Candling eggs throughout incubation

What should you see at various points throughout incubation? My clutch is at 6 weeks, and I still see a good vein network, but thought I'd be seeing the baby snakes by now. Any thoughts on what you should see, and approximately when during the incubation period you would/should start seeing it?

Sounds like your eggs will be fine.... I check a few times for veins! :)

You will basically only see veins for the most part of incubation. When the time gets closer to hatching, the snakes get bigger and block out most of the light.

Around 40-50 days or so, you will be able to see movement within the eggs, but not the whole snake, unless you have super powered lights that can blast thru the egg shell or x-ray vision.

Only when it hatches will you see the whole snake :)

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

You will basically only see veins for the most part of incubation. When the time gets closer to hatching, the snakes get bigger and block out most of the light.

Around 40-50 days or so, you will be able to see movement within the eggs, but not the whole snake, unless you have super powered lights that can blast thru the egg shell or x-ray vision.

Only when it hatches will you see the whole snake :)

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Unless your me that is... LOL!

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Originally Posted by dfisk5

What should you see at various points throughout incubation? My clutch is at 6 weeks, and I still see a good vein network, but thought I'd be seeing the baby snakes by now. Any thoughts on what you should see, and approximately when during the incubation period you would/should start seeing it?

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I'm with you!;) I had a real hard time telling if there was even a snake inside the eggs on day 45. My flashlight may be the problem though.

At day 48 things are a lot clearer and the snakes are easily visible. IMO

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Originally Posted by Larry Suttles

I'm with you!;) I had a real hard time telling if there was even a snake inside the eggs on day 45. My flashlight may be the problem though.

At day 48 things are a lot clearer and the snakes are easily visible. IMO

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How many look White???

Jas, cutting doesn't count in this question! :D

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Jas, cutting doesn't count in this question! :D

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He doesn't cut, all his are live bearers!! :O:gj:

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

He doesn't cut, all his are live bearers!! :O:gj:

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hahaha!

Im not sure what day, but with my last clutch I could see the snakes shape. I could see the pattern and the shadow of the snake sometimes. I guess it depends on how far into incubation. What angle the light is coming from. Try different sides of the egg. Also how the snake is laying in the egg. My first clutch ever i candled once a week from the day they were laid untill a day or two before they hatched. All I could see was the veins. Sometime I could see a heart beat. Try different angels and maybe a brighter flash light. The one I use is an LED flash light. Nice and bright it has a single LED in it. Its a nice tight beam of light doesnt spread out alot. Works great for me.

I like candling periodically. I do it at first of course, just to ease my mind and check for veins. I will do it periodically as well for my own curiousity..
Later into it, if you use just the right flashlight and the baby is at just the right angle, you can see part of the baby's pattern. But sometimes you can't. Tis is something that my husband and I "struggled" with last year; not seeing the babies in all of the eggs, and worrying if they were ok. Chances are, if you're this far along and the eggs appear healthy, there are good babies in there. I slit mine around day 60 but I do not recommend that for everyone; research it, ask people more experienced than I about slitting, and then you can make your choice about that. :)

Thanks very much for the input everyone. I appreciate it. I doubt that I'll slit the eggs. I'm not comfortable with that, but I guess if the incubation goes really long, I might be back on here asking questions about that too! Thanks, again.