Home made incubator

Johnlaws

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
74
ImageUploadedByTortForum1385656877.747377.jpgImageUploadedByTortForum1385656888.391308.jpg
Just finished my home made incubator for my Albino balls. Danby mini fridge converted to hold two Rubbermaid shoe boxes. Included is a 24volt power supply with two 24volt fans to circulate the air, also I installed a red LED power indicator light so I know the power supply is working. One twelve inch piece of flex watt 20 watt heat tape, controlled by a Vivarium electronics VE-100 thermostat. Also a secondary Exo Terra thermometer to place inside an egg box. Just wanted to show off my creation to someone since my wife and my non reptile friends could care less. lol
 
Last edited by a moderator:

parrotlady

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
328
Very nice, I used a 56 bottle wine cooler, left the lights and digital thermometer and completed close to your set up. Seems to be working smoothly. I have 31 leopard eggs cooking, the first due to hatch in Jan. what I like about this set up is the ease for getting the right humidity and temperature. It goes to show that even grandma's can make a great incubator.

Please let us know how incubation goes for you.
 

Johnlaws

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
74
Thanks guys! I'm hoping it works. I won't have eggs for months but I've had it running for over 24 hours and the temp hasn't moved a degree so it should do the trick. I just picked up a female mojave for my male last night and they are already locked up. So I may need to upgrade this one before I even get to use it. lol


Parrotlady what do you do to keep the humidity right. It seems like getting the vermiculite moist enough in the begining would be easy, but once the eggs are in, seems harder to keep it moist without soaking the eggs.
 

parrotlady

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
328
I use super hatch as my medium, I also found that a small 3 inch dia. Dish by about 2 inch deep filled with water, I add a couple drops of grape seed extract. My wine cooler is 22X24X34 inches. I am able to keep 70 % humidity. I have only added water once since the middle of Sept. remember that to raise humidity you might need a wider container. You will have to play around to determine the correct size for your unit. Also as an added precaution, cover you container with screen to keep babies from accidentally falling in.
 

Johnlaws

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
74
That's my worry, I don't have enough room. Being a mini fridge my egg boxes are only shoe box size. Doesn't seem like I'll have any room to add a bowl of water to them. I bought vermiculite and know to use the substrate to water ratio. But after a while I'm sure it will begin to dry out. I know not to get the eggs wet so I'm assuming adding water around the eggs with a turkey bastor would more than likely be my method?
 

parrotlady

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
328
I am not familiar with the needed humidity for snakes, I suppose it will be determined by the species. Turkey baster might work. You might want to keep an eye out for a larger unit, especially if hatching many eggs. I needed a larger unit due to the number of females I currently have. I quickly realized most reasonably priced incubators were too small and many of the others were too expensive. I needed something that would fit in a room and look like a piece of furniture.

Btw I was able to score my unit from a person who picks up old appliances on Craig's list. He delivered it to my home for a total cost of $20. Good luck!
 

tortoise5643

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
462
This is amazing! I would like to try this for my redfoots eggs someday n


What was total costs? What type of heater do you have?
 

parrotlady

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
328
I used flex watt heat tape, a vivarium electronics porportional thermostat (VE-200), a computer fan, dbl sided tape to hold the heat tape. Total cost for everything was around $150.00. The biggest expense was for the thermostat. I have lots of room, my unit had 6 stainless steel shelves. Depending on size of holding the eggs. I have over 30 eggs cooking on one shelf and I still have room for more. I bought my supplies from Reptile Basics. Check around you can probably pick up supplies from fauna classifieds.

I have used the refrigerator type incubator, it did not last 2 seasons cost with shipping about $200., I also have a couple of hovabators but they take up a lot of space, and also. Hold only a limited number of eggs. It is my belief that the cost, Vs amount of eggs it will hold will be justified in the end.
 

tortoise5643

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
462
Re: RE: Home made incubator

parrotlady said:
I used flex watt heat tape, a vivarium electronics porportional thermostat (VE-200), a computer fan, dbl sided tape to hold the heat tape. Total cost for everything was around $150.00. The biggest expense was for the thermostat. I have lots of room, my unit had 6 stainless steel shelves. Depending on size of holding the eggs. I have over 30 eggs cooking on one shelf and I still have room for more. I bought my supplies from Reptile Basics. Check around you can probably pick up supplies from fauna classifieds.

I have used the refrigerator type incubator, it did not last 2 seasons cost with shipping about $200., I also have a couple of hovabators but they take up a lot of space, and also. Hold only a limited number of eggs. It is my belief that the cost, Vs amount of eggs it will hold will be justified in the end.

Do you think I could use a hovabator lid (the part with the heating element) and mount it in a mini fridge and use that as the heating element and the R-Zilla Controller Temperature, 1000 watt? I also have a very accurate hygro\thermo meter to put in there.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
I leave the lids on my shoe boxes and it keeps the media moist. I only add a little water a couple of times during incubation, and once again when pipping is eminent.

With two fans moving the air around so much, yours might dry out faster.
 

parrotlady

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
328
You could try it. If you have the lid portion handy. Usually the mini fridges are well insulated so they should not require a lot of heat to maintain your temps. You might google it, and see if anything pops up under homemade incubators. I know there is a lot of info on the web.
 

tortoise5643

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
462
Re: RE: Home made incubator

parrotlady said:
You could try it. If you have the lid portion handy. Usually the mini fridges are well insulated so they should not require a lot of heat to maintain your temps. You might google it, and see if anything pops up under homemade incubators. I know there is a lot of info on the web.

Well the lid parts not exactly handy.... Its on top of my current incubator
 

Johnlaws

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
74
All that I've been ready is calling for 100% humidity. I'll sacrifice some vermiculite and see where the humidity sits. If two fans are too much I can remove one. I did score a larger Pepsi refrigerator like one of the smaller counter top displays. (Craigslist $45). This will be able to hold 6 shoe boxes. I'll just use what i learned from this mini fridge and make a new one. That would be more than enough room for my group. :)


tortoise5643 said:
This is amazing! I would like to try this for my redfoots eggs someday n


What was total costs? What type of heater do you have?



My fridge was free.with the VE100 thermostat and flex watt heat tape, I have $118 bucks invested including shipping.


Tom said:
I leave the lids on my shoe boxes and it keeps the media moist. I only add a little water a couple of times during incubation, and once again when pipping is eminent.

With two fans moving the air around so much, yours might dry out faster.

Thanks for the heads up on two fans. I'll do a trial run and see what happens.


parrotlady said:
I used flex watt heat tape, a vivarium electronics porportional thermostat (VE-200), a computer fan, dbl sided tape to hold the heat tape. Total cost for everything was around $150.00. The biggest expense was for the thermostat. I have lots of room, my unit had 6 stainless steel shelves. Depending on size of holding the eggs. I have over 30 eggs cooking on one shelf and I still have room for more. I bought my supplies from Reptile Basics. Check around you can probably pick up supplies from fauna classifieds.

I have used the refrigerator type incubator, it did not last 2 seasons cost with shipping about $200., I also have a couple of hovabators but they take up a lot of space, and also. Hold only a limited number of eggs. It is my belief that the cost, Vs amount of eggs it will hold will be justified in the end.

I buy everything from reptile basics. They have phenomenal customer service.
 
Top