Hovabator: I have hatched many dozens of reptile eggs in them and found them very dependable and a good value. For many people, they are the way to go, but not for extreme accuracy over a long period, the wafers are said to be failure prone though mine has been in use for years. You wouldn't want to trust a whole clutch of precious or sensitive (i.e. radiata) eggs to an old wafer type...
You can make incubators easily with an aquarium, put in a few inches of water, put in two bricks to hold the plastic box above the water surface that contain eggs. Use a fully submersible aquarium heater to heat the water and put a glass cover over the aquarium. It may take several days to regulate the temp, so do it prior to placing in eggs. Be sure to have an accurate thermometer in the box where the eggs are. You will be surprised how temps may vary within the box. I like the probe type thermometers, I bought one at an old shack that sells radios too for roughly $24.00. You might want to put the aquarium inside a used styrofoam shipping box, available at tropical fish stores for a few bucks or free. This information can be found in several places on the internet, check out various reptile websites and forums. For the amateur in a hurry, the Hovabator is a good product and has treated me well. If you are handy and inventive, look for an old refrigerator, the small ones like cheap motels and college dorms have. Get it and remove the coils and put in a heat source and you will have a large capacity incubator.
Many of the bird type incubators are pretty hot, and may have too much ventilation, trays that turn the eggs, fans, bells and whistles you don't need, etcThere are lots of variables, but for a few eggs, Hovabator will work fine. good luck, Vic H
