# Incubator, easiest way to make one?



## markandwend

Right people, theres loads of different ways to make incubators, please could someone let me know the easiest/best/simplest way to make one?

Cheers,
Mark.


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## odyssey

i got a pollystyrene box. i got mine from the fish counter at morrisons. put a heat mat on the lid. attach a thermostat with the probe going into the center tub ( i used 3 takeaway tubs in mine) and have it on top of the vermiculite. i had a 99% hatch rate with the beardie eggs i incubated. hope this helps. if you need any other info pm me and i will be more than happy to help.


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## markandwend

Thats great, thank very much.


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## odyssey

no probs : victory:


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## freekygeeky

same although mu heta mat is on the bottom and ill put the eggs hugher - raised above heat mat


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## Graham

Poly box from the fish counter in any supermarket, put a couple of inches of water in the bottom and a submersible aquarium heater, the heater has it's own thermostat so no need for an additional one. 

Whether you use a mat and stat or a water heater though use a reliable thermometer to verify the temperature, an ordinary glass medical one works well, just push it through the styrene so the bulb is inside the box at the level of the eggs, and you can read the scale on the outside.

You also need a wire rack to place the egg boxes on.


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## snickers

An incubator is just a temperature controlled box, so anything will do. I used a 2' cube viv mostly. An oversized heatmat is good and a pulse or dimmerstat (not an on/off stat)

Polystyrene boxes as described above are brilliant

You can control the humidity in the poly box and incubate with the lids off, or leave the lids on and control the humidity in the egg boxes, which is what I did.


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## joey_b

Graham said:


> Poly box from the fish counter in any supermarket, put a couple of inches of water in the bottom and a submersible aquarium heater, the heater has it's own thermostat so no need for an additional one.
> 
> Whether you use a mat and stat or a water heater though use a reliable thermometer to verify the temperature, an ordinary glass medical one works well, just push it through the styrene so the bulb is inside the box at the level of the eggs, and you can read the scale on the outside.
> 
> You also need a wire rack to place the egg boxes on.


 
hi, what "watt" heater did you use and also did you use vermiculite?


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## Tris

When I had the beardies, I used an old bedside cabinet, it had a lower drawer, and single large opening door above. I fitted a single 100 watt light bulb in the lower drawer, drilled 3 large holes in the bottom of the main compartment (going through to the single drawer), fitted a shelf half way up the main compartment, that had several holes drilled though. Layed the eggs in a container containing vermiculite, and had a dimmer stat probe along side the vermiculite.

I also had a dish containing water in there to help with the humidity. 

100% hatch rate!


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## markandwend

Graham said:


> Poly box from the fish counter in any supermarket, put a couple of inches of water in the bottom and a submersible aquarium heater, the heater has it's own thermostat so no need for an additional one.
> 
> Whether you use a mat and stat or a water heater though use a reliable thermometer to verify the temperature, an ordinary glass medical one works well, just push it through the styrene so the bulb is inside the box at the level of the eggs, and you can read the scale on the outside.
> 
> You also need a wire rack to place the egg boxes on.


 
Ive seen this method, is it good? is there a high sucess hatching rate?



Thanks again everyone.


Cheers,
Mark.


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## Graham

> Ive seen this method, is it good? is there a high sucess hatching rate?


Well I haven't had a chance to use mine yet as I'm still waiting for my turts to mate and lay eggs, but I made the incubator in advance just in case, didn't want to suddenly find eggs and be caught without one!

But I copied the basic design from several similar ones I saw online and they all claim a good success rate, like this one DYI-Homemade Incubator

As you can see this guy used a cooler box but the concept is identical, any adequately insulated box will do.

My heater is a 50W BTW.


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## labmad

I'm just making mine, and have got a good sized poly box, taped the heatmat on the undersid of the lid, pushed any wires through the polystyrene, which is a tight fit, nice and snug , just gonna sort out the wire mesh rack and will prob put some water in a bowl under the rack for the humidity, aswell as the spraying of the tubs if req.........didn't realise how simple they were to make 

Oh yeah, it will be put to the test this coming breeding season for leo's


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## crow

For years i hatched corn eggs in a thermo controlled plant propergator i bought from a garden centre for about £12. I now have a cupboard with a 2ft tubular heater in the bottom on a pulse stat. vents top and bottom set up an air flow which distributes the warm air. (although they do tend to hatch quicker in the bottom when its full of boxes)


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## markandwend

Dont suppose theres any chance of any pics of peoples just so i get the idea better.
Cheers.


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## Graham

Here's mine...



















I made a MDF box to put the poly box inside to make it more robust, and added extra insulation around it to improve the efficiency, also put acrylic windows in the lid so I can see what's going on without opening it. I hadn't made the wire rack when I took these pix.


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## Drummerkid

Graham, can your incubator be used for lizards awell?


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## Graham

I don't see why not, turt eggs need higher humidity than other reptiles so this design with the warm water is ideal for them, for lizard eggs you might need to put them in sealed plastic tubs to keep them drier? That's something that a lizard keeper would know better than I do.


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## snickers

I used the poly box for some clutches and there was no difference in the hatch rate over the viv. I think the main points are that you can keep the right temperature all the time, and get the humidity right. The humidity is more difficult to keep right.
Use as big a heat mat as possible. It's on a thermostat so it won't get too hot, but a bigger heatmat will have more chance of keeping the right heat during a cold snap.


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## gecko-kus

we use a 3ft viv and it works really well with a heat bulb and thermostat. We are looking ino converting a fridge though as we do get a lot of eggs....


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## MegaReptile

odyssey said:


> put a heat mat on the lid.[/QUOTE
> Why put it on the lid?
> Heat mats are supposed to be below cos heat travels upwards


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