If you are going to add wet sponges to your hovabators in order to add humidity, please make sure that your hatchlings cannot stand on the sponges and reach the metal conduits which heat the bator.
My little black hatchling did what I feared might happen just a few minutes ago. While standing on the sponge, he extended his head, wobbled, and hit his eye on the hot metal. Squealing, he fell off the sponge then and has yet to reopen that eye. I don't know if he's blinded himself/herself in that eye or not. Only time will tell. And were I not there to witness it doing this, I might not ever have known what happened to that eye.
Edited to add: I removed all three hatchlings immediately from the bator and put them in my mini-brooder.
My little black hatchling did what I feared might happen just a few minutes ago. While standing on the sponge, he extended his head, wobbled, and hit his eye on the hot metal. Squealing, he fell off the sponge then and has yet to reopen that eye. I don't know if he's blinded himself/herself in that eye or not. Only time will tell. And were I not there to witness it doing this, I might not ever have known what happened to that eye.
Edited to add: I removed all three hatchlings immediately from the bator and put them in my mini-brooder.
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