large incubator heat source options [Archive]

Bristen

01-05-05, 06:51 PM

Hi everyone,

well I've been reading many posts on ssnakess.com about incubators today. I've found much information from Roy Stockwell, and I'm very grateful for all the information you have provided in this forum on that particular topic. I've collected a bunch of your posts and printed them on paper so I can go through them again and refer to them easily.

I will be using a tall-style incubator. I know that is not ideal, but many have used them successfully and fans should prevent layering. The dimensions are 33"x59"x19", or 2.75'x4.92'x1.58' which amounts to 21.38 cubic feet. Roy recommends 5w to 10w per cubic feet of incubator volume. So accoding to those calculations, a 200w heat source would provide about 9.35w per cubic feet.

What I was planning to use is a ProHeat Radiant Panel that I'm not currently using. ProProducts has recommended that I do NOT use the heat panel for this purpose. I'm not sure why however. This panel is a large 150w panel and would be perfect for the enclosure, in my opinion. I will be using fans (the ones recommended by Roy perhaps) to push down the hot air. Hoping to reduce/prevent layering this way. I also have a Helix DBS1000 that will be used as a thermostat for the incubator.

Does anybody know why I should NOT use the ProHeat panel other than the risk of having water thrown on the panel? I know the panel is designed to be setup on top of an enclosure, but I do not see why it cannot be setup on the bottom of the incubator? Especially that I will be keeping the incubator a tad humid, but not wet. These heat panels are used for arboreal snakes in high humidity all the time it seems to me, no? The egg containers will be responsible for keeping the 100% RH air on the eggs.

Now, let's assume there are valid reasons to not use the heat panel in the incubator. What are other heat source options? A lot of people use heat tape, but 11" Flexwatt is 20w per foot. This means I need 10' of Flexwatt. I also have to wire it up, etc. I thought of ceramic heating elements (CHE). A couple of those on the bottom with a metal deflector to even out the heat could possibly work also. However, in my mind, the heat panel would of been perfect.

Anyways, suggestions would be appreciated.

Note: The box used to be an enclosure. It was on it's side, but it'll be back in it's standard vertical position for the incubator. Here's a picture when it was used for a cage (on it's side):

Future Incubator (http://bristen.netfirms.com/pages/000_0294.html)

Thanks!
Bristen.

concept3

01-05-05, 07:06 PM

I dont know how many eggs you plan on incubating but why not just a hova bator for 120 bucks?/ just seems easier to me. Also I cannot answer any of your questions lol, This is just another suggestion/

Jeff_Favelle

01-05-05, 07:22 PM

Because a Hovabator can only do like ONE clutch of Ball Python eggs. So if you have three snakes, and two are females and they both lay eggs, how exactly is a Hovabator going to help you?

Plus $120 for an incubator that only incubates ONE clutch? Waste of money. I built mine for $30, add an aquarium heater ($30) and a Helix ($105). So for $165, I incubated over 20 clutches this year. Hmmmmmmm.

BoidKeeper

01-05-05, 07:22 PM

Because one hovabator will not hold many many clutchs of ball eggs. If he's asking how to heat a large incubator it's not so he can incubat one clutch of corn eggs.
Trevor

Jeff_Favelle

01-05-05, 07:24 PM

Yeah, the heat panel should work. I mean, anything that gives off heat and that can be regulated (Helix) will work. Why wouldn't it?

But far from an ideal incubator for python eggs. Not my first chioce. Heck, not even my 3rd or 4th choice.

Best of luck, let us know how it goes. Pictures too!! :)

BoidKeeper

01-05-05, 07:39 PM

I tried to tell him Jeff to go with a water incubator like WE use but he just won't listen to me. He likes to make things harder than they need to be. He needs a dose of KISS!
Cheers,
Trevor

Jeff_Favelle

01-05-05, 07:46 PM

Seriously. Oh well. Its like the dudes that wanted to use aquariums for the longest time. I can only beat my head against the wall trying to tell these guys the easiest way to do things for so long. There's proven ways to do things and then there's other ways that take more work. Why not do the proven way and spend your time doing something fun like takng pics, planning the next project, making a display tank for a non-breeding species, etc etc etc. There's a formula in place to breed snakes now and its proven. I'd rather spend my time in the field or taking pics, but then again, to each their own.......

