Large Capacity Incubator

[Weldd]

I need a large capacity incubator(s) and was wondering if anyone has experience with the ones commercially available in the reptile hobby right now. I'm not particularly interested in building one myself.

Any help, especially for those who have used these for turtle/tortoise eggs or even snake/lizard eggs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance. Will...

 

[Tom]

I have not heard anything good about any of them. In fact I have heard complaints about all of them, and they are astronomically expensive. Several thousand dollars usually. Every large scale breeder that I know of makes their own.

Sorry I don't have anything helpful to say. Just thought I would share what I know so it would explain why its not so easy to just order one up and be done with it. I'd like to find a good one too, so I'll be following your thread to see if anyone comes up with anything.

 

[Weldd]

Thanks Tom. I have used the Avery incubators in the past and had good success with them. However, they are not that big. I was in Daytona this past August for the National Reptile Breeders Expo. I saw a few different models there. Here is one:

http://www.hotboxincubators.com/#!incubators

They looked nice and if you were to take the word of the manufacturers, they are very reliable. I'd just like to know someone who has used them before I plunk down a lot of money.

Anyway, I will post any updates I have here...

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

It sorta depends on what you mean by large capacity, for example real large capacity is a whole room. Larger still are custom buildings with anti-ways for access.

Like maybe 20 show boxes, 200? Those onsite ice storage lockers work well at small poultry farms, of course converted to warm, not cold. At that size you would probably want a UV light chamber to sanitize the air (similar to aquariums for water).

Will

 

[GBtortoises]

I prefer to use several smaller incubators rather than one large one. If something happens to one of them, you may lose the eggs in them. But you won't lose the eggs in the other incubators. With one large one, if something happens you may lose everything.
My experience with exactly the above scenario happened in 2010. At the time I had four different incubators full of eggs. I came in the evening to find that one of the incubators that had been faithfully in service for over a decade overheated. When I discovered it the thermometer in the incubator read well over 110 degrees. I quickly plugged in another incubator and transferred the eggs to it. None survived. All was well with the other, unaffected incubators. Kind of like the old saying goes: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". Or in this case, one incubator!

 

[Weldd]

10 - 20 shoeboxes. I prefer to not mix clutches if possible. I agree about more than one running at once. Also, I have eggs with varying temp requirements which precludes keeping them all together...