Candling pics - now with added infertiles and slugs

[dr del]

Hi,

These eggs were laid on the 22nd of January and the pics were taken about 30 minutes ago.

I decided to put the infertile egg in the incubator to give it a chance in case I was just really bad at candling or something ( that and someone I trust told me to ) but it looks like it is definately a dud despite looking perfectly healthy from the outside.

So I figured it might be helpful for people to see what an empty infertile egg looks like compared to fertile clutchmates.

The slug is in there for the same reason.

Firstly the slug;


And then the infertile egg;


The remaining four in the clutch show nice pinkish colour and clear veins;









Now someone find me a time machine - this waiting is driving me nuts.


dr del

[joepythons]

Hi,

These eggs were laid on the 22nd of January and the pics were taken about 30 minutes ago.

I decided to put the infertile egg in the incubator to give it a chance in case I was just really bad at candling or something ( that and someone I trust told me to ) but it looks like it is definately a dud despite looking perfectly healthy from the outside.

So I figured it might be helpful for people to see what an empty infertile egg looks like compared to fertile clutchmates.

The slug is in there for the same reason.

Firstly the slug;


And then the infertile egg;


The remaining four in the clutch show nice pinkish colour and clear veins;









Now someone find me a time machine - this waiting is driving me nuts.


dr del

Derek, have they hatched yet .I think you are correct on the duds

[PythonChick]

Those are neat pictures, they really show what to look for when candling. I will keep my fingers crossed for you for some vein-less egg turning fertile magic!

[muddoc]

Excellent post Derek. This will definitely prove helpful to many first time egg parents this year.

[SlitherinSisters]

Thanks for posting that! It's pretty neat!

I asked my uncle to start working on a time machine, he said it's on his list. He just made a Tesla Wire thing himself, oh and a laser that can melt cement a few months ago. He's far too smart for his own good, and has one of those "secret government jobs." I'll let you know as soon as he gets it made! He's working on a teleport machine for me too!

[kc261]

Nifty pics! I've seen lots of posts with the candling pics of the fertile eggs, and I think one with only a tiny bit of veins in one corner (which if I recall did turn out fertile), but I don't ever remember seeing the candling pics of an apparently infertile egg or a slug before. This will really help newbies know what they are looking for.

[musicalKeyes]

Waiting is definitely going to be the hardest part for me when I start breeding.

You never know with those "infertile" eggs. I hatch chicks every year (not snakes, but still out of eggs :]) and every once in a while I get one that just doesn't have any veins and looks completely empty, but 21 days later out pops a cute little fluff ball

[dr del]

Hi,

OK the eggs are on day 32 and the infertile egg finally started showing signs of decay.





I removed it earlier today to keep the chances of the fungus spreading to a minimum.

One of the other eggs shows the same "bulging" as egg number two in the first photo above - I think the substrate has gotten too wet and is leading to an increase in water absorbtion.

I have placed a layer of dry vermiculite on the surface and bedded the eggs down in it to see if this helps avoid problems.


dr del

[SNIKTTIME]

If you cut a piece of drop ceiling grating and lay the eggs on it, you can keep the medium the way you had it. As long as you are not dripping on the eggs you should be good to go.

[dr del]

Hi,

Yep I am definately thinking of going with the substrateless method to avoid these problems.

The only question I have is how do you stop the eggs from rolling all over the place? Do you use a dremmel to make indentations in the grill or use wedges or something?

There is no dripping on the eggs at the moment - though it may become an issue when I put lids on the eggboxes. It is normally o.k. though.

But then again it normally takes longer for the substrate to become a problem - I must have mixed this batch a tad too wet for it to be happening before the eggs pip I think.


dr del