BoidKeeper

01-05-05, 07:50 PM

See Bristen! I've got all the styros you need buddy. I can make you the same incubator I hatched my ball eggs in last year.lol
All jokes a side Jeff. Have a look at the incubator that Greg Maxwell uses, the pic is in The Complete Chondro. That is what he is trying to build. If he gets that right he'll have no problem because if Greg can hatch Chondros in it Bristen can hatch balls in it.
Cheers,
Trevor

Scales Zoo

01-05-05, 08:01 PM

I made an incubator out of a fridge last year, and the eggs had not hatched yet when I had my water incubator built.

Took a 4x2 melamine cage that did not have glass in it, put one of those big clear rubbermade tote things in it, put styro insulatin around the clear tote, filled with some water, added 2 bricks, some egg crate and an aquarium heater, put egg box in there with egg crate, and then put insulation and a 4x2 peice of melamine on the top.

I don't have pictures, cause I didn't have a camera at the time, but i might take pictures cause the thing holds temperature within .2 F - and seems to work like a damn. I can't wait to get some python eggs to try it on.

Ryan

Bristen

01-06-05, 06:43 AM

Hey Jeff, I've got nothing against other methods... But when I was reading on various posts on incubators on www.ssnakess.com, there were many posts from Roy. Roy's incubators are the same type of incubator I'm trying to build. They are dry and heat tape is the heat source. He has over 20 years experience with this stuff. I think that would be a proven method would it not? I don't think it's going to be that hard myself, but it being my first one, I'll know that for sure once it's all done. Oups... not true, I had a small dry incubator with a infrared bulb for heat for corn eggs which worked perfectly on a few clutches... this is my first large vertical incubator, and it's the first time I will be trying to incubate ball python eggs...

What's your big beef with building an incubator like I'm trying to build? Fridge incubators have been used for the longest time and it's basically a vertical box with a heat source on the bottom. What's the difference with what I'm trying to do? GLK Herp just recently posted their new incubator on "the other forum". It was also a tall vertical dry incubator with a heat source on the bottom. There appears to be a lot of people doing it that way, so it works... no?

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Bristen.

BoidKeeper

01-06-05, 07:19 AM

Hey I just remembered that I have an old full size fridge. I'm going to build a larger version of my bar fridge one.
I'll have to do the picture post thing too.
Can't wait to get started. The key to a large incubator I think is circulation and humidity.
Cheers,
Trevor

The Dom

01-06-05, 08:54 AM

Hey

I use a tall incubator with heat tape and a helix to control it all ...
I have a fan and wireless thermometers and hydrometers.. Heres my thought on the system..

If I had to build an other one .. I would not make it vertical but horizontal. To me its just a pain in the butt .. harder to keep the temps on the bottom simillar to the temps on top .. Always ended up having a good .5 degree difference between both top and bottom containers ..

I used the Heat tape. Wired 5 feet of it inside and ended up just pluging 3 feet thats not working to full capacity .. My incubator is about 4 feet tall 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide..

I used this method for incubation -- one tupperware with vermiculite then a plastic grate on top (no substrate touching the eggs) .. Holes in that tupperware and its in a bigger tupperware with water in it. This tupperware sits in a boxed melanine chamber that is warmed up w/ the heat tape ..

Anyway my method worked great wit about a .3 gradient variation during incubation. Using it again this year.

I have also used the simple styro box with water heater and containers on bricks .. Worked great but could not make it big enough .. the gradient was at least .8 though ..

Best of luck to you .. Listen to the guys up top.. They know what there talking about

Dom

Bristen

01-06-05, 09:05 AM

Hey Dom, thanks for posting!

Originally posted by The Dom
If I had to build an other one .. I would not make it vertical but horizontal. To me its just a pain in the butt .. harder to keep the temps on the bottom simillar to the temps on top .. Always ended up having a good .5 degree difference between both top and bottom containers ..

sorry, but I really fail to see why a 0.5F difference is a big deal... the eggs will hatch fine at that temperature, just a little quicker or a little slower... am I correct on that? I could easily have my box flipped on it's side, but I was trying to save up on space.. that's a BIG box... :-(

Originally posted by The Dom
I used the Heat tape. Wired 5 feet of it inside and ended up just pluging 3 feet thats not working to full capacity .. My incubator is about 4 feet tall 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide..

ok, so you're thinking that I may not need a 10' length of 11" wide heat tape? I'd rather have a tad too much than not enough if I decide to use heat tape.. my box is somewhat insulated, but it will be far from a fridge, so I want to have enough heat to keep it at correct temperature. One of the reasons I'm leaning towards the heat panel...

