homemade Cooler incubator ? Remember

[BRoSKO]

Hey all i remember last year someone posting a how to make your own icubator out of a cooler thermostat and some flexwat and other materials and now i cant find it anywhere can anyone else remember this and who posted it Thanks

 

[manog]

I made one similiar to that. I used a styrofoam cooler and placed a 20 gallon heat mat on the bottom. I used cooling racks for cooking as the shelves for the egg containers. I cut a square out of the lid of the cooler and placed a plexy glass window in the top. Lastly the heat mat was attached to a a-life thermostat and kept at 82 degrees. I had a 100% hatch rate- easy, cheap, and it works.

 

[BRoSKO]

Nice i think im going to do something simular to that but use a herpstat

 

[TandJ]

I was thinking about trying the Ice Chest method this year... Granted I am not expecting many clutches this year, I was going try using the Aquariuam heater ( Ebo Jager makes a really excellent and very accurate heater ) submersed in water with the eggs on some sort of rack to keep them from getting wet..

Anyone else use that method to incubate eggs?


Regards... Tim of T and J

 

[Drizzt80]

Anyone else use that method to incubate eggs?

Here's some info for ya:
http://www.dakotacorns.com/Cages.html

D80

 

[TandJ]

Thank you Brent.. I appreciate the link.. What did you use for a shelf/grate? for the egg boxes? It looks clean...


Regards.. Tim of T and J

 

[BRoSKO]

yeah that one does look nice. The one that I'm thinking of doing is where ya put some bottled water on top of some flexwat (the actual bottles covering the bottom) and then some sort of rack to sit the eggs on ? duno what method would be better hmm

 

[MegF.]

Someone on my chondro forum made one from a styrofoam fish box. They also cut a hole in the lid and use plexiglass for a viewing port. Used heat mats for heat. I'm not incubating my cornsnake eggs this year. I'm just placing them in perlite in rubbermaid containers and put that in a styrofoam box. They'll be in my snake room and fine at 80-81 degrees. Hatched out 6 clutches last year that way and had almost 100% rate on all clutches.

 

[BRoSKO]

here is the one that im thinking of makeing except i dont think il use a fan and il just be placeing the egg boxes on the plastic shelving what ya guys think fan or no fan ?


http://www.freewebs.com/lilzoo/buildanincubater.htm

 

[Melinda666]

This is the one I used last year. Worked fabulously!

http://www.familyzoo.us/how_to_build_an_incubator.htm

 

[BRoSKO]

This is the one I used last year. Worked fabulously!

http://www.familyzoo.us/how_to_build_an_incubator.htm

Hehe same one i posted but diff site

did you use a fan ? I dont think il need one if i open it every so often.

 

[Melinda666]

No, I didn't use a fan. I opened it every couple days for some fresh air. I had mostly Ball python eggs in it and 14 of 15 hatched healthy. 1 died in the egg.

 

[Drizzt80]

Thank you Brent.. I appreciate the link.. What did you use for a shelf/grate? for the egg boxes? It looks clean...

In one of the tubs I use a wire basket turned over. The basket and rubbermaid were purchased at Menards. The second (newer) tub was purchased at K-Mart, and they didn't have wire baskets so I had to go with a Martha Stewart ( uke01: ) dish rack that has folding legs.

The egg boxes are simple Steri-lite flip top boxes that you can find for about a $1 apiece.

If you can buy (afford) a cooler big enough, that would work better. But, a $20 Rubbermaid tub compared to an $80 cooler . . . :shrugs: Last season I bought some $8 pink insulation and wrapped and taped the rubbermaid tub. Helped with keeping heat in. Either way, temps didn't fluctuate by more than 1 or 2 degrees which isn't all that much . . . and arguably is better for the eggs anyway than one constant even temperature for 60+ days.

D80