Hey guys! First off you guys have been able to help me with tons of breeding questions. I appreciate all the help ive been able to get from this community.
I’m going to start making my first incubator this weekend. If you guys have any guides or thermostat/equipment recommendations I would love to hear them all!
my current plan is to convert a mini fridge into a incubator. I will include pictures down below(I know it’s dirty haha I’m cleaning it tonight) I’m probably a month or two away from eggs so my plan is to build it in the next week and test it for the next 4 or 5 for consistency. From just eyeballing it I’d say the fridge is 18-24 in wide and 12-18 in deep.
I would make sure to add a small fan for circulation and also make sure you have enough heat tape. Use more than you think is necessary. I had a problem with this and had to add more heat tape because there were a lot of hot and cold spots. And it’s way better to use a good thermostat.
What do you want out of the thermostat, just a simple inexpensive thermostat that controls temperature or a smart thermostat that you can control and monitor from your phone?
With a Good fan you’ll need less heat tape, another hack is lay several big bottles of water laid on the bottom. They will hold heat, help balance any temp swing if the incubator is opened, and help regulate generally.
Personally I would recommend the heat tape made by Reptile Basics. Definitely over anything on Amazon and especially Wish. Usually, the product sold here tend not to get hot enough or tend to be unevenly heating up. Plus, 4 inch heat tape and 4 feet long for that price, it’s kind of expensive.
You’d rather have more than less. If you don’t have enough it’s not going to heat evenly and you’re going to get different temperatures at different places.
@erie-herps says it the way I would have. Different temps can cause issues in incubation. You want your chamber to be as consistent, and unchanged throughout incubation.