Thanks!
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

01-06-05, 10:49 AM

What's your big beef with building an incubator like I'm trying to build?

Nothing it all. It will work. I've hatched eggs in incubators like that.

Its just not my first choice. But I have no beef with it, and I am certain that it will work for you. Heck, I've hatched eggs back in the old days with just a heat pad and not even a dimmer. But that was a LONG time ago..............

Vengeance

01-06-05, 11:00 AM

Hey Jeff, do you have some pics of your wet incubator?

Bristen

01-06-05, 11:24 AM

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
Nothing it all. It will work. I've hatched eggs in incubators like that.

Its just not my first choice. But I have no beef with it, and I am certain that it will work for you. Heck, I've hatched eggs back in the old days with just a heat pad and not even a dimmer. But that was a LONG time ago..............

ok, thanks for the reply Jeff.. you're right too often, so when you have problems with something, I want to know lol!

Have a good one,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

01-06-05, 01:18 PM

Heh heh, still not my first choice though. Seems like a lot of unnecessary work with fans and heat levels and and etc etc... Its hard enough getting fertile eggs and getting babies started for sale after they hatch, why add more work to the process.

My incubatorS? Three. All the same. Picture this; a giant, rubber-lined (or plastic-lined) INSULATED wood box with top opening doors. 3 feet wide, 3 feet long, and 2.5 feet tall. Half-filled with water with a submersible aquarium heater calibrated to 90F. Then, plugged into a Helix, which is calibrated to 91F for safe measure. Rest the egg boxes above the water on bricks, piping, whatever. Close the lid, hatch the eggs.

I'll take pics when I'm setting the heat back up for 2005 eggs. Right now, they are acting as benches for about 30 Rubbermaids and I ain't moving those Rubbermaids to take pics now, LOL! :)

BoidKeeper

01-06-05, 01:54 PM

Vengeance

01-06-05, 02:00 PM

Would those colmen coolers offer the insulation needed as well using the same water heated method? I saw a post a while back on here where a guy used pop bottles filled with water, seemed like a good idea. How much of the incubator do you fill with water?

BoidKeeper

01-06-05, 02:43 PM

I think so. I've also seen a comerical incubator made out of an igloo cooler. You can see igloo right on the lid.
Cheers,
Trevor

Justcage

01-08-05, 11:59 PM

I know the incubator your talking about.. They are outragous, even my dealer cost was absurd.. The "dry" fridge is my personal fav as I like to adjust the humidity in the tubs themselves rather than the whole unit.. Smaller tubs will be quicker to respond to the water added to them but on the flip side they will dry faster..Just my .02...

Jeff_Favelle

01-09-05, 04:23 AM

My only problem Jeff is I don't want to build the box. I use the smaller versions of your incubator that are made from Styros but when it comes to building a large box and insulating it I would much rather convert a fridge because it's a ready made insulated box that all I have to do is heat.

That's cool, to each their own. But I haven't found a fridge that was built with the exact dimensions of current Rubbermaid models in mind. Now have I found a fridge that can be dismantled in 10 minutes for transport. I like building stuff to suit MY needs. Not trying to change my needs to suit a device that would take me 2 hours to build myself.

But everyone is different, and no one is wrong here, not by a long shot. Do what works for YOU and everything else will be gravy! :D

lakeridgekennel

01-09-05, 06:21 AM

I use a nesley top loading icecream fridge i got from a friend. I fill the bottem up with water and have 2 sub water heaters and have a fan built in i put a couple bricks in it and put a plastic shelf in it and it can hold tons of smaller rubbermaids in it. O have styro at the top to insulate it. it works good and i can keep in with in 0.5 of a degree.
Just my way

The Dom

01-09-05, 09:15 AM

Brinsten ...

