# incubators???



## playlboi (Nov 28, 2007)

i was wondering if any of you guys on here know how to build a home made incubator any incubator i could buy. preferably home made, that way it'd be cheaper on me. i'm planning on breeding my leos next year and see how it goes. i just need to know how to make an incubator. anybody have experience with this?


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## VARNYARD (Nov 29, 2007)

Here is one of mine, I will tell you about building it later today, I got to get to work now.


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## DaveDragon (Nov 29, 2007)

Ahh, pictures of the famous freezerbator!!!

Looking forward to the story!


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## Sammy (Nov 29, 2007)

How many female Leos you planning on breeding? If it is only a female or two that you are planning on breeding your cheapest route is going to be a Thermal Air Flow Hovabator. Stay away from the Turbo Fan model, they have been known to dry out reptile eggs. 

They are inexpensive ($40-$50) and you can keep a bunch of leo eggs in it. You can get them at most online reptile stores or if you have a farm supply store anywhere near you they can be picked up there as well.

If you are breeding a bunch of females then it will be worth your while to build your own. I have converted an old fridge, a soda cooler and will be converting a chest freezer her soon. Here is a pic of my converted soda cooler.





I have $120 invested in that incubator. $110 of it was for a high end proportional thermostat (Herpstat). $10 went to the heating element (flexwatt). The soda cooler itself I got for free.


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## Der-Boa-Lieber (Nov 29, 2007)

You can also use regular coolers (the plastic ones) useing flexwat and a thermostat.


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## playlboi (Nov 29, 2007)

i have a male and 3 female geckos right now. i was planning on building one anyways. for future use. but those incubators look awesome. i think i might give those things a try.


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## playlboi (Nov 29, 2007)

bobby, yours look awesome. can't wait till you post a how-to for it.


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## Mike (Nov 29, 2007)

Great pics, much better than the hovabator for sure. Lol.


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## playlboi (Dec 1, 2007)

anybody have any updates on this how-to incubator set up?


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## playlboi (Dec 2, 2007)

will wine coolers work just as well as fridges for building an incubator? are they well insulated as the fridges?


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## VARNYARD (Dec 3, 2007)

My incubator is a deep freeze turned up on end. I took the springs out of the hinges; otherwise the door would stay open. Freezers and refrigerators have awesome insulation, they make great incubators. I used Clay's design mostly. Here is his link.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml">http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml</a><!-- m -->

I did add a few things to it. I added a 60-watt light bulb; it is plugged into the six-plug power strip on the Johnson thermostat. I also added three 12-volt computer fans to circulate the air; these are also connected to the power strip wired into a 12-volt power converter. The shell is a deep freeze turned up on end. Everything has been removed from the freezer, as seen on Clay's site. The total cost when it was all done was about $105.00. IMO, that is a very cheap price for a incubator of this size. As for the racks, I just took the measurements and matched them up at a local used appliance store. They charged me $3.00 dollars each for them.

Here are some of the parts:

Thermostat:







The six-plug power strip that was pre-wired thermostat.







The wired heat tape, computer fan and 60 watt light bulb, as well as some of the wires.







Another computer fan:







There are three computer fans total, all of these are wired together.







The sensor in the bottom of the incubator.







The wires going out.


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## Srakha (Dec 3, 2007)

I did not build this incubator, but it WAS hand built by someone  Here are some pics to help you get some ideas. I'd suggest sealing the inside with epoxy paint or other sealer over your paint. 

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fishcrzy.com/incubator/">http://www.fishcrzy.com/incubator/</a><!-- m -->


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## playlboi (Dec 3, 2007)

sweet deal. this will be my christmas break project!


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## olympus (Dec 3, 2007)

Pretty cool. I don't plan on breeding I'll leave it up to Bobby. :lol: :lol:


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