Best incubator

[RGB]

Little Giant Still Air Egg Incubator 9200

I use the little giant successfully (and it is very cheap), although these are my observations about using it:
1) humidity remained low- I added cups of water with a sponge and blocked off many of the airflow vents which worked great
2) thermometer included in kit is terrible- get an accurate one
3) take some time to calibrate it before eggs laid, this is true with all incubators

Many people use the hovabator with great success.

Best of luck

 

[bigred]

Ive also hatched hundreds of redfoot eggs using the 2 hovabators with good success and great hatch rate. I also know some folks that hatch plenty of radiated eggs using hovabators, they said hovabators worked the best for them. I have never used anything else so I cant really comment on them

 

[tortoisetime565]

Okay! Thanks, both of you!!

 

[Yvonne G]

Like I said above, I've used the Little Giant Bird Brooder ever since. I have several of them. The only thing that I don't like about it is it's not big enough.

Anyway, last week-end my tortoise partner was here and he saw my eggs in the incubator and the way I have them in the little plastic tubs. He looked it up online and bought us a Reptibator. I have a feeling this is going to work out great. It not much bigger around, but it's about twice a tall. I no longer have to try to find little flat sandwich tubs for the eggs, I can use any kind of plastic tub. The incubator has a digital read-out on top, and can be programmed to show either Farenheit or Centigrade. You program the temp you want to maintain, then you program the alarm, which will go off and let you know if the temp falls or climbs past your program. Right now there are no eggs in it, but I'll let you all know how I like it after I've used it a bit.

 

[RGB]

Yvonne,
Keep an eye on humidity.... My reptibator is excellent at maintaining temps steady (the thermostat is at the top- I find it is cooler down near the bottom), but I find it difficult to maintain humidity in the 70's.
I look forward to your assessment.

 

[N2TORTS]

unlike any of the above mentioned , when you get into the high end stuff..there are advantages.....
#1 No need to constantly add water ....These systems use a "wick" type system for humidity , which only needs filling 1 x a month.
#2 No guess work or poor manual read outs -Digital read out of Temps and humidity +/- less than 1 degree. Professional heating elements as well as temp/humidity probes provides a *CONSTANT* even temp and humidity through out your incubation process. Water jacket walls and door.
3# Space- The one I currently own holds 400 eggs. ( and yes they can get that full)
4# No hot spots as fans circulate entire enclosure ( why the old Hovabators added them to their new system .... aka:stagnate air)
#5 Quality.....why mess around when you worked so hard to get those eggs....would be a real drag a $200 incubator made in China craped out on you full of eggs. I have gone through several of those units in the last 10 years. I would also imagine run time would be taking into effect. I have mine running all year long.....aka eggs all year long!


PS: I do have an extra one for sale/trade
Email me if interested

VWR Scientific 1545 Digital Incubator 120V HEATS UP TO 67.3°C Sheldon Shel-Lab. Sheldon Shel-Lab VWR Scientific 1545 Digital Incubator HEATS UP TO 67.3°C. Model: 1545.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yvonne,
Keep an eye on humidity.... My reptibator is excellent at maintaining temps steady (the thermostat is at the top- I find it is cooler down near the bottom), but I find it difficult to maintain humidity in the 70's.
I look forward to your assessment.

Do you remove the sponge?

 

[RGB]

Yvonne: I did remove the sponge so I could keep the water tray full on bottom and I covered all the holes. I keep two cups of water with sponges in them as well.

 

[skottip]

I have hatched well over a thousand tortoises and I have used hovabators with great success and also home made incubators with great success. Temperature consistency and air flow(via a small fan) are the most important factors when choosing and incubator. What you put your eggs in is a different story.
Good luck!
Scott

 

[redterra]

Yvonne
Does the reptibator have room enough for large MEE eggs?

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes it does. It's a lot deeper inside than the Little Giant.

 

[redterra]

oh good image, thanks!

 

[N2TORTS]

The best Incubator is the one that hatches the most eggs.

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