A o.5 different bettween each top and botom level is not thta much of a big deal but Its something I am trying to avoid.. thats why I would not build one vertical again ... but it works great..

As for the heat tape , mine is 11 inches wide too .. and I wired 5 feet incase and i could raise the temps over 100 with that easilly.

It will work .. but Jeff has a point .. its just more work ..

After building one I agree but I still like my incubator.

best of luck
Dom

Bristen

01-23-05, 07:52 PM

Hi everybody,

the heat tape arrived a few days ago.. I started wiring it up tonight.. I decided to start with two 3' sections (a total of 6') of 11" heat tape, which means a total of 120W. Testing it now as I type this. I temporarily plugged the heat tape straight into the wall power outlet to see if it's enough to get the whole incubator up to the right temperature (it started at 72F and it's currently at 80F - using Helix DBS1000 just to monitor temperature for now).

Anyways, I have a question... is it ok if I lay heat tape on the bottom of the incubator two on top of each other? Will having two on top of each other make them get too hot or something?

I'll make sure to post pictures and results of the project once I'm done.

Thanks everyone!
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

01-23-05, 08:09 PM

I would think that having the heat tape spread out rather than one super hot spot would better suit your purposes. I would run it down the back if I was doing it that way.

Bristen

01-23-05, 08:16 PM

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
I would think that having the heat tape spread out rather than one super hot spot would better suit your purposes. I would run it down the back if I was doing it that way.

Down the back? I can easily do that.. I was thinking having the heat tap on the bottom as much as possible.. if I put the tape on the back, won't the egg boxes that are close to the heat tape be warmer than the egg boxes that are not close to the heat tape?

Bristen

01-23-05, 08:32 PM

The temperature has now reached 86F... I had tried the heat the box up with a 150W heat panel and it took a couple of hours to reach 90F.. looks like it's going to take at least the same amount with the heat tape.. I may end up adding another 3' strip of heat tape so that if I open the door or something it doesn't take too long to bring the temp back to the correct temp.. We'll see how it goes...

Later,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

01-23-05, 09:08 PM

Once the eggs, metal, rubber, containers, vermiculite, water, etc etc etc heat up to 90F, injecting it with 65F air (ie opening the door) isn't going to cool things off. It'll heat back up within minutes. The problem will be is if your probe is measuring AIR TEMPS, and if you open the door, the heat tape will kick back into high gear, even though the eggs are still 90F. That's when they can go up to 95F.

Bristen

01-23-05, 09:18 PM

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
Once the eggs, metal, rubber, containers, vermiculite, water, etc etc etc heat up to 90F, injecting it with 65F air (ie opening the door) isn't going to cool things off. It'll heat back up within minutes. The problem will be is if your probe is measuring AIR TEMPS, and if you open the door, the heat tape will kick back into high gear, even though the eggs are still 90F. That's when they can go up to 95F.

Right, that makes sense... the problem with the Helix, is that I was told that it has to "feel the heat" (from Jeff at Helix).. because if it does not, then it may "think" (software) that it's in a very large enclosure with a small heat source.. that means that it would compensate and bump the temperature up or something.. I didn't quite understand everything, but Jeff did say that the probe has to "feel" the heat when it pumps power to the heating element... for this reason, it has to mesure air temperature...

However, I think that if the thermostat did not have software "thinking" in the box, you could actually perhaps put the probe somewheres where it would mesure more the objects temperatures instead of air (for example, hide the probe behind, or under something with mass such as a heat sink or something)... just some thoughts going through my head...

Anyways, incubator now has reached 88F and it's been running for close to 4 hours now... it may reach 90F eventually, but since I have to go to bed soon, I'll hook up the Helix.. don't want to run the heat tape all night all full power and risk getting the house on fire.. especially that this was the first heat tape I manually wired LOL!!

Thanks for the reply Jeff, you're my only friend on here tonight it seems ;)

Later,
Bristen.

Bristen

01-23-05, 09:21 PM

just reached 89F, so 6' of heat tape will do the trick.. just have to figure out where I want to put it and I should be all set for heating it looks...

Bristen

01-23-05, 09:29 PM

Well, it just reached 90F.. 6' of 11" heat tape will be fine for an incubator that's a volume of over 21 cubic feet...

