DIY wine cooler incubator-anyone done this?

[tucc185]

So, still struggling on how to effectively cool chameleon eggs when room temp is higher than the desired incubation temperatures. It's winter here in FL so it's been great for the panther and montium eggs I'm sitting on but as temps rise and I have more panther and K. boehmei eggs on the way I need to think about a decent incubation method that won't cost a fortune.

My thought was, if you hooked up a wine cooler to a reliable thermostat you would have a pretty decent cooling incubator. Has anyone ever done this, or know of plans for something like this?

 

[FalyBreeder]

Never heard of it being done for cooling (of course I'm from Missouri so cooling isn't really an issue) but I've personally used wine coolers, old refrigerators, and even pop coolers (after being gutted minus the fans) as incubators. Of course with all of them I've had to install heat tape and computer fans along with ways to keep humidity up but all of those have been for ball python or gecko eggs which have alot different incubation conditions than chameleons.
Anyway, I'm assuming you could use a wine cooler as long as you have a really good very reliable thermostat but you'd have to install computer fans or some mechanism to disperse and circulate air so you don't have different temperature zones in it. And you'd have to figure out a way to insure relatively constant humidity like having open large bowls of water or containers of water on the bottom of the incubator.
Honestly I've never thought about using anything to cool for incubation but it's definitely a good idea especially in the summer months!

 

[Lancecham]

Not sure how if that could be done as each wine cooler has different temp ranges.

But this will work... I have one and it works very very well.
http://www.aveyincubator.com/arti.htm

 

[FalyBreeder]

Wouldn't assume it'd be very hard considering wine coolers don't get very cold. One would just definitely have to wire in the right thermostat and know enough about appliances and electronics to wire it correctly and ensure constant correct temp

 

[Todnedo]

Wouldn't assume it'd be very hard considering wine coolers don't get very cold. One would just definitely have to wire in the right thermostat and know enough about appliances and electronics to wire it correctly and ensure constant correct temp

I use this one for my Parsonii eggs http://www.lowes.com/pd_326325-47224-LFWC08T5LB_0__
I use a herpstat to monitor it with high and low temp. alarms set just to be safe.

 

[tucc185]

Thanks, that's really helpful! Any issues with it going way out of range on you? From what I've heard wine coolers generally do a terrible job keeping a consistent temp on their own. Also, any issues with the fan lowering the humidity?

 

[Texas Ranger]

It's super easy . That's what my incubators are all you need is a ranco thermostat and a 1/4in. Drill bit. Wire the plug to the thermostat set your temp put the temp prob on the cooling plate or heat tape and your done