Ootheca incubation - help needed

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Ruaumoko

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Howdy all,

Im in the process of making an incubation chamber for my ooths so i can keep them at a constant temperature.

So far Ive got an old fish tank,heat mat and thermostat and a humidity gauge.

Note: The ooths are already kept in smaller containers im looking at a larger chamber to keep all of the smaller containers at a similar temperature :)

Here are my questions:

-Whats the best way to insulate the fish tank so it doesnt lose the heat?

-Wheres the best place to put the heatmat? I figured udnerneath but the tank has a design on bottom that makes it impossible for the mat to adhere to.

-should I put the heatmat inside the tank?

Any and all help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Andrew

 
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i would not use a fish tank to hatch ooths being its a too big of a area for nymphs in all honesty and whats best is a 32 oz deli cup and glue the ooth to the underside of the lid or any other type of plastic container with a removable lid and if needed you can cut holes in other lids and glue mesh in those for air circulation if you are not able to find any deli cups or anything like that and depending on the species room temp would be sufficient unless its a very exotic species requiring alot of temps like idolos or thistles but all in all best not to use fish tanks for hatching ooths but for rearing nymphs that are l3-l4 or higher would be better for them in the tank or when sub adults or adults but best to start small when hatching ooths and some species can be reared in deli cups from l1 and up as well!

 
I keep my dubia colony bin tucked in the bottom of a sleeping bag with a heating pad. I then have the top section for a bin to keep incubating ooths. It keeps warm and humid with the regular care of the dubias. The dubia bin is ventilated on the top and sides and gets plenty of air circulation with the culling and cultivating of the feeders daily. I even put a riser in the actual bin to hatch the ooths needing more warmth. It works great for me. :D

 
@Massa - Thanks for the advice but I dont think my first post was clear enough :p The ooths are already in smaller hatching containers which are well ventilated and are great for humidity. my aim with the fishtank is to be able to put these smaller containers into it so that they are kept at a warmer temperature :)

@Patrick - Good idea but I dont think a sleeping bag is the way forwards for me :p

 
I tried to do that at one time put ooths in the tank but used a light source as heat and did not work to well so the same thing would apply with heat pads I would think being the tank would get warm with the glass but its all trial and error but it may or may not work but try what you may and well what will be will be I guess!

 
You may be able to get better answers if you are more specific.

What species of ooth are you planning to incubate?

Depending on the species and amount of nymphs expected from each oothecae, you may want to utilize particular sizes of containers.

I have found it to be a hassle, stressfull for the nymphs, and more work for me, when I have an ootheca that can produce 100 nymphs or more hatch out in a 32oz cup. The nymphs will be very stressed and all over eachother in that case, causing more nymphs to die than would normally.

Prime incubation temperatures may vary between species as well.

 
Here's the method that I have been using for a while for exotic (NOT US) nymphs with great success:

Ootheca are glued to the mesh lid of a 32oz pot. Use a mesh lid for greater access to moist air and to keep you honest (see below). Just put some fine exelsior in the pot for the nymphs. No need for a paper substrate.

Place your pots in the bottom of the empty 10 gal tank or plastic sweater box or similar.

Humidify the box and its contents with a humidifier and priovide light and heat with the usual mounted spotlight. Passive humidification with temps around F80+ is difficult and uncertain. An ultrasonic humidifier should only cost about $40 and runs on tap water.

Monitor temp/RH with a dedicated, digital hygrometer/thermometer like the Caliber III. You should monitor these parameters at least twice a day, even if they seem fixed.

Keep at about 80F/80%RH for all tropical species; a rise or drop of 10 degrees or percent will do no harm.

This even works for an "arid" species like B. mendica.

At night, turn off the lights and the humidity will rise as the box cools, just as it does in the tropics.

If you use a mesh lid on the pot, you will have to transfer the nymphs to a more apropriate container with a cloth lid by the second day, because mels can escape through the mesh. Just be sure to put the hatching pot back in the chamber in case more nymphs are ready to hatch. I suspect that newly eclosed nymphs are more susceptible to dry contions than older ones, so it would be good to have your passively humidified pots moist and ready to go.

If you try this, i would like to hear about how well it works for you. :D

 
+1 to Phil's. It's not as much work as it seems.

And I'm one of those guys who loves to try and find new ways to do things. But I ended up right back with the deli cup (or similar) under a heat lamp. Sometimes with the humdifier, sometimes not. Sometimes, I put the deli cup inside one of my existing tanks, since it's already heat and temp controlled (and on timers).

I think what's missing on the market, is a very, very small net cube (monarch castle, or whatever). Probably just a little more than 32oz. You could stack these all in the same aquarium. Would be great. Net cubes are by far my favorite nymph container - easily misted, plenty of ventilation, and Hydei can't get out!

 
dont you worry about the heat lamp frying the ooth as I had a thistle ooth that did not hatch once when I put the container with the ooth in a fish tank on one side of the tank with the lid and put the lamp on top of the lid but on the opposite site of the tank so it would raise the temp and I thought that would work but it did not work as I had intended or did I do something wrong and of course I was on a timer as well so it was on every 10 hours in the day and off during the night!

 

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