Hey guys! I haven’t bred my hoggies yet, but I want to learn as much as possible before I do anything. I’ve been looking at incubators, but I can’t decide which is the best one for hognoses. Does it really matter, as long as it gives out the right amount of heat? Or do I need one with a fan to cool them down too? I was looking at one that was quite expensive, but there’s another that’s less than half the price that doesn’t look as nice, but it does the same job I assume. What incubators do you guys use for your hognose eggs?
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Hognose eggs do not take much space, therefore you can place many egg boxes even in a small cooler.
With a small incubator you need a small cooler (I use a 48 quarts igloo cooler), a small piece of heat tape, and the single most important piece of equipment a reliable t-thermostat. No fan required for anything that size even with coolers up to 150 quarts there is no need for a fan.
So your biggest cost will be your T-Stat and that you cannot and should not cut corner on.
Now that being said if you day I decided to upgrade my incubators (I have used the same since 2010) I would without a doubt get a hotbox incubator
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Thank you! Are there YouTube videos or a tutorial on how to make my own with a cooler? Do I put the Tupperware with the eggs right above the heat tape or do I elevate the eggs somehow?
I believe you need to elevate it. Use a grill rack/grate or equivalent to elevate it.
Rather than put the heat tape underneath your egg boxes, place the heat tape on the wall in the back of whatever you use to make your incubator, otherwise you will only have proper heat distribution on the first tubs above the heat but not in the others that will be stacked up on the top of them.
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