New DIY Incubator

So I decided to move away from the glass aquarium incubator design that I built from Youtube ideas. Basically with the glass aquarium, its almost impossible to keep constant regulated temps because the glass dissipates the temperatures.

I went to Petco and asked them if I could have one of the styrofoam cooler containers they get their fish delivered in. Surprisingly they were willing to let me have one.

I found a fish tank heater in an old box and tested it out and it worked flawlessly and got water up over 90 degrees. Its adjustable as well, so I set it at 80 degrees and started putting everything in the styrofoam tank. I placed 2 bricks in the tank and put a piece of plexiglass on top to act as a shelf. I got 8 deli cups from Walmart, 4 half pound and 4 quarter pound cups and put vermiculite in them and got them to the dampness needed to hold eggs and placed them in the incubator. I am using a fish tank thermometer in the water just to test the water temps and I have a ZooMed digital temp gauge reading the air temps in the incubator. Overnight it stayed a constant 83.3 degrees.

Exactly how I made my incubator, except I used a type of chicken wire as the bottom instead of plexiglass.

-Brandon

I am needing to make an incubator as my dragon is getting ready to lay eggs.

For this kind of container what size light are using in there? I have several Pet stores around me so i would think one of them would have a styrofoam container they would give me. I've got the vermiculite but what kind of dampness does it need to be at? I'm assuming the water and the heat creating the humidity is what will get it to that level? I'm sorry I'm a complete noob when it comes to breeding. This wasn't planned and it's my first time

There is no light in this.

For the dampness of the vermiculite, you want it to be at the point where if you grab a chunk of it in your hand, no water drips until you squeeze it.

-Brandon

The only light that gets inside the incubator is the kind that gets through the window.

The foam container is a standard size that Petco uses when their fish are transported to their store.

Heyy, my bearded dragons mated today, it was sorta an accident sorta not, I took them both out of there tanks to clean them and they ended up mating and I did not stop them like I usually do... So now I would like to make an incubator just incase she is pregnant now.
So heres my questions for you

1) Does the size of the styrafoam container matter?
2) what kind of fish water heater is best? Does it matter what kind?
3) what type of sand do I need to put in my females tank for her to dig and lay the eggs?

If you could answer this, that would be awesome
Thanks Krista!

Hey there Krista,

The size doesn't matter, but remember that you will be incubating roughly 100 eggs once she lays all the clutches she is able to lay with a single mating. Usually its 3 clutches around 20-35 eggs each.

I got that container from Petco, its about 15" long, 13" wide, and 15" deep, and that is what they get their fish delivered in there.

For a fish tank heater, you need something that can heat the AIR up to 90 degrees. I am actually redoing my incubator a different way though, heating the water makes too much humidity i think.

I would get a large heat pad from a pet store for heating snake enclosures, place a dish of water in the incubator to create humidity.

A mix of soft vermiculate is a good bedding for her to dig in, just damp enough for it to clump together and create a burrow that make her comfortable to lay. The container can be a glass tank, or a large rubber maid storage container, doesn't matter.



Remember that there are many many guides in the Breeding section of this site that will help you devise your own system of how you want to actually do this. A simple search on here will find other answers that might be better than my own.

I made a homemade incubator because my female layed her eggs. It is made of a styrofoam cooler, water, submersible water heater, a and a screen.. I do not think that the submersible heater is working because the temperature didnt want to heat up so I ended up buying a stick on exoterra heat pad and a regular heat pad... Finally my temperature is up to 87 but I am unsure if thats ok because I read it should be between 83-85! However, I have tried and tried to get the temperature just right but it always seems like it wan't to be too little or too much. I also have 2 different temp gauges in there, one says 87.3 and the other says 84.5 so I dunno which one is the most accurate.