substitutes for water wigglers ?

[Kaneke]

haven't been able to find any water wigglers, water snakes, weird gel-filled toys, etc ...

browsing the toy and garden and pet aisles, I came upon a couple of possible substitutes ...

now I need opinions ...

soft flexible gel-filled "Blue Ice" packs, meant to go in small insulated lunch pails ... my idea is to fold them in half, stick the probe in there ...

or --- Silly Putty -- especially since it comes IN EGGS

what do you think ??

(have thought about the ziplok baggie scheme, and the mini baby-bottle full of water scheme)

at least today I found a couple of plug in transformers, 12v, to run the PC fans I salvaged when we recycled a couple of ancient computers

C

 

[tiki244]

someone told me to use a ziplock baggy with water in it but I think that you need to add salt to the water and I dont know how much. I am sure there must be that info somewhere on here but I am not sure I can find it. I will let you know if I do

 

[silkiechicken]

I would say anything with adequate water content would work. Not sure what silly putty is made out of. The zip loc baggie idea would work if the baggies didn't leak.

The salt water thing is a way to calibrate hydrometers, but I also don't know the details of that. Speckledhen does though!

 

[RockinCircleC]

I am a total newbie in this department, so forgive the dumb question. Are you trying to warm or cool? If warm, or short periods of time, a bag (made of cotton) nuked in the microwave can supply a significant amount of heat. I have also heard of corn or buckwheat hulls being used instead of rice. The key, I think, is the cotton "pillow" to contain the rice (I wouldn't use polyester or fleece). I DO NOT know if it would work as a cooling pack as well (like some folks use frozen peas or corn kernels out of the freezer).

 

[silkiechicken]

Oh, the purpose of the water wiggler is to get a representation of the temperature inside the egg, so it just needs to be a resivore that holds temp like an egg you put in the bator with the eggs.

 

[Jayare's Chicks]

Do you have a Wal-Mart where you are? Is that one of the places you checked? I know they have the water wigglers in the toy section and they are with the rest of the .88 cent toys there (when they are in stock). The Wal-Mart that I work at is out of them right now and have been out for about a month now. There was just 1 left when I asked the girl in toys what the heck a water wiggler was and I should have gotten it then but I figured they would have them at all times and I passed up on it. I am not planning on doing any incubating any time soon but the next time I see them there I will buy one so I am ready the next time I decide to do some incubating. My chickens arn't even laying yet but when they do I will be firing up the ole bator.

Jayare

 

[RockinCircleC]

Quote:
Thanks! I think I understand now.

 

[Kaneke]

Wal Mart doesn't have them (here),
K Mart doesn't have them,
Ace Hardware doesn't have them,
KayBee Toys doesn't have them,
Ben Franklin doesn't have them,
Costco doesn't have them,
Del's Farm Supply doesn't have them,
Home Depot doesn't have them,
Lowe's doesn't have them,
Dollar Paradise doesn't have them,
Dollar Plus doesn't have them, (no Dollar Tree here),
Long's Drugs doesn't have them,
Paradise Pets doesn't have them (no hygrometers either),
Sears doesn't have them

gonna have to buy one on visit to the mainland

 

[RockinCircleC]

eBay?
other online place?

 

[Kaneke]

most eBay sellers charge considerably extra to ship to Hawaii

water wiggler = $ 2 to $5
shipping = $20

dunno why but some people treat Hawaii as if it were a foreign country ...

C