SIM incubation ?'s

Its been around for a yr or more. Ive been waiting to hear if someone has actually used it for chameleon eggs. I know ppl have used them for geckos but their incubation time is a fraction of the time we have for chams. I wanted to try it but I wasnt willing to risk a whole clutch of faly eggs to see if it actually wrks.
 
Texas Panther Man said:
Its been around for a yr or more. Ive been waiting to hear if someone has actually used it for chameleon eggs. I know ppl have used them for geckos but their incubation time is a fraction of the time we have for chams. I wanted to try it but I wasnt willing to risk a whole clutch of faly eggs to see if it actually wrks.
Click to expand...

I think it loks like it could work.
and it SAYS it can reduce the incubation time.. though i dont believe everything I read.

Im not sure what to do. I think the concept looks good. but not sure i want to risk my first clutch of veiled eggs on it...


no matter what, ill still need a substrate.. so which of the 3 do you recommend?
 
Oh and I use vermiculite. Ive tried perlite and I didnt care for it. In my exp it didnt hold moisture as well as the vermiculite did. Ive had good results using vermiculite and the closet method. I might invest in an incubator some day, but not until I have alot more breeders than I currently have.

I have no exp w/hatchrite although Ive heard good things about it. I'm old school and I use whats worked well for me in the past.
 
then for now. vermiculite it is.
I dont plan on buying an actual incubator, heat pad and a closet too.
 
I believe Chad from tiki tiki reptiles has used them for veiled eggs. He said they worked fine, but they take up alot of space( in incubator). So they werent really economical in a sense. He didnt notice any quicker hatch time either
 
coldbloodedAL said:
I believe Chad from tiki tiki reptiles has used them for veiled eggs. He said they worked fine, but they take up alot of space( in incubator). So they werent really economical in a sense
Click to expand...

Im not using an incubator. just a closet and a heat pad.
 
If you really want to try it (Sim Incubator) you could just put a few eggs in there and see how they do. Then put the rest in standard tupperware with your preferred medium. I had thought about trying that before my female laid. But like you I dint want to risk any of my possible offspring.

Thats why Ive been so reluctant to buy an incubator. Ive heard too many stories about thermometers being off by several degrees or just plain broken and they lose a whole fertile clutch or multiple clutches. I dont know if I could stomach that and Ive always had such high hatch rates just using the closet. My clutches usually hatch in 8 months time. I'd love to shave some time off that but not at the expense of the health of the neonates. That Sim is so new we dont know yet if the offspring will be compromised in some way by trying to shorten incubation times. Just something to think about....
 
Texas Panther Man said:
If you really want to try it (Sim Incubator) you could just put a few eggs in there and see how they do. Then put the rest in standard tupperware with your preferred medium. I had thought about trying that before my female laid. But like you I dint want to risk any of my possible offspring.

Thats why Ive been so reluctant to buy an incubator. Ive heard too many stories about thermometers being off by several degrees or just plain broken and they lose a whole fertile clutch or multiple clutches. I dont know if I could stomach that and Ive always had such high hatch rates just using the closet. My clutches usually hatch in 8 months time. I'd love to shave some time off that but not at the expense of the health of the neonates. That Sim is so new we dont know yet if the offspring will be compromised in some way by trying to shorten incubation times. Just something to think about....
Click to expand...

oh absolutely. Im not willing to risk my first clutch for an unproven method.
I might buy just one and as you said do a couple eggs.. and the rest just in tupperware.
and i dont want to do a incubator because of the reasons you said, and because i just dont feel like spending the money when a closet works just as well. (not cheap, but not frivolous either)
im not trying to shave time off and have it risk the babies... cuz if i wanted to do that, i may as wel lnot breed at all. besides, then i could just up the temps and that woudl be that. but im trying to hatch them properly...

and i was just cruising the sponsors, looking for stuff for mantids and whatnot. and saw it.. figured id see what everyones opinion was.

