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Finally got my HoverBator incubator! But need help understanding how to setup?

wildlifephotographer

wildlifephotographer

Corn snakes rule!
I finally got my incubator! But I'm so dissapointed in it. I thought it was going to have temp reader on it so I could actually tell what temp it was at. But it doesn't. It seems pretty cheaply made as well. Didn't really know what to expect it to be like. It also is way bigger then I thought it was going to be. It's a Hover Bator Thermal Air Flow. I don't really understand how to set it up. I got it from LLLReptile.com and it didn't really come with good instructions on how to set it up for reptile eggs. Mostly talked about chick eggs. I'm not sure if I'm supose to put the eggs directly on the wire mess screen or add water in the troughs it has? Not sure if I'm supose to put hatchrite material on top of the wire mesh screen at the bottom of incubator and then put the eggs on top of the hatchrite material or burry them in it a little. I only got one bag 2lb of Hatchrite and with as big as the incubator is I don't think the 2lb bag of hatchrite is going to be enough. Should I use the hatchrite and spagnum moss together? And how on earth am I supose to know what temps it is set at without a reading? It just has a thing on the top of the incubator with increase or decrease...it says counterclockwise for increasing temps and clockwise for decreasing temps but thats it. Any suggestions would be so helpful..Thanks!
 
You will need a thermostat to watch the temps on that. Personally I am in no rush so I don't use an incubator for my clutch each year. I hope someone can help you out :)
 
i went through the same thing last year with my first clutch so i am no seasoned breeder. with that being said the 1st thing is to get a good didgital thermometer or 2( i used 2 digital and the little mercury filled 1 that came with it). fill the troughs up with water and put the screen on. then what i did was got an old tupperware container and put the hatching medium in that( i used vermiculite). then i just sat the eggs on top making sure to pick the eggs straight up and set them straight down. do not turn them at all. i put 1 digital thermo and the lil merc. filled 1 in with eggs and sat the lid on the container only latching 1 side so the condensation would roll to the edge instead of dripping on the eggs.then i put the other digital thermo on the out side of the tuppreware container just for extra readings. then 2x a week i would open the container to circulate the air and waited. my first clutch was 5 whites and 3 slugs. with what i did all 5 of my good eggs hatched perfectly. i hope this helped and wasnt overkill on the directions. GL with your eggs. BTW what did you breed?


P.S. make sure to setup everythng up atleast 2-3 weeks ahead to get the temps just right
 
You put the eggs from your clutches in a small bin, like a small gladware container, which is filled with whatever hatching medium you want to use. I also left the lid closed, but you dont have to. Its easier to keep humidity in with the bin closed. I used moss, but hatchrite works great. You dont put the eggs directly in the incubator, that would be a waste of space, and a lot harder to work with.

The hovabator is actually very easy to set up and is accurate with the temps. I used mine for the first time last year and had 100% hatch rate with two clutches.

You have to get a thermometer, with a probe. You can find those at walmart or target. Target has a nice probe one for around $8. Or, even better get the one at walmart for $13 and it has a humidity gauge on it that you can use to monitor humidity in the incubator. You will have to set up the hovabator for a couple days so you can tweak the temperature to what you want. It could take a day or two, but once you find the temp you like, it stays constant.

I did not use a thermostat with this incubator, its not necessary.

Good luck!
 
It was actually an accidental mating between my normal and silver queen ghost corn. I didn't think I had any males and sure enough I did...lol. My normal is the female and the silver queen is the male. I don't know if they have any hets or not they probably will come out all as normals. If any of them survive.
 
Thank you everyone for all the help and suggestions. Hopefully, when I breed my Anery to my Amelanistic and have it be a planned mating I will be more successful with everything involved in this incubation period. That is if either one of those are male/female. Which I think my amel is a boy because I put him in with my normal and he pretty much acted the way my Silver Queen did with her as well...although Bindi my amel didn't successfully mate with my normal I'm pretty sure that my amel is also a male corn snake. And I know for sure my Anery is a female....at least since I've had her sexed three maybe even four times and they all came out with female for her. I might be doing that soon actually...when I got the incubator yesturday it came with a flyer saying that they buy baby reptiles and to give them a call and let them know what I have...so if I know might possibly even have one buyer then I might start doing some breedings before to long and make a little extra cash. And keep one or two of the babies myself...:0)
 
I have 3 hova's. Buy a thermometer, don't use the one with the hova. A probe one is nice but a you can get a normal one if you can see it inside the hova through the window. Plug in the hova. Let it set overnight. See what the temp is. Adjust til the light goes out if its to hot. Adjust til the light comes on if to cold. Wait 1 hour. Do it again til you hit the right temp. It can take 2 or so days to get it just right.

Now here is the kicker. If the temps in your house varies more than 2-5 degrees it can make your hova ajust up or down accordingly. So keep you hova in a room that does have huge temp. Swings.
I bought a thermometer with a max and min setting so I can see the swings and adjust the hova accordingly. I love my hova's. Once they are set it easy.

I do put the eggs in a plastic container with vermiculite put the top on with 2 small holes for air exchange.
 
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