incubators with fans

[Yvonne G]

May I get some opinions on having a fan running in the tortoise egg incubator? The Hovabator and Little Giant don't have fans. But the new incubator I just bought has one. When I first plugged it in, I was a little surprised at the noise it makes. Anyone have any ideas on whether or not this will disturb the eggs' development?

 

[Tom]

I find that fans dry my eggs and media out too fast even in my shoe boxes and with the fan directed into a tub of water. I'm using one now and I had to tape all my vent holes shut on my shoeboxes.

 

[Yvonne G]

But have you ever hatched any eggs with a fan on the incubator?

I've heard that tortoise eggs need to be still and quiet and the running fan might make it so they don't develop.

 

[DriveWRX]

I've been using (and still using) an old Hovabator with a fan.
I've hatched a few Pancakes and turtles in it over the years.

You should be fine.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

About eight years ago i purchased two Profi-R incubators that were forced air fan induced to regulate/circulate the heat throughout the entire incubation system. That year our eggs took longer to hatch and we had several in egg deaths at various stages of development. What i had figured out was the fans on top were causing a vibration within the entire incubator. I went back to using still air incubators and have never had any similar issues since. Nothing was changed in our incubation techniques other than the forced air fans. My thoughts were that the eggs were possibly influenced by the continuous vibrations resulting in longer terms for development and some in egg deaths.


We now use still air incubators exclusively.

 

[yagyujubei]

The purpose of a fan is to circulate the air so that every section of the incubator has the same temperature and humidity. Moving humid air won't dry out anything. In the game bird community, hovabators and little giants are considered to be an entry level incubator.

 

[bettinge]

I have thought about using them before, as I like the consistant heat idea. But I too worried about vibration and decided not to buy one. If I had one on hand, I would use it for a clutch and see what happins, but I will not buy one to experiment with.

 

[nickercrombie]

Ive never bred tortoises before (or anything for that matter) but I have a bit of experience with different fans. I'm not sure the size of the fans in the incubator, but computer fans are now made to be super silent, like, can't even hear them when you're next to them. You may be able to swap out a super silent computer fan for the incubator fan. And if you do that, i also might suggest putting a rubber rubber between the fan and incubator to limit vibration, and be sure to tighten all 4 screws very tight.

 

[tortadise]

i hatch my torts out left and right with fan incubators. However its a humidairre ostrich incubator. It was very expensive and large. I have no choice of the fan turning off. But its so big its located away from the eggs getting vibrated or air forced onto them. I also have a smaller chicken pro incubator its like the hovabator just bigger and made out of thick plastic. It has a fan works fine. But these incubators are quite different than the little giants or hovabator, so i dont really have any experiance with them.

 

[Geochelone_Carbonaria]

As I use a completely different type of incubator than you guys, I dont have that problem...

As I have written previously, I use a glass tank with an immersion heater and 3 inch of water, two pieces of standing glass, a grid on top of that where I can put the eggs, and a leaning top so the water dont drip on the eggs.

The immersion heater is set to 29,7 C and this holds the temperature very steady as well as the humidity at 97-98. If needed I can also adjust the temperature by putting more or less water in.

I then use an ordinary air pump, the same type you have in an aquarium tank, put into the water. So I dont need any fans or any other type of ventilation.

And the lights are NOT on normally, only there for inspection

Here is an old picture of one of my incubators

 

[Katherine]

I do not use a fan incubator so I have no idea if this will be at all helpful. I do however use a converted spare bathroom on the top floor of an old woodframe house (that I share with three rowdy dogs and a lead footed husband). The bathroom also has a window facing a moderately trafficked road and shares a wall with my heavy front door. When in the incubation room (and everyother room of my house) you can feel the ground shake everytime a door or window opens and hear my dogs barking at the front door as if they were standing right next to you. I have never found these types of inconsistent but very pronounced vibrations to have any impact on the viability of eggs nor have I experienced loss of a fertile egg at any stage in the years since using this room.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I do not use a fan incubator so I have no idea if this will be at all helpful. I do however use a converted spare bathroom on the top floor of an old woodframe house (that I share with three rowdy dogs and a lead footed husband). The bathroom also has a window facing a moderately trafficked road and shares a wall with my heavy front door. When in the incubation room (and everyother room of my house) you can feel the ground shake everytime a door or window opens and hear my dogs barking at the front door as if they were standing right next to you. I have never found these types of inconsistent but very pronounced vibrations to have any impact on the viability of eggs nor have I experienced loss of a fertile egg at any stage in the years since using this room.

Interesting!