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
Thanks!
Bristen.
Threaded Mode