Homemade incubator?

[Thalia]

Well I ran into my tortoise source today and she told me that one of the school's RF's is gravid and they want to hatch out her eggs and said I needed to make an incubator! 0.o I'm a little daunted at this task. If anyone has any advice for me on how to make on I'd very much appreciate it. She said I needed a box with a heat pad and substrate, but I thought eggs needed humidity too. Any advice would be much appreciated, as always

 

[Jentortmom]

I am not sure where you are located, by I have seen hovabators for sale pretty cheap, also you could look in your area for some being sold used. Here are a few links, I am not sure if they will work or not...http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml , http://www.turtlestation.com/DYI-Homemade Incubator.htm , http://www.pelomedusa.com/Incubator.html , http://birdsale.com.au/Details/DIY_Incubators.html

 

[Thalia]

it's safe to say that I will not find a hovabator here, I dont' know if I'll be able to find spring mix to feed these guys on a regular basis (apparently it's available at one store on the whole island and only on Fridays) so homemade is how I'm going to have to go Thanks for the links!

 

[egyptiandan]

Hi Thalia,
Here you go http://www.umsl.edu/~microbes/pdf/Incubator.pdf
I would go with a red bulb of 25 watts. You can move the eggs closer or further away from the light to get the temperature you want.
I would also drap the tank with a black cloth to keep visible from getting to the eggs. Visible light will only grow algae in the incubator and on the eggs.

Danny

 

[Thalia]

ok thanks for the advice! I'm waiting for some links from the turtle keeper here at the university too, so hopefully with all this info I can make a proper incubator for them

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

thalia just buy a little giant incubator. They are perfect for redfoots.

 

[Thalia]

the problem with buying anything off island and importing it is I have to pay duty on everything Duty is whatever the people feel like charging you that day, so sometimes you can get away with paying almost nothing or sometimes duty doubles the price of the item I'm a student so I don't really have the money to buy a $50 incubator then turn around and pay that much again in duty.

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

it might cost you close to that to build one , if not more.

 

[Itort]

Here's a site that might help.www.herpcam.com/incubator.htm.

 

[Josh]

let us know how this goes. take pictures along the way if you can!

 

[Thalia]

I will I like taking before and after shots
I think I'm going to try using the plastic tub that I bought as their actual home and put water in the bottom of it with a fish tank heater in it and put the tubs of eggs over the water I'm going to have to check the fish thermometer I've got at home and see if it's submersible or not, I don't remember, I think it is though. Thank goodness I have 2 or 3 extra UTH's, 2 fish tank heaters and various other fish/reptile paraphenalia laying around the house at home, or this might be really expensive!