Freaking Bummed...Need Some Professional Insight

ChameleonAlley

ChameleonAlley

New Member
So, come to find out, I think I now know why my last clutch didn't survive. Now, I'm really worrying about my current clutch that is showing signs of hatching.

So, I bought the LLL Mini Fridge incubator. I also bought a Zoomed digital thermometer/hydrometer to put inside the incubator. Well, the incubator was reading about 10 degrees off from the internal thermometer. I thought this was normal due to what I've read of these models. So, I have been incubating my eggs at 85 on the mini fridge read out and 74-75 on the thermometer read out.

For some reason tonight I decided to go get another thermometer just to make sure the Zoomed was reading right. Well Sh#$....it wasn't reading right at all. The mini fridge was actually keeping pretty accurate temps.

So, now my eggs have been incubating at temps up to 85 degrees. I'm really worried and bummed because I think this is the reason my last clutch didn't make it. I have now fixed the fridge to the correct temp. I should have checked this to begin with! aggghhhh

Can any of you tell me if you've had successful hatches with higher temps like this? All the eggs look healthy and white, two have started sweating....but now I'm worried.

Thanks in advance for any insight.
 
Oh no! What a bummer! I wonder if that's why I never got any of my gecko eggs to hatch out? I always blamed it on the first-time females, but I never got a single egg to hatch, maybe it's because the incubator was at close to 100F?

I really hope at least some of your eggs hatch out healthy babies! I've got my fingers crossed for you!
 
Crazy.

The mini fridge temp is set at 75

The Zoomed temp I was using reads 64

The digital thermometer I bought tonight is reading 75

And another Zoomed probe temp is reading 74

I also took our thermometer out of our fridge, and it is reading about 75

Based off of all these readings, the odd one out is that Zoomed reading 64. I can't believe that my incubator has been set 10 degrees off.

What are the highest temps you all have hatched panther eggs at?
 
Todnedo said:
I use this temp. controller for my incubator it's very reliable.
http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc1....html?osCsid=7f8b86ae72a6eea748440197c89678c6
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. Really appreciate it. I trust your knowledge. That thermometer is expensive but worth it if it is accurate.

Do you have any words of wisdom on this situation? I know it's probably one of those things where I'll just have to wait and see if they hatch, but have you ever seen a situation like this? Have you ever hatched panthers that were exposed to temps above 80 successfully? Thanks for any input man!
 
You will need to do some wiring to get that controller to heat and cool but it would be well worth the effort. It's hard to tell if they will hatch or not.
I incubate at 76 and below.
 
Thank you Steve. I really appreciate it. I'll look into that thermometer. I wouldn't be afraid to hard wire it if need be. Especially if it saves 6 months of a situation like this. Thanks man.
 
I'm gonna revisit this thread because I think the same happened with my clutches that just hatched in Feb. I used the Exoterra incubator set at the same about 84-85. I used just a regular thermometer/hydrometer sitting on one of the shelves that read 74. I bet I was cooking them higher the whole time and didn't realize it. Not to mention the incubator failed and spiked temps for about a day. Hard lessons to learn....
 
When I first started breeding panthers EVERYONE was using 82F constant. Hopefully your eggs will be ok.
 
Kent67 said:
When I first started breeding panthers EVERYONE was using 82F constant. Hopefully your eggs will be ok.
Click to expand...

I hope the rest that were in there are too! The clutches that already hatched I lost a good amount of the babies because they popped premature. It sucked.
 
what are these thermometers youre using? the little dual thermometer/hygrometers? the little circular pieces o' ...... yeah i used them one when i first started keeping and realized how terribly inarticulate almost immediately.

i always recommend an IR temp gun, theyre really accurate. though in a "fridge" setting its going to give you temps for the surfaces, conductive heat, rather than the air temp. convective? is that even a word?

im not sure how accurate it would be in your application but i assume pretty near perfect regardless. or one of those cooking thermometers like alton brown uses. with the probe and cord with the readout on the outside.

the one clutch i tried "incubating" ended up hatching early and had a low hatch/survival rate beyond a week or so. it was also a F1 gen so that may have had something to do with it. either way i just keep them in the basement where its consistently around 65-75 depending on where and the time of year. hopefully amending the temp helps the hatch/survival rate.

oh and i think the thermostat on my hovabator was inaccurate. i was probably accidentally cooking them around 85 like you, i never bothered to double check the temps with separate readings. i trusted it....and see where it got me.
 
Its surface temp(IR GUN) vs Ambient air(other temp devices), also convective is a word. Though I dont think it applies to this, I believe the proper term would be emissivity.


DekuScrub said:
i always recommend an IR temp gun, theyre really accurate. though in a "fridge" setting its going to give you temps for the surfaces, conductive heat, rather than the air temp. convective? is that even a word?

im not sure how accurate it would be in your application but i assume pretty near perfect regardless. or one of those cooking thermometers like alton brown uses. with the probe and cord with the readout on the outside.
Click to expand...


BUT a temp gun would give a great temp of the eggs surface. I would not recommend just any temp gun though, many can be WAY off(+/- 5-20 degrees). In my line of work we use temp guns often, from the "cheapos" to Thermal imagers that are beyond outrageous price wise. If someone wants to get a temp gun, spend the money for a decent one( Like Fluke)
 
Last edited:
Fingers crosses for you... I think everyone wants to see those babies hatch!

I would recommend a temp gun as well... And get a cheap mercury one to tape to the glass. Mercury tends to not lie!

Good luck!
 
I heard many using

http://www.hatchrite.com/

in a tub and putting the eggs on top of it also weighing them and marking date and weight and checking once in a while to see if it weighs less and adding a few drops of water to make sure the eggs are hydrated.

keeping the tubs in a closet which would be more room temperature but many do other ways.
 
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