In March of 2022, I paired my oldest leopard gecko with a friend's male. They mated successfully, and the first eggs were visible through my female's abdominal wall. I was planning to incubate them in a Hova-Bator, an incubator made for chicken eggs.
Through a series of posts on a forum I was part of, I found out that Hova-Bators aren't very good incubators for reptile eggs. They heat from above, and since heat rises, the heat stayed above the eggs, heating only the top of them. I explored several options, and couldn't find a quality incubator that was a reasonable price. I decided to make my own. After looking online, I found a relatively easy design that wouldn't cost too much to make. After a few days of collecting parts, I started work on it. I finished it just in time. A day of calibrating later, my female laid her eggs! I put them into the incubator, and 39 days later, my first baby leopard gecko hatched. Somewhere along the way, I decided to breed crickets to have something to feed the baby, and this design worked great for that as well. Here is the design I used and how to make it for yourself. My video is below, and the written DIY is below that.
Note: This is not my original design, nor have I ever claimed that it is. I am simply sharing how I made my incubator, and what variations I found useful.
Through a series of posts on a forum I was part of, I found out that Hova-Bators aren't very good incubators for reptile eggs. They heat from above, and since heat rises, the heat stayed above the eggs, heating only the top of them. I explored several options, and couldn't find a quality incubator that was a reasonable price. I decided to make my own. After looking online, I found a relatively easy design that wouldn't cost too much to make. After a few days of collecting parts, I started work on it. I finished it just in time. A day of calibrating later, my female laid her eggs! I put them into the incubator, and 39 days later, my first baby leopard gecko hatched. Somewhere along the way, I decided to breed crickets to have something to feed the baby, and this design worked great for that as well. Here is the design I used and how to make it for yourself. My video is below, and the written DIY is below that.
Note: This is not my original design, nor have I ever claimed that it is. I am simply sharing how I made my incubator, and what variations I found useful.
Below I have listed the supplies I used for my incubator and where they can be found:
3 feet of 11 inch Flexwatt heat tape (I got mine from Josh's Frogs) or a large UTH. If you go with Flexwatt, be sure to learn how to wire it in. To avoid spending an extra $10 on a cord set I wasn't going to use anyway since I needed to cut the plug end off for my thermostat, I just used wires and the soldering method and used packing tape to insulate the ends.
Foil tape (basically tin foil with an adhesive side. They sell it at Home Depot)
Egg crate light panel (comes in 4x2 ft sheets at Home Depot. You'll need something to cut it, I used wire cutters)
Lexan polycarbonate (Home Depot sells 11x14 inch sheets. You'll need to find some way to cut it. I used a bandsaw but that's not exactly a common household appliance. If you can't figure anything out as far as cutting it you can skip it, which will probably drive you crazy since you can't see the eggs without opening the incubator which you don't want to do.)
Thermostat (I used the INKBIRD ITC-1000F thermostat, and it worked well. The only thing I didn't like was that it requires you do do all the wiring yourself. It's relatively easy to do if you have a basic knowledge of electronics, but it does require a few things it doesn't come with. Basically a cord, and hookup wire. If you look at the diagram on the top of the T-stat and compare it to the one on the FAQ sheet it comes with, you'll notice that they're different. Go with the one in color on the FAQs sheet. Some other good T-stats are Herpstats, from Spyder Robotics, or thermostats from Vivarium Electronics. They are great thermostats, although exactly why is beyond the scope of this page.)
3 feet of 11 inch Flexwatt heat tape (I got mine from Josh's Frogs) or a large UTH. If you go with Flexwatt, be sure to learn how to wire it in. To avoid spending an extra $10 on a cord set I wasn't going to use anyway since I needed to cut the plug end off for my thermostat, I just used wires and the soldering method and used packing tape to insulate the ends.
Foil tape (basically tin foil with an adhesive side. They sell it at Home Depot)
Egg crate light panel (comes in 4x2 ft sheets at Home Depot. You'll need something to cut it, I used wire cutters)
Lexan polycarbonate (Home Depot sells 11x14 inch sheets. You'll need to find some way to cut it. I used a bandsaw but that's not exactly a common household appliance. If you can't figure anything out as far as cutting it you can skip it, which will probably drive you crazy since you can't see the eggs without opening the incubator which you don't want to do.)
Thermostat (I used the INKBIRD ITC-1000F thermostat, and it worked well. The only thing I didn't like was that it requires you do do all the wiring yourself. It's relatively easy to do if you have a basic knowledge of electronics, but it does require a few things it doesn't come with. Basically a cord, and hookup wire. If you look at the diagram on the top of the T-stat and compare it to the one on the FAQ sheet it comes with, you'll notice that they're different. Go with the one in color on the FAQs sheet. Some other good T-stats are Herpstats, from Spyder Robotics, or thermostats from Vivarium Electronics. They are great thermostats, although exactly why is beyond the scope of this page.)
A cord (for the T-stat. It needs to be one that has two prongs, one wider than the other. That's because the T-stat is sensitive to reversed polarity, so this way, as long as you wire in everything right, you won't be able to plug the incubator in wrong on accident and kill the thermostat. You can find your own cord on an old appliance.