Jeff_Favelle

01-24-05, 02:55 AM

Thanks for the reply Jeff, you're my only friend on here tonight it seems

LOL, bunch of bastages eh?

I use my Helixes in my two no-substrate incubators and I use them in the water itself! I set the aquarium heaters to 89F and I set the Helix to 90F. And my temps don't vary at all. I would say that you could tape the probe to your actual heat tape and then set it to 90F and that would control your temps. Of course the incubator better be insulated very well, other wise it will lose heat faster than the heat tape can give it off (at 90F).

Keep us updated.

Bristen

01-24-05, 05:19 AM

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
[...]I use my Helixes in my two no-substrate incubators and I use them in the water itself! I set the aquarium heaters to 89F and I set the Helix to 90F. And my temps don't vary at all. I would say that you could tape the probe to your actual heat tape and then set it to 90F and that would control your temps. Of course the incubator better be insulated very well, other wise it will lose heat faster than the heat tape can give it off (at 90F).

Keep us updated.

hmmm.. I think that's part of the problem Jeff, I don't know how good it's insulated.. it's a box made out of 1/8" wood that has pink insulation (not sure how think) and drywall inside.. so it does have some insulation, but I don't think I'd consider this to be overly insulated.. I used this box in the past for a boa cage (actually I used that box as a cage for a little over 10 years), so that's the reason I'm using for the incubator (plus it's got 2 almost full-glass doors)... I perhaps would be building a totally different one sometime in the future depending how this one works out...

Anyways, it was still 90F when I woke up this morning, so it seems to be working so far... As for the probe, I've emailed Helix for a longer probe.. I may change the location of the probe somewheres else.. I'll have to do some experimenting with that at the last stages of the project (once I get a heat sink in there, etc).

Thanks!
Bristen.

Bristen

01-24-05, 08:03 AM

Here's another update for those who care (probably just Jeff LOL!)...

The heat tape is running quite hot.. I'm going to add another 3' section... I checked this morning and the heat tape was well over 100F to keep the enclosure at 90F... the temp in the box appeared to be perfectly ok though...

I'd rather have more heat tape than required to make sure that it does not get over the dangerous 95F as much as possible.. that would only happen when you first fire up the incubator and it initially heats everything up, so the risks of the heat tape over-heating would be much lower than what it is currently...

Later,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

01-24-05, 01:44 PM

If the heat tape is that hot, yet the box is only 90F, then you are LOSING heat every second, which means that its not a very good incubator. If the power goes out for even a few hours, your temps will dip to room levels. Not to mention the inefficiency of running more power than you'd need to with a fully insulated box.

It will STILL work, just not my first option for incubating eggs.

Bristen

01-24-05, 02:05 PM

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
If the heat tape is that hot, yet the box is only 90F, then you are LOSING heat every second, which means that its not a very good incubator. If the power goes out for even a few hours, your temps will dip to room levels. Not to mention the inefficiency of running more power than you'd need to with a fully insulated box.

It will STILL work, just not my first option for incubating eggs.

I'll check again once I get home tonight... I had the door opened for a minute before I checked the temperature on the heat tape, so maybe the Helix had already sent full power to the heat tape because of the drop in temperature? Also there is nothing to hold the heat in there to begin with.. no heat sink yet, no shelfs, no egg boxes, etc... heating an empty warehouse (no matter how well it is insulated) is much more difficult than heating crowded office space which has much more matter to keep the heat in the building...

With regards to this particular incubator, the front has a lot of glass.. anything with that much glass won't be very efficient... this incubator will not be the most efficient incubator ever built, that I knew from the start...

one thing my father had recommended, is to duct-tape some foam on the outside of the box... also, I probably have heat loss on the un-insulated floor (3/4" plywood). I was planning to insulate that from underneath. Will only take a few minutes to screw in a piece of foam on the bottom, so that will be easy (will be doing that for sure). Also, I have weather stripping purchased for the doors that is not currently installed (door almost close perfectly, but not quite.. weather stripping will help with that a lot I think.. RayTek shows a few spots of heat loss around doors). The drywall inside is cracked at a few spots.. I will be fixing that up as well. The hole where the wires come out of the box is a tad bigger than required and is only currently scealed with toilet paper stuffed in it (unused heh)... there are multiple things I can do to improve the box's efficiency... some of them that I will certainly be doing...

