Sunny Side up Eggs?

[MarkS]

What is the consensus on the importance of eggs being incubated as they were laid. I know there are many that pencil mark the top and ensure that they are then incubated in this same manner. How important is this? My, not expert, guess of the situation would be that the eggs were not purposefully rolled around by momma to find the perfect spot. Instead I would think that initially they could sit any way, but that as time goes on the snake will then develop inside the egg based on gravity. I ask this because I had a friend whose snake laid eggs all over the tub, so he couldn't tell orientation, and I had momma hold on really tightly as I pulled her off so I can't be positive on the orientation. I'd imagine similar things have happened to many people.

Well, once the orientation of the eggs is set, they should not be rolled. The eggs need to develop with the yolk down and the embryo up. However the orientation isn't usually 'set' until sometime after they've been laid (usually within 24 hours is the most commonly accepted time frame) however this can be quite variable. This is why it is important to candle your eggs. I have a female who usually lays 8 or 9 eggs, but every year half of them would die. I finally picked up a flashlight powerful enough to see the embryo inside the egg and I noticed that half of her eggs had the orientation upside down as they were laid, I was able to cut them apart from the clump and now they all hatch