# lucky reptile herp nursery 2 question



## southeast geckos (Feb 5, 2012)

hi
just bought the herp nursery and it looks a nice bit of kit just hope it works as well as it looks. my question is do i have to have it full of tubs to do a trial run ? as i have tried it empty and the temp is all over the place i.e set it with an independent themometer to 81.5 for female leos and it drops to 80.5 creeps up to 81.0 then down to 79.5 then up to 80.0 and so on until its at like 76.0.

will not be putting any gecko eggs in until it proves to be stable


----------



## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

Mine ran pretty stable. Have you put water in the bottom. How long have you let it run. 
Also the room temp has a lot to do with how it run. I noticed it was a lot warmer at nights when it was upstairs in my house. I put it downstairs and the temps were quite stable at night.


----------



## southeast geckos (Feb 5, 2012)

do i have to put water in the bottom ? incubation medium is moist for humidity. just thought the poly box incubator has seen better days and heard good things about these incubators


----------



## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

To be honest if your using air tight tubs then there is really no need to use the water tray but I did it anyway. Maybe the moisture in the air could make the temps more stable because that will be heated as well as the air.


----------



## southeast geckos (Feb 5, 2012)

*herp*

didnt think of that mate maybe ill try the water tray


----------



## Niro (May 9, 2011)

I have an exo terra incubator which is similar and I think you'll find that these types of incubators will all vary a little in temperature as the fans won't kick in until it's dropped a degree or 2 to what it's set at. But what I did find is that the temps were a little more stable the fuller the incubator was. So it might be an idea to put a couple of bottles of water (with lids on) or something similar which will retain some of the heat. I just filled mine with the GEOs that I'm using.

Hope that helps :2thumb:


----------



## southeast geckos (Feb 5, 2012)

Niro said:


> I have an exo terra incubator which is similar and I think you'll find that these types of incubators will all vary a little in temperature as the fans won't kick in until it's dropped a degree or 2 to what it's set at. But what I did find is that the temps were a little more stable the fuller the incubator was. So it might be an idea to put a couple of bottles of water (with lids on) or something similar which will retain some of the heat. I just filled mine with the GEOs that I'm using.
> 
> Hope that helps :2thumb:


interesting thanks. how are you finding the geos? i was going to order some from phil75 cambridge gecko to see what all the hype is about. have you had good results ? they look a bit cramped for 2 eggs in each compartment


----------



## Niro (May 9, 2011)

The GEO's have been great so far. Very easy to use and had no problems at all. They do look a little cramped but i actually think thats a good thing cuz the geckos cant run around an knock/turn the other eggs. Also if you think about it, the geckos have been crammed up inside the egg so they have twice as much room in the GEO and its only for a few hours if you check your eggs regularly.

Got mine from Phil and highly recommend them :2thumb:


----------



## southeast geckos (Feb 5, 2012)

*geos*



Niro said:


> The GEO's have been great so far. Very easy to use and had no problems at all. They do look a little cramped but i actually think thats a good thing cuz the geckos cant run around an knock/turn the other eggs. Also if you think about it, the geckos have been crammed up inside the egg so they have twice as much room in the GEO and its only for a few hours if you check your eggs regularly.
> 
> Got mine from Phil and highly recommend them :2thumb:


 
top stuff thanks mate ill get myself some :notworthy:


----------



## kegley (Sep 17, 2009)

i wouldnt trust another one of these incubators as long as i live, i ordered brand new from a reptile online shop, had it plugged in for a month before i got eggs, the temps werent fantastic even when i had a digi thermom/hygrom in there. 
then low and behold two days after i put my eggs in the fan gave up!! im now trying to get a refund and DIYd my own incubator with a polybox and RUB with a thermostat and a heat mat. 

good luck with your eggs but please make sure you check your incubator everyday.


----------



## southeast geckos (Feb 5, 2012)

kegley said:


> i wouldnt trust another one of these incubators as long as i live, i ordered brand new from a reptile online shop, had it plugged in for a month before i got eggs, the temps werent fantastic even when i had a digi thermom/hygrom in there.
> then low and behold two days after i put my eggs in the fan gave up!! im now trying to get a refund and DIYd my own incubator with a polybox and RUB with a thermostat and a heat mat.
> 
> good luck with your eggs but please make sure you check your incubator everyday.


 
hi
at first the temps were all over the place and then i took some advice from people on here and filled it up with tubs full of vermiculite and the temps hold really well but like you i do check 2-3 every day


----------



## Umpa (Jan 17, 2010)

*Lucky Reptile Herpnursery II*

I have just bought one from Internet Reptiles. Its my first attempt at breeding Corn Snakes so I'm very much a pro - lol

Like others I have found the display to be 2oC higher than the actual temperature in side the unit, and it varies by a bit top to bottom. For instance the machine is set at 30oC. The bottom is reading 27oC and the top is reading 28oC and the machines own temp is reading 29oC.

I noticed that when I first turned it on (empty), for the first few hours the machine would turn on and off every 5 mins - the external display would fluctuate from 29oC down to 27oC and back up to 29oC. 

I used to be mad on home-brew, so had a beer makers thermometer lying around, in the middle (as you get two shelfs) the temp is around 28oC and seemed pretty constant. So I put my tubs of eggs in - until I bought the Incubator I had my eggs on some moist vermiculite in Tupperware in the viv under a ceramic heater set at 28oC. Its a long story but it goes like this, I woke up to find my Corn Snake coiled around a clutch of de-hydrated eggs :mf_dribble:

Anyway thats another story. lol

So I bought a Lucky Reptile Digital Thermometer, its the one with 2 sensors. I placed each sensor inside the tubs touching the vermiculite, and closed the lids.

I poured water on the bottom tray thinking the increased humidity would help temps and help with keeping the eggs humid if the lids weren't on tight (cos of the wire) - I did not drill a hole because I literally took the tubs out of the viv and put in to the incubator, I did not want them to spend to much time in the cold.

I put some sphagnum moss on the eggs which had not puffed up since being laid, and placed them on the bottom shelf and the more viable un sunken eggs on the top.

On the middle shelf I put the bag of sphagnum moss, to act as a buffer of temperatures.

Both the beer thermometer and the lucky reptile digital, and the machine thermometer all show different temperatures lol, but a friend of mine (whom I call the snake god) as he's always having to help me says so long as they are all within the range its the stability that counts.

I must say that so far the temperatures are rock solid and the unit only comes on every now and again, the machine thermometer goes down by 1 degree and the unit comes on, but inside the digital and beer thermometer does not shift at all - absolute rock solid.

I have no idea if they will hatch - I have no idea if the incubator will fail - I have no idea what I am doing. So far for me its plenty big enough. I'll let you know how I get on in about 60 days :lol2:


----------



## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

I put a thermometer probe in with the eggs and rely on that rather then the digital display. I didn't realise the temps were out until halfway through the incubation period so I upped the temps and they hatched at about 70 days. This year I've got the temps how I want so im hoping to hatch them at around 60 days.


----------



## Umpa (Jan 17, 2010)

I dont rely on the machine display at all, I'm told its because the thermo couple is right next to the fan and not In the egg area.

The digital one I bought is in with the eggs, I would post a picture if I knew how.


----------



## Umpa (Jan 17, 2010)

heres a quick and nasty site I set up for some pictures

UmpaSERV


----------

