Testudo Horsfieldii Incubator temperatures

[DaanV]

Hello,

I own the herp nursery II by lucky reptiles (I hope the luck translates to the eggs)

Thanks to the advice I got on this forum I set up the incubator and ill put in the eggs after another 12 hours.
The incubator now has a plastic container with water with a sponge reaching just above water for a good high humidity.
It also has a plastic container with exclusively dry vermiculite in which the eggs will be placed when the time comes.
Humidity is around 90% and the temperatures in the incubator seem to be a stable 89 with the occasional drop to 88 before the heater ticks on.
However, ive noticed today that it was reaching 90f before dropping back to 89 then to 88 and repeat (you get the picture)

I would greatly appreciate some input regarding my setup and more specifically : my temperatures, and how dangerous it is to go over 90

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

Hello,

I own the herp nursery II by lucky reptiles (I hope the luck translates to the eggs)

Thanks to the advice I got on this forum I set up the incubator and ill put in the eggs after another 12 hours.
The incubator now has a plastic container with water with a sponge reaching just above water for a good high humidity.
It also has a plastic container with exclusively dry vermiculite in which the eggs will be placed when the time comes.
Humidity is around 90% and the temperatures in the incubator seem to be a stable 89 with the occasional drop to 88 before the heater ticks on.
However, ive noticed today that it was reaching 90f before dropping back to 89 then to 88 and repeat (you get the picture)

I would greatly appreciate some input regarding my setup and more specifically : my temperatures, and how dangerous it is to go over 90

Thanks!

I would wait at least 24-48 hours before putting eggs in. Let everything stabilize and run through several heating/cooling cycles over a period of days.

 

[DaanV]

I would wait at least 24-48 hours before putting eggs in. Let everything stabilize and run through several heating/cooling cycles over a period of days.

Thanks for all your advice thus far Tom, I hope you dont mind me asking another question haha. I was wondering whether it would be alright to loosely cover the incubator with a blanket, to rule out the last temp fluctuations and to keep in heat. And if it would be okay to lower the temps slightly during the night. As, to simulate the natural lower night temps

 

[Tom]

Thanks for all your advice thus far Tom, I hope you dont mind me asking another question haha. I was wondering whether it would be alright to loosely cover the incubator with a blanket, to rule out the last temp fluctuations and to keep in heat. And if it would be okay to lower the temps slightly during the night. As, to simulate the natural lower night temps

I have used the blanket method myself in the past. That should be no problem.

Lowering the temp at night is not necessary for Russian eggs. Some people do it and think it is beneficial. I've never done it that way, so I can't give you a comparison of one verses the other. What I will say is this: The temperature remains relatively stable even just a few inches down in the earth, so if you do choose to do a night temp fluctuation, I wouldn't do more than a couple of degrees difference from day to night.

Let's ask some Russian breeders if they have any first hand experience with temperature fluctuation at night during incubation:
@Carol S
@HoosierTort
@biochemnerd808
@BeeZee1
@shellfreak
@dovelett15
@TylerStewart

 

[biochemnerd808]

@DaanV, covering the incubator will definitely help. I got tired of how (heat-)leaky the hovabator is and ended up building my own incubator from a broken wine fridge. It has much better insulation! I set it up in my walk in closet, where there is very little temp fluctuation.

Don't trust the thermostat the incubator comes with. I always always use a digital thermostat (Jump Start brand or similar) set to 89°F. I place several closed jars of water inside the inc to stabilize the temperature, and also one large open jar of water, which I have to refill every few weeks.

I use bone dry vermiculite for incubation medium. The humidity from the open jar of water is pretty high. I don't measure exact humidity since hygrometers are notoriously inaccurate. The viewing window is always covered in condensate, so I know it is high.

I wouldn't bother with a night time temp drop. I have done it, and all it resulted in was a longer incubation period. I get close to 100% hatch rate doing as described above without a night time drop.

 

[biochemnerd808]

I read your original post. A few things:
I personally know 2 people who have that incubator and it overheated. Get a secondary thermostat, like the Jump Start heating mat one on Amazon, plug the incubator into that, put the probe in by the eggs. This adds an extra layer of safety.
Occasionally going up to 90 us fine. You might get so e split scutes. If it goes to 91, hatch rate starts to go down.

I would be wary of the sponge. Be sure to check it once a week. If it starts growing mold, discard it. Mold can infiltrate the eggs and kill the embryo. I've had that happen. If just the open jar doesn't provide enough humidity for you, you could add an aquarium bubbler in the jar, attached to an analog timer. Set it to cycle on for 1 peg (10 or 15 mins usually) every 12 hrs. But this probably isn't necessary. I did this and added 2 little 2" fans to my home built one, but it has a much larger volume than the one you have.

