# Cupboard Incubator Build Thread



## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi all,

Thought I would do an incubator build thread, showing the conversion of a cupboard to hold royal egg clutches this year, make a change from a fridge or poly box. And is going to be the ultimate in re use of old stuff I already had or brought for minimal cost. Not that im bored or anything :whistling2:

Anyway bit of back story, my old incubator for royals was a full height glass fronted fridge, did the job great but really scaled back so that got sold to a good friend. So the only current incubator I have with the season fast upon us is this a little wine cooler fridge, now resigned to use for the crested eggs (previously leopard geckos and colubrids incubator)to try for a better hatch rate than plonking them on top of the cupboard in the rep room instead.

So a little look at that one first for those interested

Outside has a mirror effect, you cant actually see the bits inside like the flash shows up









Inside the fridge









Its a Husky wine fridge not very big at all, had wavy shelves so egg crate was attached to level them out a bit. Runs from a double habistat, one probe suspended from the bottom shelf controlling the heat mat below, the other probe taped to the mat on the door. This was a later addition with finding the temps at the front and back of the fridge were different so added any old mat I could find hanging around and just one of those things I have never got around to replacing or making look neater. It works so I will leave it as it is.
As you can probably notice I havent drilled it, all the wires simply pass through the door seal at the hinge point. I measure the temp with a probe inside the incubator and also inside the tubs of eggs. Great stable temps all throughout. Anyone in need of a small incubator then I happily recommend a converted fridge.

I am using the SIM incubators this year for the cresties to give them a whirl, and use perlite as a substrate below as sloshing water near eggs make me nervous. 2 sim in there, one is empty waiting for eggs, the other has two little eggies, the first crested eggs of the season. The other rub is just more random perlite, I needed somewhere to keep it, :lol2:









Right next post will be the start of the new incubator


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

Ok on to the new one.

This is the cupboard I plan on using, previously used for storage. God knows where its from I have had it far too long, in good condition.










Did have a shelf at some point but this got nabbed for another project ages back.










And a 9L rub which will be about the size of the tubs I am using, tend to use either 9L rubs or clip lock sandwich boxes. Should fit 5 tubs easily, maybe more but should only need 4 or 5 max this year so just the job. I dont plan on breeding tonnes of clutches from now on.










The plan is to line it with polystyrene from the many poly boxes laying around gathering dust










Then once in will line with this stuff to reflect heat and generally tidy it up a bit. Any section with no poly box will just get a couple of layers of this.










Then as im pretty much DIY phobic :blush: I am not fitting shelves but instead found this.










Part of a 4 shelf plastic thing, found in the bargain bin as one shelf had a crack it and the packaging was ripped. So cost me a massive £3 :2thumb:. Otherwise was looking at a wooden shoe rack for the same idea.

So here it is inside the cupboard










Plenty of room round it but the poly will take up some space and allows room for the air to flow.

So on to the actual doing stuff, which hasnt been much so far :lol2:
Basically take one kitchen knife, take poly boxes, make mess :blush:










End up with a nice pile of poly sheets ready to go










Spend next 20 mins trying to clean the blooming stuff up :devil: Give up and walk bits all over the house :lol2:
Thats it for today. Planning to do more tomorrow so will post again.


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

No update today, spent more time cleaning up polystyrene from around the house :devil: and building a random 3ft viv :lol2:

Must do something tomorrow:blush:


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

i count wait great build by the way mate im hoping to breed in the future


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

Thanks berry1

Anyway I have done more today, lined with polystyrene and most of the foiled bubble wrap but have now been drinking a bit so I will post pics tomorrow.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

no prob mate looking forward to them in a few weeks il prob give this a go (i really want to breed corn snakes) but il have to get all the other crap out of the way first like my ybs pond and drilling my biorb i don't get why other people arnt commenting i thought the thread would be full now but yea ive been on the forum for about an hour and i gota sleep now


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

Dont mind if others comment or not, if its saves someone a bit of money making one or is useful then my work is done  but also a bit of a future cheat for me if anyone wants to see my incubator I can direct them here 

Corns are always a good way to start, I started in corns many moons ago with nothing more than a poly box incubator but after my first converted fridge I never looked back, so much easier to check on something when you can simply open the door a crack and peep in.

Anyway the build continues,

So with a pile of polystyrene and loads of mess all round the house by this point :blush: its time to crack on.

I used a quick dry sealant, dries in 2 hours which was good because the stuff smells bad, I recommend having a good blow through of air when doing this (the rep room window had to be open even with the cold it smelt that bad) Smells of very strong vinegar. So stinky sealant loaded in to gun.










Then years of playing tetris have paid off

Base done









Back done









And then both sides









Then cover the whole thing with the shiny bubblewrap so as to direct all the heat back into the incubator and not just escape
I didnt put poly on the roof but did line with the bubblewrap, as the top is extra thick wood and a little heat escape wont hurt in the room its in.