NTM, im a bit OCD and it would make eveyrthing so nice and neat and pristine haha. :p :rolleyes:
 
Unless your house is just really cold I dont think you really need the heat pad. I move my eggs from the bottom of the closet in summer months to the top shelves in the winter. That simple five feet in elevation keeps them warm in winter and the bottom of the closet stays cool all summer. Ive never used any form of heat and Ive had great hatch rates. Over 90% on all my faly clutches last yr. (To me any time your adding a heating element your taking a chance on a mechanical failure.) Jmpo...
 
Texas Panther Man said:
Unless your house is just really cold I dont think you really need the heat pad. I move my eggs from the bottom of the closet in summer months to the top shelves in the winter. That simple five feet in elevation keeps them warm in winter and the bottom of the closet stays cool all summer. Ive never used any form of heat and Ive had great hatch rates. Over 90% on all my faly clutches last yr. (To me any time your adding a heating element your taking a chance on a mechanical failure.) Jmpo...
Click to expand...

well during the day ik not home so the heat gets turned down;.. the thermostat reads 65ish most dyas.. but the cham room i know is warmer than that becuase of the lights and humidity... but i just dont think its going to stay at 76-77 like i need it too. i think it will flucutate too much.
 
There was a thread on this thing a while back but i cannot find it.. But like you two said I would just stick w/ vermiculite/gladwear/water. If it aint broke..Dont fix it!!:p
 
coldbloodedAL said:
There was a thread on this thing a while back but i cannot find it.. But like you two said I would just stick w/ vermiculite/gladwear/water. If it aint broke..Dont fix it!!:p
Click to expand...

my thing is i dont have anything to fix/break in the first place!
in a few months i will have my first clutch of eggs to incubate....
so doing as much studying/reading/creeping/shopping i can find!
 
My ambient temps in my house tend to stay around 72-73 degs. So they dont fluctuate too much. I keep my eggs in my master closet because its a walk in and I have a bunch of shelving in there. Back when I used to actually watch my temps I noticed it would hover between 72-74 in the closet depending which shelf I put the temp probe on. I dont even worry about temps anymore. I just know what month to move them up or down and keep the verm moist. Its really the easiest & Imo the best way to go. Sometimes by adding more technology we arent making things easier on ourselves. lol
 
Texas Panther Man said:
My ambient temps in my house tend to stay around 72-73 degs. So they dont fluctuate too much. I keep my eggs in my master closet because its a walk in and I have a bunch of shelving in there. Back when I used to actually watch my temps I noticed it would hover between 72-74 in the closet depending which shelf I put the temp probe on. I dont even worry about temps anymore. I just know what month to move them up or down and keep the verm moist. Its really the easiest & Imo the best way to go. Sometimes by adding more technology we arent making things easier on ourselves. lol
Click to expand...

while my master closet is a walk in too. i CANT keep them in there. it gets super cold in there.. like 62-64 cold. thers no heat vent in it. and only one vent in the whle room, which is on the other side. and the door closed to the closet.

i think cham room closet is the way to go.. ill see what the temps are and then decide from there...
mayeb put a tiny space heater in instead to get the temps up if they are too cold....
 
I was thinking about using these and still kind of am, but after reading their forums I became a bit less interested for now.

I would have to relearn a lot of stuff I already have figured out with perlite and vermiculite (Perlite is actually my favorite, so now you have an opposing opinion on that- I use equal weights water and perlite and keep in completely sealed containers so no evaporation).

From reading the forums, species that need a lot of humidity can be something of a problem to solve with these containers (which is interesting to me- I thought most reptiles have similar humidity requirements, with a few requiring more dry conditions) and there seems to be a problem to solve with condensation then forming on the lids and dripping onto the eggs and killing them once humidity is high enough- especially for species that like fluctuating incubation temperatures (such as chameleons prefer). So that is another problem to solve (some glue a bit of sponge to the lid to solve this apparently).

After reading that stuff on the forums, and because of the cost per container, and the size of the containers which would drastically reduce space in my incubators, I'm not as enthusiastic about trying the method as I was after reading the hype. But I still want to try it some time.
 
I think for now.. ill just do the closet method...

thanks guys!
though if anyone has more input on them, please feel free to post!
 
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