I totally agree this will not be the greatest incubator in the world, but it will much easier for me than to build one from scratch and still provides a lot of incubation space. Some have used much less than that and were successful in incubating eggs... On top of everything else, if I ever decide to drop this incubator after a season or two for whatever reason, a lot of the equipment can be ripped out and placed into the new one...

Thanks for being my friend Jeff, now I'll have to buy some snakes from you or something lol! ;-)

Later,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

01-24-05, 08:04 PM

LOL, no worries mate! I just want you to be successful in this, as I can see how motivated you are! Its awesome! :)

JDouglas

01-27-05, 01:02 AM

As usual Favelle is giving good advice. Sounds like your getting it all figured out.

Hey Jeff when my balls reach breeding size I plan on making a incubator out of my closet in the snake room. First I will remove the drywall and insulate it big time. I plan on using a 2 ft electric baseboard heater controlled by a propotional thermostat. A large fan will circulate the air and it will have a smoke and fire alarm that will call me if anything should happen. I will put up a few shelves and hatch the eggs in five gallon buckets with glass on top just like in the Barker BP video. I think I'm just as excited about building the incubator as I am about hatching the eggs.

Jeff_Favelle

01-27-05, 01:14 AM

Should work awesome Jaremy! But remember how you incubated the Carpet eggs? Works even better for Ball eggs! ;)

Bristen

02-03-05, 09:47 AM

just another update... I was not able to touch the incubater for a little (about a week now already!) because I caught influenza, yuk!...

Anyways, I added another 3' section of 11" heat tape... total of 9' now in the incubator... it's keep the temperature ok, and the heat tape is running as hot but it's still a tad over 100F which is still hot. However, the heat tape is not jammed anywheres and is open to get cooled down by air, so it should be ok... it is however hotter than recommended...

After studying my incubator with the RayTek, I can easily see where the heat loss is with my box... all walls are just 1 to 2 degrees above other objects in the room... however, the glass panes can be as hot as 89F... I feared that the glass front of the incubator would be a big heat loss... not very efficient unfortunately :-(

However, I've seen people build incubators with old pop coolers, etc that have a ton of glass.. those are probably very inefficient as well. But they have worked. So, I guess for now, it will have to do.. just more power consumption, that's all...

anyways, that's it for now...

Later,
Bristen.

paulsreef

02-03-05, 10:31 AM

Last year I incubated my beardie eggs in a 35 gallon aquarium with 6" of water and an aquarium heater. I maintain about 84 degrees in a room that was about 68-72 degrees. My reptile room is a constant 82-85 degrees at a 5 foot elevation. I may just keep the eggs in rubbermaids w/damp vermiculite this time round. Snake eggs I believe must be kept warmer.
Paul.

Bristen

02-03-05, 07:58 PM

for whatever it is worth, when I said the glass pane could be 89F I was mistaken (*edit* should of read "was a mistake).. 82F is the highest the RayTek would give on the glass panes and not 89F... oups...

Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

02-03-05, 08:14 PM

Glass doesn't read very well with the temp guns because of a the reflectivity. You're better off putting a peice of masking tape on the glass, waiting 10 minutes, and then temp-gunning the tape.

Bristen

02-03-05, 08:20 PM

oh, how interesting... I forgot about highly reflective materials could mess up the RayTek.. good call.. I'll do that right now.

Thanks for the tip!
Bristen.

Bristen

02-03-05, 08:57 PM

Well, the masking tape gave about the same readings.. 81F to 82F... all the other sides are about 73F to 74F while objects in the room are 72F to 73F, so the front glass panes are a considerable heat loss it seems....

Thanks for the note,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle

02-04-05, 01:17 AM

Yep, glass conducts heat REAL good. Always has, always will. Top-opening incubators for me all the way. Glass is for windows, french doors, and my rum and coke.

JDouglas

02-04-05, 01:26 AM

Jeff you crack me up. I drink me some Rum and coke now and then to.
If you are using a helix dbs 1000 your temps will be fine as long as you have enough heat. I have glass on the front of my incubator and it works great. Sure the glass loses heat but the Helix allows heat to trickle to the heat source compensating for it. But if it is not well insulated you will have a lot of temperature variation which can be helped more by moving the air with a fan.

