# Best incubators?



## 2beardeds (Jul 28, 2010)

Huuro,
What is the best incubator accesable to the avarage joe out there?


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## Wally (Jul 28, 2010)

Are you buying one ready made or making one yourself?

Mine is a bar fridge with a 6m heat cord (forgotten wattage) and a dimming thermostat. Is limited on size and what species can be incubated at the same time but for my present requirements is fine. I have a full size fridge coming soon for free which will be converted in the same manner.


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## 2beardeds (Jul 28, 2010)

Wally,Not fussy on store or homemade.
Just vert curious on what they are worth.
I have beardies that are showing signs they may breed, so would like to be ready.
Still learning but you gotta start somewhere lol


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## Brettix (Jul 28, 2010)

Hi mate i have had great success with my home made incubators.
I use bar fridges to hatch my bd eggs,tack in a 50w heat cord with a pulse thermostat.
It will cost you about $150 if you score a free fridge.


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## Wally (Jul 28, 2010)

View attachment 156696
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Few pics to get the idea. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like. One thermometer or one in every tub. For an incubator this small you will not need a fan to circulate the air.


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## Jeannine (Jul 29, 2010)

*these were advertised in this site, thinking about buying one myself, they are new to Australia and seem ok *


simtub.ews | carpetpythons


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## lloydy (Jul 29, 2010)

I have an old fridge..
*grins*


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## Bez84 (Jul 29, 2010)

Home made are the best, mines a old front door freezer.
The only costly thing is usually the thermostat.


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## crocdoc (Jul 29, 2010)

I've been using homemade incubators for years.

My smaller one is a bar fridge with four red party bulbs from Bunnings and a dimming thermostat.






My larger incubator is a converted commercial drinks fridge, with heat cord and an on/off thermostat.





Both of them work very well. For beardie eggs, a bar fridge will probably be large enough.


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## lloydy (Jul 29, 2010)

That bar fridge is awesome..
Question though.. 

For a bar fridge, would it be better to have lights like you have there, or to use a heat cord?


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## crocdoc (Jul 30, 2010)

That's a matter of choice - both have their pros and cons. 

Lights are good because you can instantly tell whether or not they're working. They're also cheap to set up. The downside is that they take up space in a small incubator and work best with a dimming thermostat, which is more expensive than an on/off thermostat. They also light up the inside of the incubator, but that doesn't seem to bother the eggs. 

Heat cord is more expensive than bulbs, but can be used with an on/off thermostat, so you can save money there. It also takes up less space.


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## Snakeluvver2 (Jul 30, 2010)

Where did you get a bar fridge?


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## crocdoc (Jul 31, 2010)

Contact someplace that takes in second hand fridges for reconditioning, or a white goods retailer that offers the service of picking the old fridge when they deliver the new one. 

Or ask around among your friends. Once people know you're in the market for an old fridge, they know where to send theirs when it dies. Long after I got that old bar fridge from a mate I got offers of assorted dead fridges that people wanted to get rid of. I did the same myself recently when my actual fridge died - offered it to friends to convert into an incubator.


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## Wally (Jul 31, 2010)

St Vinnies or the Salvos do them cheap too.


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## dossy (Jul 31, 2010)

put up a wanted thread and say you will pay ,trade or accept freebies  or some thing its much ezer. ebay may have 1 conciderin they have all the usles junk no1 ever needs exept the speshalizd ppl ie reptiles keepers or fish keepers or dogs ( i saw a madd dog kennel madd from a deep freezer and parts of a car)


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## dossy (Jul 31, 2010)

also if you like the idea of being able to see through the door insted of having to open it all the time then you could just cut a vewing hole and cover with perspex


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