# Which incubator do you recommend?



## nulus (Mar 18, 2016)

Hi,

I am russian tortosie breeder. I've always used my home made incubator but this year I would like to buy a new professional one. I am thinking about buying ZooMed's Reptibator, Lucky Reptile Herp Nursery II or 
EXO TERRA REPTILE EGG INCUBATO.

Do you have any experience with commercial incubators? Which one would you recommend me? Maybe othet model?

Greetings

nulus


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## Kapidolo Farms (Mar 18, 2016)

I found the frig looking exo-terra to not be so good. temperature stratification occurred and the cooling feature was essentially useless. I'm not familiar with lucky.... The reptibator has a proportional thermostat and is comparably less expensive. Two of them will give you a temp range for males and females.

How many eggs is your group producing each year, or maybe more precise, how many eggs would need to be incubating at any one time? l one of these cover your needs at this time?

If you need more capacity than one, then maybe consider getting two different ones and see what works best for yourself.


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## keepergale (Mar 18, 2016)

If you have made a home made one before I suggest doing it again. You can buy better thermostats, heaters and insulation than any of the commonly available incubators use. Put a computer fan inside for circulation and place the incubator in a cool spot. It's easy to heat but not to cool them down. Repurpose a mini freezer or fridge. Just allow for at least a tiny bit of air exchange. I am not recommending it but I hatched Desert Tortoises using a sealed 10 gallon aquarium wrapped in towels with a aquarium heater in a pitcher of water for the heat and humidity.


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## Yvonne G (Mar 18, 2016)

For years I used the Little Giant Bird Brooder, a cheapy little affair made out of styrofoam. It works just fine, however, a couple years ago my tortoise partner gave me a Reptibator. Same size as the Little Giant, same floor space, but the configuration is more appealing. I do have a bit of trouble matching up the external digital temperature read-out with the internal temperature, but it's easy enough to fix with some tweaking and keeping a regular thermometer inside. Right now I have two Little Giants and one Reptibator in use.


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## nulus (Mar 18, 2016)

Will said:


> I found the frig looking exo-terra to not be so good. temperature stratification occurred and the cooling feature was essentially useless. I'm not familiar with lucky.... The reptibator has a proportional thermostat and is comparably less expensive. Two of them will give you a temp range for males and females.
> 
> How many eggs is your group producing each year, or maybe more precise, how many eggs would need to be incubating at any one time? l one of these cover your needs at this time?
> 
> If you need more capacity than one, then maybe consider getting two different ones and see what works best for yourself.



I've got about 10 eggs a year but each year it's more and more. Last year I had 13 and there was a problem with not enough space. So I'd rather buy 1 incubator.


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## Tom (Mar 18, 2016)

I've tried many over the years and all of the ones that I've tried that were made for reptiles and marketed by reptile companies were crap. I wouldn't use one if it was given to me for free.

For several years I used the "Little Giant" and "Hovabator" still air types. They work very well, are reliable, cheap and simple. Either one of these will work well for you and save you a bunch of hassle and money.

Right now I'm using a professional grade bird brooder. It can hold a couple hundred sulcata eggs, so it suits my purposes just fine. When I had fewer eggs, I liked the Hovabator best because it was just a little taller inside and it accommodated my shoe boxes better.

I typed this up for a lady with sulcata eggs, but except for the damp incubation media, much of this applies to russians too. There might be a few helpful tips in it for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/


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## DPtortiose (Mar 19, 2016)

Completely agree with Tom. Most incubators produced by the big reptile companies are overpriced, inaccurate and break easily. The only exception I know ofi are incubators from Jeager, This German company makes large and small scale bird incubators, but have two models made for reptiles as well. Both models are fine incubators, but they are not very cheap. But if you have money to spend, the FB 80 E is favored by reptiles hobbyist here. 

Do keep in mind when buying a bird incubator that you buy a model that doesn't turn the eggs while incubating.


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## Kapidolo Farms (Mar 21, 2016)

nulus said:


> I've got about 10 eggs a year but each year it's more and more. Last year I had 13 and there was a problem with not enough space. So I'd rather buy 1 incubator.




The Jeager FB 80 E is essentially the reptobator at about three times the cost, before you figure out how to buy it and ship it.
http://www.jaeger-bruttechnik.com/e...ee-breeding/artificial-incubator-fb-80-e-bees

Reptibator is a passive warm air (no fan) incubator with a proportional thermostat. Proportional thermostats cost about $100 and up, in this case the box for holding the eggs comes along with it. Bang for the buck it is a good choice. The difference between the reptibator at about $100 (bought online with free shipping) and the hovabator type incubators (still air and passive humidity control) is the proportional thermostats. That is only as much heat as is need is applied, not all or none like the wafer thermostats in the hovabator. 

http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=315&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=1

I see there is now a "better" hovabator as well

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001O4L9LK/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

But ran short on time to sort out what type of thermostat it has or if there is an active humidity control feature.


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## nulus (Mar 29, 2016)

Will said:


> The Jeager FB 80 E is essentially the reptobator at about three times the cost, before you figure out how to buy it and ship it.
> http://www.jaeger-bruttechnik.com/e...ee-breeding/artificial-incubator-fb-80-e-bees
> 
> Reptibator is a passive warm air (no fan) incubator with a proportional thermostat. Proportional thermostats cost about $100 and up, in this case the box for holding the eggs comes along with it. Bang for the buck it is a good choice. The difference between the reptibator at about $100 (bought online with free shipping) and the hovabator type incubators (still air and passive humidity control) is the proportional thermostats. That is only as much heat as is need is applied, not all or none like the wafer thermostats in the hovabator.
> ...



So you say reptibator is not so bad?


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## Kapidolo Farms (Mar 29, 2016)

nulus said:


> So you say reptibator is not so bad?



I have three up and running now so that I can have different temps at the same time. One at 82F one at 85F and one at 89F.

One of the Manouria dribble out a single egg, that's sorta eggciting. I get many pancake eggs, so far all at the higher temp, and Forsteni eggs which have been hatched out at 82/83F from a local-ish breeder. So to have a the lower temp might solve the hatching issue if indeed that is what the issue is.

They hold their temps well. Humidity is more at the amount of water that is available to evaporate. I may use an aquarium pump through a jar of water for them, a bit more reliable and easy to keep consistent, but another device. 

I sorta wish I still had the incubator I made some 25 years ago, I may do it again, Ice chest with aquarium heater sort of thing.


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## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Mar 29, 2016)

Nulus 
I made mine 10-12 years ago because store bought were too small I made it from a glass front wine cooler . And it is still working great !


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## ALDABRAMAN (Mar 29, 2016)

We have tried many and have found these very dependable and reliable. About $50 at any feed or farm store.


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