Okay, after seeing the scary prices out there on the market for incubators, I would really like it if someone would lead me in the right direction to incubate chondro eggs. Has anyone out there built an incubator for less than $250 and DID NOT have to worry about splicing and dicing wires or rigging up some impossible electrical set up?? Every website I have been to had featured either $800+ incubators or directions on how to make an incubator that required some type of carpentry or electrical knowledge. I am getting desperate, as I dont want to think about pairing up my chondros without having some planning on incubation, and while I wish I could afford a high dollar incubator, until I know for sure I can produce chondro babies I really dont want to shell out that much money. Help!! I would almost pay someone to rig me up a homemade incubator and ship it to me!!
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 angelicarboreals |
I give up |
Lead | |
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Posts: 117 (06/23/05 15:49:06) |
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Julian Garcia |
RE | ||
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Posts: 873 (06/23/05 16:56:29) |
Shoot me an email. I can send you photos and such. I built an incubater (minus the thermostat) for 90 bucks.
chondro@gmail.com |
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chondroland |
Re: I give up | ||
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Posts: 393 (06/23/05 17:52:57) |
Hi:
Here's a link to one incubator design that is not too expensive. I know of several chondro people who have either adopted this design, or are planning to. www.kingsnake.com/salceies/Incubator.htm The cooler is fairly inexpensive. I bought a 120 QT Igloo for $45.00. You might think the 120 QT is too big but...better to have an incubator with space you don't need right now...than an incubator with space you don't have! Flexwatt heat tape (or other good quality heat tape) is not that expensive. A couple of PC fans won't set you back that much money either. Where the biggest chunk of money might go is in your heat controller. And here's where the people differ in their opinions about what will work and what won't. I'm not going to go there. All I'll tell you is that I decided to use a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), but that's because I've worked with them for years and know how to make them work. My testing, however, is being done with a Helix controller. I believe it will be accurate enough to hatch chondro eggs (some people disagree). It cost me about $140.00. I would use the Helix instead of the PLC except that the PLC has some features that I can take advantage of, that the Helix doesn't have. I believe everything you need can be had for less than $250.00 or close to it, but not more. Good luck, Stu |
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RCulver |
Re: I give up | ||
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Posts: 1187 (06/23/05 21:12:22) Registered User |
I think it all comes down to the "price" of knowing your instruments, and imo that comes down to field trials before you get chondro eggs in the cooker. Unfortunately that doesn't always happen. Cost efficient components can (and do work) if and only if one fully understands them and can adjust them to achieve the necessary goals (incubation requirements). Understand the parameters that you must achieve and maintain and then evaluate your instruments in terms of these requirements.
Rich Culver |
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Jack Sadovnik |
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Posts: 1031 (06/24/05 04:50:19) |
all you need is a cooler, a 4 foot piece of heat tape, and a helix. that is how i do it. it costs about 150-175 tops.
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Damon Theis |
Re: cooler | ||
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Posts: 69 (06/24/05 06:56:26) |
Not as fancy as the other Damon's, but...
Here's one i just built. It's going to have ball eggs in it soon with any luck. Maybe chondros next year... Supply list: Cooler (igloo 120qt) $38 2x4 sheet of 1/4 inch plexi $36 1 tube silicone $3 Package small wood screws. (left overs from another project) 2 sizes of wire hold downs $4 1 piece 11" flex. $4 1 extension cord for flex. $2 Foil tape. (had already) Herpstat thermostat. $116 (shipped) Fan. $17 Mounting hardware for fan. $8 Case of bottled water. $4 Egg crate light panel $12 I think that's it, aside from maybe a few washers and some 3m stick stuff on the back of the thermostat. That's $244. Not bad. It can be done cheaper, of course. I rarely ever take the cheap way over "my" way. After the bp eggs, i'm going to add another foot of flex to make it more efficent. There's a temp varriance left to right in it right now. For a single small clucth it won't matter, as I'll just have the probes in that spot, but if it was going to be full, that's not acceptable. Here are the pics. www.eyehit.com/images/temp/inc -damon |
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angelicarboreals |
Re: cooler | ||
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Posts: 117 (06/24/05 08:53:59) |
Thanks everyone fo your help, the info eased my worries!! Just out of curiosity, could a good heat mat or panel work in place of the heat tape? I am very partial to heat mats and use them in all of my chondro cages (I mount them from the ceiling versus them being under the cage where they would do no good) Cause, in order to use heat tape dont you have to splice wires and hook it up to an extension cord? Also, is a fan necessary in the incubator? I thought I read somewhere that a fan could dry chondro eggs out.
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NocturnalCreations |
Re: cooler | ||
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Posts: 211 (06/24/05 09:13:18) |
I rember reading Bob said not to use a heat panel in a incubator. Try out this webiste I heard they work well.
www.nsreptiles.com/ Tim Tim Rash
www.Nocturnal-Creations.com |
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Julian Garcia |
Re: cooler | ||
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Posts: 873 (06/24/05 09:14:24) |
I could see how heat panelS would work very well with an incubator. However, the reason breeders are partial to heat tape is that it's A. Inexpensive and B. Covers larger surface area which you can span the incubator. This is key for even heat distribution.
I could see any heating element working as long as you use symmetry to make sure that you are getting even heat through out the chamber. |
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Marcial |
Re: cooler | ||
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Posts: 1000 (06/24/05 10:31:34) |
I wouldn't use a heat panel for heating an incubator.... I don't think it would work well at all. They are designed to heat objects that are under them, not air. I would get some big apple heat rope... it's thin enough that you can run it into the cooler through the drain hole & shouldn't have to do any wiring. I wouldn't sweat the wiring too much anyway... hooking up flexwatt is as easy as it gets & can be done in a few seconds without any special tools or electrical knowledge.
Marcial Mendez
marcialmendez@hotmail.com Chondrolicious |
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chondroland |
Re: cooler | ||
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Posts: 393 (06/24/05 14:20:46) |
Hi:
Quote: I like the heat tape (such as Flexwatt) but it is limited in its ouput power, though this is sometimes a good thing. I prefer the heating mats I use but I have had them for years and no longer know who sells them. They are pig blankets and they are not affected by damp/wet conditions. They are sealed from water entry and are designed to be used outdoors in pig pens, for providing extra heat to the pigs. These things are built like tanks and get 'very' hot...so a good-quality (redundant, if possible) heat controller set-up is almost essential. But, since I can no longer get these things I prefer to work with the Flexwatt-type heat tape because, as someone else pointed out...it's not expensive, and it's easy to work with. Yes, you do have to know how to splice wires and attach plugs, etc., but to be realistic I think that, if you plan to work with incubators and heating systems for your reptiles, it would benefit you to take the time to understand how to do that sort of stuff. It's not that difficult and, in the long run, if you can do a bit of that sort of thing you can save money when you work on projects that require this sort of knowledge. Fans are not necessary in some incubators. I never had them in my other incubator, and it worked like a charm. But I didn't use it to hatch chondro eggs either. Several chondro breeders have preferred to include them in theirs, believing it helps with stabilizing the temperatures, etc. I'm not able to speak to that since I've never hatched any chondro eggs. This is the first time I'll be including fans in an incubator design. I believe if the design is a good one then the fans will not be a detriment. In any case, good luck with your incubator. Stu |
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