Most people build their own incubators from drink coolers. I bought a small wine cooler that has a glass door in front to build one out of. But you can buy one already to go from some of the rack builders. Most of them were pretty expensive though. Just depends on what you want.
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Reach out Reptiles has a great video on how to make your own incubator.
I would agree with @wmb1965, making your own is the way to go, especially if youāre on a budget.
I have 2 business partners in this hobby, so fortunately Iāve been able to use their incubators and never needed my own.
But one of them uses the exact same one Reach out Reptiles does and it works very well.
50% Dwarf is a good number. Iām actually surprised your documentation you found doesnāt say they are also SD. For 50% Dwarf blood, that female is small! You definitely have a solid bloodline with those percentages and sizes of your adults.
Have you owned them since they were hatchlings?
With that pairing, everything will be Lavender Albino, with about 50% being Goldenchild as well. If your male proves out, youāll get a nice amount of Genetic Stripes mixed in as well, probably about 40% of the clutch would be GS.
If he doesnāt prove put everything will be 100% Het GS and even that is a win.
It will be a nice clutch to say the least.
I actually saw Reach Out Reptileās video on that DIY incubator a couple years back. I almost bought a super dwarf pair from him too, but he let me know that pure SDs arenāt the easiest to breed, so I opted for dwarves. Iāll definitely look into making my own incubator then.
The female was born Oct 2016 and the male Jan 2017. I got them both I think in November 2017, so they were a year and almost a year old when I got them. Which makes me realize I was mistaken in them both being 5 years old, but theyāre getting there!
And thatās what I figured with the pairing for these two, and if I get the Lavender Albino Goldenchild Genetic Stripe to prove the male, all the more exciting.
Not sure if links are allowed here, but Iām a big fan of Animals Plastics enclosures and checked out their racks. Their 330 Economy rack can be ordered with a custom amount of shelves and it holds 13"x7"x4" approx tubs. I can get one to hold exactly 30 tubs so that sounds pretty tempting!
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I too like Animal Plastics enclosures. I think for the price and quality, their larger enclosures are hard to beat. Iāve used some of their racks in the past, and they arenāt bad but there are better. But for what you need I think that they would work out just fine.
Keep in mind tho, if youāre going to order from Animal Plastics order asap. They take forever to ship, Iāve waited 7 months before for a order to reach me.
That would be a really nice snake to hatch out. But worst thing that can happen is you still get that Lav Albino GC 100% Het GS and thatās still a very nice animal.
Thatās nice youāve owned them that long. Reason I asked is some people will feed them less often, trying to control the females size to keep her small. I have the feeling you didnāt do that and take good care of your reptiles, and in turn your bloodline is a really nice small bloodline for a 50% Dwarf.
May I ask if you purchased the pair from Reach Out Reptiles? If so, Hartle would more than likely have the records from that clutch. Also if you did get them from him, I would more than expect your line of Dwarf to be Jampea. Itās one of his favorites and one heās worked with a very long time.
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Oh yes I am very familiar with their wait times. My last enclosure took about that long to be shipped out, too. Assuming it will take a similar amount of time for the rack to be shipped out, Iāll probably just make sure I have everything ready and perfect for this year equipment wise and then next year might be first venture into breeding.
I definitely read into dwarves and super dwarves quite a bit before making any decisions back then. I also read a few scientific studies on snake digestion/food consumption since the entire topic of how much and how often you should feed retics seemed really in a flux. I basically decided to just do the same as how I feed my colubrids, which for the first 2 years or so feed every 7 days a meal that leaves a slight but noticeable bulge in their stomach, then after that feed every 14 days and size up appropriately. Whenever I handled my retics their muscle tone always felt really good, so I figured I was on the right track.
I didnāt get this pair from Hartle. I got them from Jay Brewer (Prehistoric Pets). I sent them an email, but havenāt heard back yet.
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Thatās the perfect schedule in my experience as well. Depending on the individual retic in question, I may even feed once every 3 weeks when they are adults.
Iām sure you know but Hartle used to work for Jay. And I believe Jay also works a lot with Jampea. If you donāt hear back from Prehistoric Pets, you could try and contact Hartle, if he can help he will, very nice man and very helpful towards people in the retic hobby. But given you got them from Jay, and have the documentation to prove so, I would be confident they are 50% Dwarfs and the line is important but the documentation even more so, so youāre in a good position I think. I would be ok selling them as 50% Dwarf, probable Jampea if they were mine.
And I agree, I would do the same just to make sure everything is the way you want it, and then go from there. Iām excited for you man, nice pair and good solid plan!
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Thought Iād sneak in a picture of the male as he finally finished shedding. (The white on his head is from some scuffs that are healing, no idea what how he banged up his head in the first place.)
I ordered my AP rack today also! I went with the regular instead of the economy since it seems reviews stated it was much more stable.
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He looks like his is on fire 
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This is very common with Retics. Even in the largest enclosures this will occasionally happen. Some individuals seem to do that more than others, and it usually clears up within 1-2 shed cycles.
You often see this in hatchlings as well.
Heās a beautiful boy, and his eyes are just stunning. I love Lav GC eyes, arguably the best eyes of any Retics out there.
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