Safe temps for ball incubator..

mykee · 06-08-04, 08:49 AM

Curious to know what you guys think are safe temps for ball eggs in an incubator. My new incubator, with my Helix DBS-1000, fluctuates from 88.5 to 90.5. Is that going to be a problem, or am I just over-worrying?

Ron · 06-08-04, 09:04 AM

I think you should be fine; I've heard of people incubating BP eggs from 88 - 92F. I might worry if I had a 5 degree fluctuation but +/- 1 degree should be fine.

Jeff_Favelle · 06-08-04, 10:29 AM

That's fine. Once, in '96, I had a clutch go from 86F to 95F in 36 hours. LOL! They all hatched just fine. But a 2-degree change is just fine. Plus when you actually put eggs in there, the change will LESSEN. Yep. Eggs will buffer and hold a TON of heat, thus moderating the highs and lows even further.

BoidKeeper · 06-08-04, 01:24 PM

My Helix keeps it almost always at 89 where I set it. I did climb to 92 a few times but 99% of the time the helix says 89.
Are you using a wet or dry incubator?
Cheers,
Trevor

mykee · 06-08-04, 05:27 PM

Trevor, I have a 'cabinet' incubator that has glass sliding doors, 11" heat tape on the top and bottom to provide heat, and a fan in the middle to move the air. The actual clutches of eggs are sitting in a few rubbermaids, elevated 4" off the floor with fluorescent (sp?) heavy duty plastic grating. They have the typical perlite/vermiculite mixed as per the Sutherlands, with the Helix probe sitting in one of the rubbermaids, suspended 3" off the eggs. I noticed the difference in temps by placing a different temp probe in each of the rubbermaids and paying attention over the last couple of days. That's the thing, my Helix DBS-1000 shows 89 constantly, but the new temp. probes don't lie; 88.5-90.4

BoidKeeper · 06-08-04, 07:17 PM

Interesting, what are these new temp probes? It's pretty cool, my laser temp and helix are calabrated with out me even trying.
Cheers,
Trevor

mykee · 06-08-04, 08:50 PM

Just a couple $15 indoor/outdoor digital thermometers from Wal-Mart thrown in to the incubation rubbermaids along with the Helix probe to find out HOW off the Helix is. Answer: as many as two full degrees. Kinda sad really, I have 4 other Helix DBS-1000's in use for my snakes, but never realized how 'off' they could be. Maybe it's time to start looking into alternate proportional thermostats...

crocdoc · 06-08-04, 10:01 PM

Mykee, may I make a suggestion? Try taking the Helix probe out of the rubbermaid and putting it somewhere central in the incubator itself. You'll get fewer temperature spikes that way.

Here's why: A sealed rubbermaid with eggs and vermiculite/perlite will have a fair bit of thermal lag. Let's say that the thermostat probe sends out the instruction to the thermostat to warm up the incubator half a degree. With your current set-up, the heat tape would warm up, taking the incubator temperature up to the desired level. The rubbermaids, however, being fairly well insulated themselves, will take a while longer to warm up. By the time the thermostat probe inside the rubbermaid gets up to the desired temperature and switches the heat tape off, the incubator may be several degrees warmer than the desired temperature. If your incubator is well insulated, the warm air in the incubator may continue to heat up the rubbermaid long after the thermostat switched the heat tape off, eventually taking the eggs to a higher temperature than desired. They eventually do drop again, though, and then the whole process starts over.

Jeff_Favelle · 06-08-04, 11:08 PM

Crocdoc is RIGHT. Latent heat is your problem right now in a big way. Stop calibrating the temp in the egg chamber and start calibrating the incubator as whole. It WILL stop the fluctuation. For sure.

Tim_Cranwill · 06-08-04, 11:47 PM

Mykee, I have put 3 of those $15 temp probe units side by side and I got 3 different readings... but a degree or two each. They are not very reliable, in my opinion.

But they DO give you a general idea...

BoidKeeper · 06-09-04, 06:36 AM

Great idea, mine is in with the eggs too, until I get home that is.
Thanks crocdoc,
Trevor

mykee · 06-09-04, 11:16 AM

Ok, I'll try that, thanks. One question though, when I slide open the glass to enter the incubator, the probe will be more sensitive to the temp fluctuations, since it is right there, as opposed to inside a rubbermaid. Not a problem?

Jeff_Favelle · 06-09-04, 04:17 PM

Yeah, that's the BIG problem with air/dry incubators. Latent heat is ALWAYS a problem. I like the buffer of water. Unless you have a walk-in incubator, anything else is playing with fire, or, really really really hot air, as far as I'm concerned.

BoidKeeper · 06-09-04, 05:54 PM

Well last year it was wet only this year I made more wet ones and one dry and I don't think I'll be making any more dry ones.
I followed crocdocs suggestion in my wet incubator as soon as I got home.
Cheers,
Trevor

Jeff_Favelle · 06-09-04, 07:29 PM

Well said Trev.. I remember going through this with you 2-3 years ago when we first got on this site. I can remember you thinking that there must be more to the wet incubators because you were like "no way, this is too easy". In fact, that's the way it should be. Incubators SHOULD be the least of a python/colubrid breeders worries.