Upside Down Egg Experiment

[WingedWolfPsion]

Actually someone tried this over a decade ago. I cannot remember what species they tried it with, but they used many eggs, turning some immediately, some partway through incubation, etc. The article was published in Reptiles magazine (I believe--at the time, Reptile and Amphibian and the Vivarium were still running).

What they found is that there was no apparent effect on hatching rates. You see, the entire idea that an embryo can drown if an egg is turned stems from speculation. People know that reptile eggs aren't moved after they are laid, and they looked at them, and decided that there was a risk in moving them unnaturally. This guess was passed on from person to person, until it was assumed to be a fact, but it never was a confirmed fact. Marking the tops and taking care not to turn the eggs is actually only a precaution against a POSSIBLE problem.

No testing I am aware of so far has actually confirmed that it's a problem. Naturally, everyone, including me, is going to continue marking eggs and keeping them upright, because we don't want to take the chance that ANY egg might die because it was turned--even if it was one in a hundred. There's no way to be sure it could never happen.

However, there is also no reason at all to be upset if an egg is accidently moved from its original position. It will probably be just fine. As Tim's experiment proves again, they generally are.