# egg tubs?



## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

ok i have a question but if this is the wrong section mods please move it

i have made my own incubator from a poly box ready for any royals that lay next year but i have a question about the tubs you put the eggs in

what kinds/sizes of tubs do you guys use to put the eggs in when theyre in the incubator and could you put them in a rub or does it have to be totally sealed?


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## Brittanicus (May 8, 2009)

It depends on the size and number of eggs and whether they are stuck together or not. This is the method I use for corns.
Basically you can use any plastic tub as long as you can fit the eggs in, along with whatever material you are using to lay the eggs on.
I usually use sandwich boxes with the eggs laid on damp vermiculite, then place java moss over the top of them. I place the lid on to keep the humidity in, after already having drilled a few holes round the sides and the lid of the sandwich box.


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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*thanks*

so if you have a big enough incubator box you could put the eggs in a rub then? would you need to drill holes for ventilation or will the small gaps in the rub be ok?


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

I use home hamde poly box incubators and for my egg boxes I use 9L RUB's.

The only hole that I drill in the RUB is the one through which the thermostat probe goes (the stat probe is wedged between the eggs to regulate egg surface temps, not ambient incubator air temps). I put the lid on the RUB but I don't clip it down so there will be a small amount of air exchange between incubator and egg box.


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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*thanks*

ok thanks for that, i have to ask though

do you always put the probe in the tub with the eggs rather than leaving it hanging inside the incubator?

ive hatched out corns,milks,chams and beardies with just leaving it halfway down the inside of the polybox rather than inside the tubs and i get good success that way but is it better to leave it in with the eggs?


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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*anyone?*

anyone?


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## snakeprint (May 29, 2008)

If the probe is inside the tub with the eggs in, you're going to get a more accurate temperature. If you leave the probe outside the tubs, your eggs will be probably be incubated at a slightly higher temperature than you set the thermostat to because a smaller tub will hold the heat more than your incubator. If you take the lid off the incubator, it will start losing heat, so the thermostat will turn on. But, your small tub with eggs in will keep most of the heat in if you've left the lid on, so it will end up being heated up more than it needed to be. On the other hand, if you take your small tub out of the incubator for a time, it will start cooling down at a faster rate than your incubator will because it is a smaller volume. Think of a large pan of water and a small pan of water, both over the same amount of heat. The small pan will boil faster because there is a smaller volume to heat. If you turn them off, the water in the small pan will cool faster.


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

> ok thanks for that, i have to ask though
> 
> do you always put the probe in the tub with the eggs rather than leaving it hanging inside the incubator?
> 
> ive hatched out corns,milks,chams and beardies with just leaving it halfway down the inside of the polybox rather than inside the tubs and i get good success that way but is it better to leave it in with the eggs?


It's the eggs that you're trying to hatch, and they need to be at a certain temperature in order to do that...so why over-complicate things by measuring and regulating the temps of something other than the eggs themselves???


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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*moss*

what would be the best kind of moss to put over the eggs when they hatch?


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## rachel132002 (Dec 4, 2006)

I put the probe outside the box and callibrate to the inside of the box, this is because it takes longer for a tub of vermiculite to heat up than the actual bator so the eggs may go through a period of overheating once the incubator itself is full whack.

I've always had success with my method as others have had with theirs, it's each to their own and trial and error.

I use airtight lunchboxes for egg boxes.


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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*thanks for help*

but if you put it on the outside as it takes longer to heat up the vermiculite wouldnt that mean they get a period of under heating till the tub warms up?

what kind of moss do you put ontop of the eggs?


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

> but if you put it on the outside as it takes longer to heat up the vermiculite wouldnt that mean they get a period of under heating till the tub warms up?
> 
> what kind of moss do you put ontop of the eggs?


Taking a few hours for the eggs to get up to temperature wont do them any harm.

The way I do it, though, is that I have my incubator already running (usually for about 5-7 days) before the eggs go in. The egg box is in the incubator for those 5-7 days too...so everything is warmed up to the correct temperature by the time I'm ready to put the freshly laid eggs in.


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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*egg box?*

how does the egg box way work?

i normally use tubs with vermiculite and that normally works well


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

The egg box is just the tub that the eggs go in...so your tub with vermiculite _is_ the egg box. Where my method differs from yours, though, is that I use a no-substrate incubation method. My eggs just sit on plastic dishes suspended above water in the bottom of the egg box. I find this method much less messy than working with vermiculite etc and it also means that the eggs do not come into contact with a wet substrate (they take their moisture requirements from the air) which sounds less risky to my mind.


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)




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## emilia (Oct 1, 2009)

*thanks*

so all i need to do is put some water in the bottom of the incubator then have a suspended shelf like you have then simply put the eggs on the plates and thats it?

i take it you must put the heat mat taped to the side then?


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

That’s not quite how I do it. I use a poly box incubator which has a tray of water in the bottom of it to humidify the incubator. A grid sits on this tray of water and the egg box (a 9L RUB) sits on this grid. I put about an inch of water in the bottom of the egg box and then the eggs sit on a grid above that water (see above picture). The lid then goes on the egg box. Basically what I’m creating is two humidified chambers (one inside the other)…this improves humidity and temperature stability because I can open the incubator without the eggs immediately losing a lot of heat etc.

I use two heat mats, taped to the inside of the poly box walls. These are connected to a pulse prop thermostat.


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## Josh-sama (Sep 26, 2008)

Stuart, don't you risk the hatched babies going through the grid to the water below though? I've seen this technique used before, but that's all had me curious.


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

It depends upon what species you're hatching, I suppose. The wire mesh that I use has holes that are 10mm x 10mm so it would have to be a pretty small hatchling to get through that gap. The eggs you see in the picture are gtp eggs and those babies are small enough to go through the gap if they really wanted to...but in my experience they don't show any interest in doing so (probably because I introduce plastic perches into the egg box when the eggs begin to pip). You could always go for smaller mesh, or even cloth or something like a net curtain...all that matters is that it something through which water vapour in the air can pass so that the egg box is humidified.


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