Does or has anyone kept the humidity level in the 90's during the entire incubation term? Results and opinions please?
kbaker said:I have with my Sulcatas. The gauge said 98% most of the time. I don't think it can display any higher. I wanted to try it a little dryer and the last couple of clutches were at about 78%. Some differences between the two humidities are - at the lower humidity I saw signs of drying; the 'gel' from the inside of the egg was gooyer and the egg shell was sticking to the tortoise's shell.
At the same time, I also lowered temps from 89F to 87F. The incubation periods where close to the same. With the lower temps and humidity, I have not had any abnormal scutes.
Here is another piece of info...the infertile eggs at higher humidity stayed 'fresh' during the incubation period. The dryer eggs got 'sticky'.
And the twins were incubated at the lower humidity...not saying it has anything to do with it.
Tom can you post a picture of your incubator and its setup. Thank you, Greg.Tom said:I have. Worked great. I basically have them in a closed shoe box with 4 quarter inch holes for ventilation. I also keep the water channels full in the bottom of the incubators. I don't have an accurate, scientific grade gauge either.
kbaker said:I have with my Sulcatas. The gauge said 98% most of the time. I don't think it can display any higher. I wanted to try it a little dryer and the last couple of clutches were at about 78%. Some differences between the two humidities are - at the lower humidity I saw signs of drying; the 'gel' from the inside of the egg was gooyer and the egg shell was sticking to the tortoise's shell.
At the same time, I also lowered temps from 89F to 87F. The incubation periods where close to the same. With the lower temps and humidity, I have not had any abnormal scutes.
Here is another piece of info...the infertile eggs at higher humidity stayed 'fresh' during the incubation period. The dryer eggs got 'sticky'.
And the twins were incubated at the lower humidity...not saying it has anything to do with it.
ALDABRAMAN said:Thank you kbaker, nice set up. I would need ten of those. How sir do you maintain fresh air within the incubator? And a guess as to how much water in needed for your incubator to achieve the higher levels? Thanks again, Greg.
kbaker said:ALDABRAMAN said:Thank you kbaker, nice set up. I would need ten of those. How sir do you maintain fresh air within the incubator? And a guess as to how much water in needed for your incubator to achieve the higher levels? Thanks again, Greg.
I open the incubator enough that I never worry about 'fresh air'.
Just inside the door and the first shelve are four plastic containers that I keep full of water. I also add water to the extra spots in the green containers. How I was doing it before kept it at 98% and what I am doing now keeps it at 78%. It's just were it's at. I don't think I can adjust it much. That white box in with the eggs is a remote senser for temps and humidity.
The green containers are not that effiecent with space, but they are a good heigth and I save on the incubation media. I used other containers before, but they were too tall to fit on the bottom. If I find the right sized containers, I could fit about 120+ eggs in there. I've not come close to having that many at one time. How many have you had at one time?
If your really have a lot of eggs and you want good control over the eggs, I suggest converting a small room into an incubator. A large mass of temp/humidity should give you good results.
jackrat said:Some freinds of mine were in the commercial turtle farming business for years.They actually had a 12 x 16 building for an incubator.It worked well.They always had very good hatch rates.
kbaker said:I have with my Sulcatas. The gauge said 98% most of the time. I don't think it can display any higher. I wanted to try it a little dryer and the last couple of clutches were at about 78%. Some differences between the two humidities are - at the lower humidity I saw signs of drying; the 'gel' from the inside of the egg was gooyer and the egg shell was sticking to the tortoise's shell.
At the same time, I also lowered temps from 89F to 87F. The incubation periods where close to the same. With the lower temps and humidity, I have not had any abnormal scutes.
Here is another piece of info...the infertile eggs at higher humidity stayed 'fresh' during the incubation period. The dryer eggs got 'sticky'.
And the twins were incubated at the lower humidity...not saying it has anything to do with it.
supremelysteve said:kbaker said:I have with my Sulcatas. The gauge said 98% most of the time. I don't think it can display any higher. I wanted to try it a little dryer and the last couple of clutches were at about 78%. Some differences between the two humidities are - at the lower humidity I saw signs of drying; the 'gel' from the inside of the egg was gooyer and the egg shell was sticking to the tortoise's shell.
At the same time, I also lowered temps from 89F to 87F. The incubation periods where close to the same. With the lower temps and humidity, I have not had any abnormal scutes.
Here is another piece of info...the infertile eggs at higher humidity stayed 'fresh' during the incubation period. The dryer eggs got 'sticky'.
And the twins were incubated at the lower humidity...not saying it has anything to do with it.
Do you mean you have not had any abnormal scutes, period? Or no abnormal scutes since lowering temps and humidity?