Hookup wire (I had some wire on hand and I used that a lot. You can get some from Amazon)
Hookup wire (I had some wire on hand and I used that a lot. You can get some from Amazon)
Silicone (just regular window and door silicone. I believe you can get it in a small tube from Home depot that doesn't require a caulk gun)
4 large water bottles (filled. You will put them on the bottom of your incubator directly above the heater. Not only will they help the incubator regain heat quickly after you open it, but also they wil act as a spacer for the platform that will be holding the egg boxes up, so they won't be sitting directly on the heater. You can also use small bottles, just use more of them)
Cooler (I used one I got from PetCo. Both them and Petsmart get their betta fish in them, and all I had to do was call ahead and they saved them for me. I came back another week to get more so I could make a second incubator and they were different sized coolers. You just need to work with the one you get.
Thermometer (I used several so I could easily cross-check the readings. The primary one I used was the Cooper SH66A one, but I also used the ZooMed one)
Cooler (I used one I got from PetCo. Both them and Petsmart get their betta fish in them, and all I had to do was call ahead and they saved them for me. I came back another week to get more so I could make a second incubator and they were different sized coolers. You just need to work with the one you get.
Thermometer (I used several so I could easily cross-check the readings. The primary one I used was the Cooper SH66A one, but I also used the ZooMed one)
Tools:
Knife
Q-tips
Screwdriver
What you will do:
First, take your heating device and attach it to the bottom of the inside of the cooler. With a UTH, peel off the waxpaper backing and stick it to the bottom. In the case of Flexwatt heat tape, use foil tape to stick it to the cooler in the same place as with the UTH.
If you are using the INKBIRD thermostat, take your cooler, and cut a thermostat-sized rectangle out of the front. Be sure to put it where you want it, and don't forget the viewing window needs to go somewhere, too. Make sure the you can barely squeeze the thermostat into the hole (you will need to remove the orange clips to do so. Unscrew the back panel and remove it from the T-stat. Then slide the clips off.) Once the thermostat is in place, follow the colored diagram in the FAQs sheet to wire the heater in. It is a little complicated to wire in this thermostat, so if you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me with the form or email me at [email protected].
Then measure how big your viewing window is. Cut a hole that is an inch smaller in both directions than the window in the front of the cooler. If the window is too big, you'll need to find a way to cut it. I would recommend watching videos of other people doing it first to avoid cracking the window.
After you've wired the thermostat in and cut your window to the correct size, get your silicone and seal the window and the thermostat in place. You can use your Q-tips to spread the silicone evenly in the inside and outside. Hold both thermostat and window in place for about a minute, then leave the entire project to let the silicone dry.
After the silicone dries, put your water bottles into the bottom of the cooler, directly above the heater. Then you will measure and cut your egg crate light panel to the correct size and either place it directly on top of the water bottles, or else slightly above them. Just make sure it is steady and can easily hold your egg boxes.
The next thing is going to be calibrating the incubator. You will want to recreate the environment your eggs are going to be in, by making a "dummy" egg box. Put the same amount of medium and water as you will be doing for your other boxes, but don't put in any eggs. Then cut a hole in the lid and stick the probes from two different, reasonably accurate thermometers into it, preferably ones that remember the highs/lows. A few good ones are Accu-rite, ZooMed, and the Cooper SH66A one I recommended earlier. Set your thermostat and wait at least an hour before checking again and making any changes. Continue doing this until you get to your desired temp inside the egg boxes. Then put in the boxes with eggs, and you're good to go. Good luck!
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Please comment below. Your email address will not be visible to anyone but the site admin.
Knife
Q-tips
Screwdriver
What you will do:
First, take your heating device and attach it to the bottom of the inside of the cooler. With a UTH, peel off the waxpaper backing and stick it to the bottom. In the case of Flexwatt heat tape, use foil tape to stick it to the cooler in the same place as with the UTH.
If you are using the INKBIRD thermostat, take your cooler, and cut a thermostat-sized rectangle out of the front. Be sure to put it where you want it, and don't forget the viewing window needs to go somewhere, too. Make sure the you can barely squeeze the thermostat into the hole (you will need to remove the orange clips to do so. Unscrew the back panel and remove it from the T-stat. Then slide the clips off.) Once the thermostat is in place, follow the colored diagram in the FAQs sheet to wire the heater in. It is a little complicated to wire in this thermostat, so if you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me with the form or email me at [email protected].
Then measure how big your viewing window is. Cut a hole that is an inch smaller in both directions than the window in the front of the cooler. If the window is too big, you'll need to find a way to cut it. I would recommend watching videos of other people doing it first to avoid cracking the window.
After you've wired the thermostat in and cut your window to the correct size, get your silicone and seal the window and the thermostat in place. You can use your Q-tips to spread the silicone evenly in the inside and outside. Hold both thermostat and window in place for about a minute, then leave the entire project to let the silicone dry.
After the silicone dries, put your water bottles into the bottom of the cooler, directly above the heater. Then you will measure and cut your egg crate light panel to the correct size and either place it directly on top of the water bottles, or else slightly above them. Just make sure it is steady and can easily hold your egg boxes.
The next thing is going to be calibrating the incubator. You will want to recreate the environment your eggs are going to be in, by making a "dummy" egg box. Put the same amount of medium and water as you will be doing for your other boxes, but don't put in any eggs. Then cut a hole in the lid and stick the probes from two different, reasonably accurate thermometers into it, preferably ones that remember the highs/lows. A few good ones are Accu-rite, ZooMed, and the Cooper SH66A one I recommended earlier. Set your thermostat and wait at least an hour before checking again and making any changes. Continue doing this until you get to your desired temp inside the egg boxes. Then put in the boxes with eggs, and you're good to go. Good luck!
Herp Husbandry is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Please comment below. Your email address will not be visible to anyone but the site admin.