Thats it so far, going to put two layers of the bubble wrap on the doors, tidy the front edges up somehow then fit the heat in the form of a few old heat mats and a couple of fan to circulate the air. The electrics I plan on bringing out one corner where the door closes but may change my mind yet, we shall see


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## kingball (Jun 21, 2009)

oakelm said:


> Dont mind if others comment or not, if its saves someone a bit of money making one or is useful then my work is done  but also a bit of a future cheat for me if anyone wants to see my incubator I can direct them here
> 
> Corns are always a good way to start, I started in corns many moons ago with nothing more than a poly box incubator but after my first converted fridge I never looked back, so much easier to check on something when you can simply open the door a crack and peep in.
> 
> ...



looking good mate:2thumb:


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

looks great by the way mate when i give this ago do you think i could use space board instead of poly boxes as i dont have poly boxes and all my local aquarium stores send them back to the suppliers any way looking forward to an update 10/10 : victory: :2thumb::2thumb::2thumb: : victory:


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

An interesting thread and its looking good!

Berry1 - why don't you ask your local aquarium stores to save them for you? You don't need many.


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

berry1 said:


> looks great by the way mate when i give this ago do you think i could use space board instead of poly boxes as i dont have poly boxes and all my local aquarium stores send them back to the suppliers any way looking forward to an update 10/10 : victory: :2thumb::2thumb::2thumb: : victory:


Cheers everyone, not done anymore yet, not had time.

But berry1 you could use celloflex (i think its called) basically looks like poly with foil on already. Or just use the bubblewrap stuff and make an inch gap between the layers to act as an warm air pocket. But yeah asking your local aquatic shop/fishmongers/reptile shop to save them for you would be the cheap option. You can buy straight sheets but why buy when you get it for free elsewhere :2thumb:


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## scottswald (Aug 9, 2010)

seems good to me, i would have put a small amount of expandable foam inbetween the polybox gaps just for that little bit extra insulation


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## gafro (Nov 6, 2010)

done anymore yet?


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## Railz (Oct 30, 2010)

looking good would love to see finish


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

Well finally got some time to do some more, nearly finished now, anyway more pics of what has been done.

So firstly I finished foiling the doors









Left an over hang on one side due to a small gap between the doors when closed

























Now a selection of old heat mats, remember this is a minimal to zero expense build.








Mostly 17x11 inch mats as that happens to be the size I use most with rubs.

Decided after putting mats in they definately needed to go out the back, so a bit of cutting later we have a hole in the centre of the back panel but at the bottom. I can never be bothered with un-wiring plugs plus one was a molded anyway so a hole it was.









All wires aimed out of hole, I have put a heat mat on each door, one on the base and one on the back.









Then wedged the polstyrene square back in and covered with foil, will put layer of foil on the back of the hole as well but makes for easy future changing and threading of stat.









So thats the inside pretty much done now just got to add the fans and the stat and getting it running and tested.









All the plugs lead into a single switched 4 gang so if the 4 mats are over kill then can be switched off individually. But also may change my mind and run it on two stats if so it can become just another mains extension.









Just did a sum up of the cost of this build.
Cupboard £0 already had it
Poly boxes £0 already had them
Silicone approx £9 could have brought cheaper but wanted it to dry quick
Foil stuff approx £15 and I still have half a roll left
Black shelves for inside £3 bargain bin
Heat mats £0 already had them
4 gang plug £0 already had, also have another and a couple of the multi adapters if I change my mind on the electrics
Stat/stats £0 have a 2 habistats and a thermo pro knocking about spare
Fans £0 traded for some mice
Tubs for eggs £0 already have them
So grand total spend of* £27 *:lol2:
Just goes to show I had way to much kit lying around since I downsized the collection.

I will be needing more perlite and egg crate for the tubs but I think I can live with the extra expense :lol2:


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## alan1 (Nov 11, 2008)

as cheap as - but will comfortably do the job
good work there Em : victory:


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

alan1 said:


> as cheap as - but will comfortably do the job
> good work there Em : victory:


Cheers Alan, can't grumble at that price :2thumb:


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## wwc_gang (Oct 17, 2010)

wher did you fit your fans ? if its posible can you upload a picture her? thanks


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## oakelm (Jan 14, 2009)

wwc_gang said:


> wher did you fit your fans ? if its posible can you upload a picture her? thanks


I ended up fitting the fans to the roof pointing back and down to circulate the air. I'm the middle of converting an in built wardrobe in the same room so currently a little piled up round it. But it's up and running waiting for the royal to pop. Big incubator for one clutch :lol2:, after all the effort I probably won't need anything so big now i have cut my collection down so might end up scrap after this season as I have a smaller fridge incubator already. Oh well kept me busy. :lol2:

But I will try and grab some pics soon of the fans when I can get to it again.


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