DIY Incubator Project #1

This is the first post in a series I will be doing on converting a second hand freezer into an egg incubator.  I have seen this sort of conversion on the web and will be using that sort of information to guide my efforts.  I am hoping that it will be relatively straight forward as a result.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

This post will cover the materials that I have gathered for the project to this point.  The basics of what I am trying to achieve is a temperature controlled environment insulated from its surroundings to provide a stable temperature for an extended time.  What is the first thing that you think of when you want to keep something for a long time at a stable temperature....why a fridge or a freezer of course.  So that is item 1 on the list.

Here are a couple of pictures of a second hand freezer that was 'free to this good home' as it were and would have otherwise found it's way to be scrap.  It does\did actually work as a freezer still, however, it was surplus to the needs of its previous owner who was as grateful for its removal as I was for its acquisition.

Of course cooling reptile eggs is not what I am after, so here is where the fun begins.  Bring on the heat!

This is a picture of the heat cord I bought today.  What I plan to do is drill a hole through the fridge at a suitable location to run this cord through and then secure it to the inside of the freezer using these handy dandy cable clips I purchased today also.

The idea is to evenly distribute the heat cord throughout the freezer in an attempt to provide a well balanced heat source to keep the little bubbies warm in their eggs.

The final item on the list is the means by which to regulate the temperature.  It is an ATC-300 digital thermostat.  It has a thermometer\ temperature probe that provides the input to regulate the power to the right hand plug on its power board based on the desired temperature.  It also has a digital temperature display unit that houses the smarts for the thermostat.  It provides in built alarm that sounds should the temperature fall a few degrees outside the desired range.  The left hand plug has a timer function, as in on and off by a schedule that is also controlled by the main unit.  I have no real use for the timer functionality as typically you would put a light on this in a reptile enclosure to simulate a day\night cycle.  Obviously not required to incubate eggs.

The total cost of all this was around $120.  Considering that a commercially bought incubator that would be lucky to have 10% of the capacity would be triple the price, we're off to a good start!  If our Dragons do successfully consummate their relationship this season it is possible that we will see up to 5 clutches of eggs.  last season, Lolly laid her first clutch and it was 25 eggs.  This was a large number for a first clutch, but, it is not unheard of for close to 40 eggs to be produced in a single clutch.  With that in mind, upon completion, this incubator should cater to what could be a large number of eggs (fingers crossed).

From here, the fun begins.  I will post up my progress as it happens, so stay tuned!

Biting the hand that feeds...

Ouch!  Lacey tagged (bit) me for the first time tonight.  It was an easy mistake to make.  I had been feeding her and was putting her enclosure away and stuck my hand in to adjust the water bowl.  She was of course still in feeding mode and decided to pay my warm inviting looking finger a little visit.  I was only half surprised to be honest.  I had been feeding her, she was still on the prowl for food, what can I really expect.

I smiled more than anything.  My first ever snake bite!  It felt like the very tip of a couple of pins across a couple of my fingers.  She let go instantly and I am confident that there was no damage to her teeth which is great.  You can see from the photo how brave I am ;-p.  See the tiny little marks on my rude finger.

I fed Lacey a fuzzy mouse for the first time tonight.  It is the next size up from a pinky.  It only weighed slightly more and she downed it easily.  In fact, she ate it whilst hanging upside down from one of her perches.  I think from next week I will have to give her two, as by weight, one is less than I have been feeding her in pinkies.  She was definitely ready for more too!  She is such a great pet.  Still loving every minute of having her in our home.

Beau Knows

Here you see a fired up Beau.  Notice the jet black beard on partial display.  This photo was taken shortly after I woke up Lolly from her long winter sleep.  Despite appearances, he was happy to see her and love blossomed quickly (and frequently) shortly after.

So Lolly and Beau have finally become better acquainted.  I am hopeful that one of his amorous advances will have been enough to consummate the relationship and in a bit over a month the fruitful results will become self evident.  With Lolly being a bit older this year and in great condition, we may even see several clutches in the season.  Wouldn't that be awesome.  I have plans this year to keep the babies a little longer with a view to picking out some good babies to work on producing some fine looking young. Without knowing the origins of Lolly's bloodlines, she is a fine looking animal.  Beau has some great pedigree behind him and has some fantastic potential in regards to producing beautiful babies.

So the house is a jumping.  All our critters are awake and active.  I picked up Bruce tonight and he felt like an absolute fatty!  I'll weigh all our reptiles at the start of next month, but if the feel of Bruce is anything to go by, he will have put on a ton.  I fed Lacey the last of the pinkie mice that I bought her to begin with.  For the last two weeks she has been scoffing 3 one after another without blinking at her weekly feed.  That was again the case last night.  Tonight, I couldn't even see any bulges where the mice would be digesting.  As a result, I bought some fuzzy mice (the next size up) today with a view to feeding them to her next week.  I am going to try and get some footage of her first feed of them to post up.  Should be really interesting with any luck.

Lots of critters.  Plenty of feeding and cleaning up after.  They are all happy and healthy, what more can you ask for!

Reptile Health Diary – 04/08/2011

It’s been a good month with our reptiles. We’ve enjoyed feeding, handling and just generally caring for our animals. All appear to be going well and are just great to have around. I plan to post up entries in the health diary like this at the start of each month.

Lolly
Lolly is still sleeping at the moment.  I have started providing light, heat and UV during the day for somewhat shorter duration that I would normally because Beau is up and about.  Lolly seems to be un-phased and keeps on sleeping for the most part.  I did not disturb her to take measurements or anything for this entry.  What I have seen of her though suggests that she is in very good physical condition.

Beau
Weight: 282 grams (+2)
Length: 42 cm
Food: Bok Choy, Crickets, Super Worms
Toilet: Yes (after a bath)
Behaviour: Beau has woken up and has made it necessary for me to turn the light and heat back on in the Dragons' Den.  Lolly woke up at one point and was pretty much set upon by Beau with a view to mating.  So he has woken up frisky to say the least.  This is not unexpected as the cooling period sets reptiles like Bearded Dragons up for successful breeding.  So it looks like Beau could well turn out to be the stud male we were hoping him to be!

Lacey
Weight: 43 grams (+5)
Length: 59.9 cm (+2.2)
Food: 2 pinkies per week
Toilet: regular
Behaviour: Lacey continues to be a fantastic pet.  She is eating enthusiastically every time.  She seems to be growing well judging by her weight and length.  I have nothing to gauge this by, other than the fact that both measurements are going up.  The advise that I received when I bought her was that if she stops growing, then she is not eating enough.  So I don't know if this is a fast or slow rate of growth, I am satisfied enough to know that she is growing.

Bruce
Weight: 270 grams (+48 grams)
Length: 26.86 cm
Food: eggs, dog food, super worms
Toilet: regular
Behaviour: WOW!  Bruce has been with us for just under a month now.  In that time he has put on an additional 22% body weight.  That is pleasing to say the least.  He has also settled down a lot.  Handling him does not seem to present any issues any more.  He huffs and puffs a little in some circumstances, but, has not put on and displays or even once attempted to bite.  He seems to be much happier in general from what I can tell.  Today we had him out in the lounge room for a bit of a roam and offered him some super worms.  I had offered him them once before upon his arrival and he had turned his nose up at them.  Today, whilst he would not take them from my hand, he took half a dozen or more of them when they were placed in front of him.  As much as I have been happy seeing him eat eggs and dog food, I was very pleased indeed to see him take some live food.  The next step will be to get him eating his veggies!  Now that he is getting some meat on his bones, I hope that he will take to the greens as well as they form a very important part of the nutritional requirements of Shinglebacks.