in a separate egg container, and most colubrid clutches will fit in the shoebox size rubbermaids...although it might be too tight for pine snakes, Indigos, and large Hondo clutches.
For Regius and Burms eggs, you need much bigger containers, as those eggs are chicken egg sized and are usually put in sweater box size rubbermaids.
A large cooler will work, or you could make a wooden box...
You'll need about 10 watts of heat for every cubic foot of volume, in order to raise temps 20 degrees above an ambient of 70F(years of experimenting)

[MouseKilla]

I was actually just admiring the ones you posted pics of, very nice indeed. The obvious advantage to building your own box is that you can make it any size you like. I was leaning toward the large cooler idea because of the fact that they're already insulated and it seemed, to my inexperienced mind, to be a good thing. From looking at your wooden boxes I assume that you find the insulation unnecessary? Is this because of the particular type of controls you are using?