I think a cool thread would be to discuss the pros and cons of each style of incubator.

Too bad my incubator doesn't have any cons! OK maybe it does. It uses much more electricity than others due to the two fans and glass and 6 foot of 11 inch flexwatt. All of this in 4.5 cubic feet.

Oh well at least its accurate and consistent and can be placed anywhere in my house. It also reaches its set temp in less than 15 minutes at room temperature. It is also easily transported.

Last year my power went out and I carried my other cooler incubator to the neighbors house and plugged it in. That was definitely a plus. All those water bottles saved my python eggs. Power was out to my incubator for four hours! That 9 liters of warm water was a life saver literally. Had I been using an open air incubator like the one in this thread they all would have died for sure. But my cooler incubator only holds one clutch of python eggs. I have it running this year as a back up incubator just incase I need to transport eggs during a power outage.

:D

Bristen

02-04-05, 06:32 AM

Hey Jaremy,

I'm petrified of power outages.. even just to heat the animals.. never mind the eggs!! I will be placing a bunch of filled water bottles in my incubator (on the bottom) to be a heat sink... if anything else, it will help with power usage, and hopefully let the incubator go a little while longer if there's a power outage... I need to go buy a generator.. however a disel generator to run my house must be at least $5K or more... my house heating system is an air-to-air heat-pump.. they need a lot of juice to run!

Thanks everyone,
Bristen.

ATBlover

02-12-05, 04:23 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
[B] My incubatorS? Three. All the same. Picture this; a giant, rubber-lined (or plastic-lined) INSULATED wood box with top opening doors.

Hey jeff,
I was wondering how you lined the box with the plastic??....could you put a tupperware in a wooden box?...and maybe [poke some holes in it and maybe put the tupperware on the bricks..on the water????....my balls should produce some eggs by 2006 and i was just getting a kickstart on things..just so i know wut im doing ahead of time...thanks..Connor

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02-22-05, 09:56 AM

what about a water bed heater, has built in thermostat

Jeff_Favelle

02-22-05, 12:18 PM

what about a water bed heater, has built in thermostat

So do fish heaters. ???

I was wondering how you lined the box with the plastic??....

Ummm....I put the plastic in and then it was lined? I'm not sure how many ways there are to line a box? Maybe I misunderstand your question?

Yes I put the eggs in Rubbermaids and then put them in the plastic-lined box on top of bricks. I don't poke any holes in them though.

ATBlover

02-22-05, 03:33 PM

hmm jeff i meant do you put a rubbermaid in it?..or just pieces of plastic...can there be spaces?..that kinda stuff...thanks...Connor

Golden_Lotus

02-22-05, 05:59 PM

My incubator is somes critters plastic box with moist vermiculite that are partially immersed in a 15 gallons aquarium with horizontal water heater. Low cost and work correctly for my small needs. I also used a probe to monitor temperature inside the plastic critter box.

I am just asking, for you who used humid incubator: do you add something to make the water moving for better distributing heat in your incubator?

Thank,

clint545

02-22-05, 06:05 PM

I was thinking of going the fridge bator route in the future. Just not sure on the best heat source(it'll most likely be a bar fridge).
Flex watt
A heat pad
Heat cable?

Jeff_Favelle

02-22-05, 08:21 PM

hmm jeff i meant do you put a rubbermaid in it?..or just pieces of plastic...can there be spaces?..that kinda stuff...thanks...Connor

I still don't understand what you're asking me. Do I put the Rubbermaid in what? In the incubator? Yes, because the Rubbermaid holds the eggs, and the eggs must go in the incubator if I want them to hatch. :P

Not sure what you mean about spaces. My incubator is filled with water. Then I have bricks. On top of those bricks are my Rubbermaids with the eggs in them.

I am just asking, for you who used humid incubator: do you add something to make the water moving for better distributing heat in your incubator?

Water is the best conductor of heat ('cept metal) so there's really no need to circulate it. The whole incubator heats up to 89F (or 90F or whatever you want it to), so circulating the water doesn't really do anything at all. Well, except waste electricity.