A little help with the Hovabator

[Alicewave]

I am expecting some Leo eggs in the near future and I just got my hovabator yesterday. Since the directions it comes with apply to Chicken eggs, I am left with a few questions.

1. There are two wells in the bottom to put water in, one is thermal and the other circulate I think, do I fill only one with water or both? How often does the water need to be refilled?

2. Is the thermostat it comes with relativelty accurate/stable? I was hoping I'd be able to set a numerical temperature but it looks like I have to adjust the brass wafer thing until I get the temp i want. I tried attaching the incubator to my ESU thermostat so I can set the temp with that. It seems to work ok. I have a digital thermometer that tells me the max/min and when I set it at about 84 the min was 83 and the max was 85.9. Is that range ok?

3. Vermiculite or Perlite? Which do we like better and why? I have both but I'm not sure which will work better for Leo eggs.

4. How do you set the eggs up within the incubator? I have one of those glad ware delicup type things and I poked some small holes in the bottom and sides, but then I was not sure if I should use the lid or not. I was thinking of using a stocking instead. How deep does the perlite/vermiculite need to be?

Any other advice on successsful Leo egg incubation is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[JD@reptiles]

Alright here's what I do.

1. I put the water in a separate container so its easier to take it out fill it up etc.

2. I use a digi thermometer I find they are the most accurate.

3. I use vermiculite

4. I put vermiculite in a small container put the eggs in there and stick the whole container in the hovabator


That's what I use and have over %95 hatching rate

Best of luck!
Jordan

[Alicewave]

Thanks JD that helps. I could more details if anyone else can help me. Thanks