It’s $167 shipped, which is expensive compared to just buying a regular cooler, but since it already has heating elements and thermostats, I feel like this would end up being cheaper? Not sure.
Because otherwise I would need to buy a cooler, heat tape and another thermostat, which would probably be more than $170, right? I’m just strategizing at this point 
I couldn’t actually see that listing so I just looked at similar things and found the price to be over $1000. That’s actually a pretty good price for an incubator if it’s a high quality product/brand.
It also depends on what scale you would be using it, a few clutches here and there and it would be cheaper to get a small cooler, a little heat tape and a thermostat. If you have a ton of clutches that’s going to be way too small. Somewhere in the middle and this would work pretty good for you.
Or you could go my route and it might cost you less… 
I like your incubator idea, but am scared of screwing it up. I figured this operated on a similar principle (lots of hot humid air) but with less user error. If I’m only going to have one clutch this year, everything has to be perfect and I’m terrified of something going wrong
It’s an incubator used for going cell cultures in lab, and they can be notoriously finicky about temperature, humidity and C02/oxygen levels, so these incubators generally have to be very exact, which is why I was thinking of going this way in the beginning. That’s why I was trying to figure out whether it’s practical and cost effective or not. It might be a terrible idea, but I wanted to see what others thought
If you’re just going to have 1 clutch then I’d recommend just building an incubator. Even if you don’t want to there isn’t much you can do wrong. For the classic heat tape incubator (I don’t know anything about aquarium heaters… yet). If you can find a small styrofoam cooler, then it’s $7 dollars in heat tape (non-affiliated link). $10 for a thermostat and you shouldn’t need a fan with only one clutch.
Oh, it’s that easy? Ok, maybe I’ll do that as a temporary solution, thanks!! I don’t want to build a whole big thing only to have to sell it when I inevitably have to move back across the country next winter
I have seen the cooler setup and have seen people make it work, but I also use this same setup as saleengrinch. I use two used wine chillers though I like that they have a temp probe of their own so I can always see roughly what temp it is running at right on the face of the cooler.
I picked up a fairly new wine cooler that a guy give me because it stopped working. I watched several YouTube videos on how to gut it and turn it into an incubator. So when I get to the point where I can start buying more snakes and breeding them I will have it all ready to go. It will be a while before I get to that point. There is still a lot I have to learn and research first. Getting advice from all the people on here will help along the way. You just have to decide which way you want to go and how to build your incubator.
Good luck in your project.
Seems like this should be standard knowledge, but if using a cooler, fridge or whatever. Though you shouldn’t do this outside either. Do Not cut the condenser to the coils inside your house. And wherever you do it always a good idea to where eye protection and a mask graded for gasses. Fridgerant is neither fun in your eyes or lungs. Can cause all sorts of problems. Only say this because some people may not realize that even though an electric cooler may not work. The gas inside the coils and condenser are unaware that it is quitting time!
I am aware of the gas in the condenser. I will get a friend of mine to get the gas out first before I start cutting anything. Thanks for the information though.
It is hard to screw my setup up LOL
So I’ve been working on a cooler build for an incubator, and I’ve decided to go with the Herpstat Intro+. I’m looking into buying heat tape, and I’ll need 6" heat tape. The only problem I’m having is, I’m not finding much available right now? Pre-wired or not, if anyone could point me in the right direction for some, that’d be much appreciated.
Something I always consider when setting up an incubator for birds or reptiles is the temperature delta it’s going to have. If you’re keeping it in a 72* room with air conditioning, or an unheated home in the winter, it needs to be able to produce and distribute heat rapidly to avoid temp swings. If you’re keeping it in an 80*+ reptile room it’s good for it to have the ability to disperse heat or it may be prone to overheating.
@t_h_wyman I love the method you’re using. It would be hard to create a more stable heat source for this application. I would imagine the abundance of humidity helps it stabilize the air temperature faster after opening the lid too. How many egg boxes can you fit in yours?
I had trouble finding heat tape when I made my incubators, I just ended up waiting and it was eventually in stock. I usually check reptile basics and pangea. I’d recommend signing up to get notifications when they’re back in stock since they sell out quickly.
Alright, yeah, I did the same with both. I’ll just have to wait it out with an eye open while I work on the rest.
We built our incubator from a large polystyrene cool box. We had to wait it out for heat tape, ended up getting heat mats instead.
I was scared of having electronics and water, so instead of filling the bottom with water, we put bottles and tubs of water, even some at the top too as we didn’t fill the space this year (first year of using it) but the temperature and humidity has been consistent.
It’s not as pretty looking as a ready built incubator or even a broken down wine cooler but it was easy to make and cheap too.
You can also use heat rope it works as well. I have used it in the past with zero issues and it’s readily a available.
I can fit nine of the boxes that I use, but they are a non-standard type
Which boxes do you use? Getting away from the 6qts as my females get older and consistently lay larger clutches I’m having to split them up and waste a lot of space. After chewing on it for a while I’ve decided to build a new unit with the system you’re using. It seems it would eliminate a lot of the tail chasing of conventional convective heat.