thermostat shopping, help needed.

K1LOS · 05-23-04, 01:17 PM

Hey everyone, a little advice here would be greatly appretiated. I bought an electric baseboard heater for a thermostat in my fishbox incubator heated by a human heating pad. Needless to say the thing is a piece of junk and just isn't gonna cut it. I'm gonna start a new incubator and am curious as to what thermostat to get?

I'm debating between using my unused melamine box i have already built and just insulating it, or holding out for a barfridge for the unit.

I'm just a hobbyist so i can't afford a super expensive thing, and preferrably available at rona/homedepot/canadian tire type stores. What are you using? Where did you get it? How much was it? Thanks so much for the help, i don't wanna build another crappy incubator that i'll end up throwing out.

Geoff

p.s: is it better to have a side opening or top opening door? I would think that a top opening door would make for a greater temperature fluctuation when i open it.

Jeff_Favelle · 05-23-04, 01:26 PM

Helix DBS 100

K1LOS · 05-23-04, 01:30 PM

awesome, thanks alot jeff.

Anybody else have a recommendation?

Tim_Cranwill · 05-23-04, 01:34 PM

Here's my advice...

If you are just going to be incubating 1 or 2 clutches a year here and there, don't waste your money on a bar fridge. Use that money on a GOOD thermostat. Get a Styrofoam cooler and some 3" or 4" heat tape. Run that along the bottom with a heat controlling device and you should be fine.

I built my brother in-law a really easy Styrofoam color incubator the other day. I <b>WISH</b> I had snapped some pics for a how-to post but I literally finished building the thing so fast, the thought didn't have time to reach my brain!

As far as top or side opening, if you're going with the cooler idea, I guess you don't have much choice other than top. But everyone knows that heat rises... so if you like to check on your eggs 45/52 days, maybe you should go with side opening.

Anyway, browse the breeding/incubation forum. There are some great how-to posts and some great pics. You'll have no problem finding dozens of ideas there.

I’ll try to whip up another incubator and take pics for a how-to post. I know there are already some out there but it never hurts to have more than one option!

K1LOS · 05-23-04, 01:38 PM

well, see i think i'd be able to get a barfridge for free. My girlfriends dad knows a guy for every purpose i would ever need, i'm sure he could score one for me. He has a full-size fridge i could have now, but it just seems silly to incubate 2 leo eggs in a full fridge, lol.
another how-to would be excellent, please do. Thanks

Geoff

crocdoc · 05-24-04, 12:15 AM

go the bar fridge. As you said, they are often free. Someone somewhere always knows of an aunt or granny with an old fridge that no longer keeps its cool. An alternative is to visit one of those fridge places that takes trade ins on old fridges (they are usually called Crazy Larry's or some other equally silly name). Ask them if they have any old fridges out the back waiting to be sent to the scrap heap, they usually do.

The bar fridge I use was one I got for free, I just ripped out the fridge and freezer mechanisms and made my own shelves (the original ones were rusted, or I would have stuck with them).

mykee · 05-24-04, 12:27 AM

I'm with the consensus. The Helix DBS-1000 is THE proportional thermostat to get. It'll run you around $135 u.s. or $200 Can.

Lisa · 05-24-04, 05:53 PM

Now I don't know anything about leo eggs or any other eggs (most of what i know is from reading a few posts on no substrait incubation) but if you're doing just one or 2 clutches i'd do like tim said and do the cooler thing... you can do it the way he suggested or you can do it the way i did (both are pretty easy)... I used a $15 aquarium heater, a $15 cooler, a block of styrofoam to float the heater, a $10-$15 indoor/outdoor temp sensor and a gladware sandwich container for an egg chamber.

I filled the cooler with warm water (this acts as heat sink and provides moisture for the eggs), punched a hole in the styrofoam to float the heater, punched holes in the eggchamber to allow ventilation/humidity in (don't forget i'm heating the water to 81 degrees), put the temp sensor in the egg chamber, sealed it all up and let it run for a day to test.
The next day I put the eggs in my eggchamber, and sealed it back up and put it in a spot that wouldn't have many temp fluctuations (which just so happens to be a dead fridge).
my temp sensor fluctuates between 80.1 and 82.4 which is probably the lag between the thermostat built into the aquarium heater and the temp that the eggs get to (i could put the temp sensor on the water heater but i want to know what the temp is at the eggs)...

I thought about turning the whole fridge into an incubator but until i have lots of eggs i don't see the point, and at that point i'll probably build an incubator where i can SEE the eggs with out disturbing them...

K1LOS · 05-25-04, 12:31 PM

well, see the thing is i have a pair of beardies reaching maturity soon, and am completing a pair of pictus geckos this week. So it won't always just be the 2 leo eggs. Plus my leopard gecko has been consistantly laying a clutch every month. I guess i was exagerating with just the 2 eggs, i meant it was very small time. But i do need some space for expansion. I am sort of doing a cooler thing now, but i use a uth instead of a aquarium heater and water.

Geoff