 

[DaanV]

I read your original post. A few things:
I personally know 2 people who have that incubator and it overheated. Get a secondary thermostat, like the Jump Start heating mat one on Amazon, plug the incubator into that, put the probe in by the eggs. This adds an extra layer of safety.
Occasionally going up to 90 us fine. You might get so e split scutes. If it goes to 91, hatch rate starts to go down.

I would be wary of the sponge. Be sure to check it once a week. If it starts growing mold, discard it. Mold can infiltrate the eggs and kill the embryo. I've had that happen. If just the open jar doesn't provide enough humidity for you, you could add an aquarium bubbler in the jar, attached to an analog timer. Set it to cycle on for 1 peg (10 or 15 mins usually) every 12 hrs. But this probably isn't necessary. I did this and added 2 little 2" fans to my home built one, but it has a much larger volume than the one you have.

Thanks, so If I understand correctly. Even though my incubator starts warming up automatically if the incorrect display temperature is 1 degree too low - If I plug the incubator into a thermostat, will the thermostat exclusively have control over the cooling down and warming up?
I was thinking this one: https://www.amazon.nl/Inkbird-Therm...4&psc=1&mcid=92130fb1847e31c183b58ecce79105b5

 

[biochemnerd808]

This Inkbird thermostat is what I use to run my hibernation (brumation) fridge. It will work well for an incubator, but honestly it is kind of hard to program. (There is a YouTube video I think that I followed).
If you can find something more like this one:
JumpStart Jump Start MTPRTC UL Listed Digital Controller Germination Heat Mat Thermostat, 1 Pack https://a.co/d/3idCsXt where you just have to set the desired temp and plug in.

Think of it as a safety seatbelt. Yes, the heating unit in the incubator will also be controlled by the internal thermostat, but the plug in one will prevent it from continuing to heat if it goes up higher than 90. I have used this double safety system for 8 years, after losing 1 clutch to an overheated incubator, and it works great.

 

[DaanV]

Thanks!, thats all I am looking for, something that prevents going over 90.

The heatmat you can just leave unplugged im assuming

 

[DaanV]

This Inkbird thermostat is what I use to run my hibernation (brumation) fridge. It will work well for an incubator, but honestly it is kind of hard to program. (There is a YouTube video I think that I followed).
If you can find something more like this one:
JumpStart Jump Start MTPRTC UL Listed Digital Controller Germination Heat Mat Thermostat, 1 Pack https://a.co/d/3idCsXt where you just have to set the desired temp and plug in.

Think of it as a safety seatbelt. Yes, the heating unit in the incubator will also be controlled by the internal thermostat, but the plug in one will prevent it from continuing to heat if it goes up higher than 90. I have used this double safety system for 8 years, after losing 1 clutch to an overheated incubator, and it works great.

Hey, A little update. I managed to get my hands on a thermostat with a probe. Placed the probe inside the incubator at egg-top level and I've discovered that the 2 digital thermometers inside of the incubators were giving off ''higher'' readings than the probe thermostat. I now realise this is because the digital thermometers take much longer to cool down (as opposed to the probe) so as a result they were generally reading 1 degree higher than the probe! Now I got this trustworthy thermostat I'm condifent enough to move my temperatures to 88-89 as planned, instead of the 86-87 I was running these first 3 days of incubation.

 

[Tom]

Hey, A little update. I managed to get my hands on a thermostat with a probe. Placed the probe inside the incubator at egg-top level and I've discovered that the 2 digital thermometers inside of the incubators were giving off ''higher'' readings than the probe thermostat. I now realise this is because the digital thermometers take much longer to cool down (as opposed to the probe) so as a result they were generally reading 1 degree higher than the probe! Now I got this trustworthy thermostat I'm condifent enough to move my temperatures to 88-89 as planned, instead of the 86-87 I was running these first 3 days of incubation.

Be careful. Too much time over 90 degrees and you could get scute anomalies and birth defects. If the thermostat is calibrated slightly low, the digital thermometers might be more correct. Its a dilemma.

 

[DaanV]

Be careful. Too much time over 90 degrees and you could get scute anomalies and birth defects. If the thermostat is calibrated slightly low, the digital thermometers might be more correct. Its a dilemma.

I've established that the probe is in fact giving the correct temperature reading. At first the digital thermometer was slightly higher up than the probe (hence the 1degree difference) Now both the probe and the digital thermometer are reading the same temps so all is well!

Im keeping it between 88 and 89, I want to avoid reaching 90 alltogether for the same reasons as you said