Moved Egg problems

[cassandra]

My experience my be limited but I sure have rolls some eggs like MOFO.

Funniest - post - today.

[MarkS]

Heather,
I just recently got a clutch of eggs from a female (that I really, really need to hatch) as well. These eggs were held together, and did not roll when I removed the female. Even though they remained how she had them, three of them were upside down. I relayed that story mostly to show that they don't always lay them right, even if the don't roll.

With that said, we do candle every one of our eggs and mark the embryo and face it skyward when we place it in the incubator box. I do not know if this is necessary, but I have never lost an egg that had strong veining and no other outward problems upon being laid. Here is how we do it. When you candle the egg, you should see a portion of the egg that is yellow in color and no veins are present (or few at best). This is the bottom of the egg. Turn the egg over and you should see a pink glow and numerous veins. In the middle of the veins you should see what I can best describe as a halo. In the center of the halo will be a black dot(which I believe is actually the eye of the snake). Gently shake the egg, and you will see the black dot move. This is where I put my pencil mark, and place that mark facing skyward in the box. As stated before, Ido this with every egg, and sometimes have had to rotate an egg 180 degrees from the way it was laying under the female.

I hope that helps, and my description was understood. Let me know if you need any clarification.

p.s. For god sake, let us know what the clutch is. LOL.

Good Luck,

Hey Tim, thanks again for this post. I just got my last clutch of the year this past week and when I candled them I paid more attention to where the yolk was positioned in the egg. Sure enough there was one that was upside down so I ripped it out of the cluster and put it in the egg box right side up. I still don't see this halo or the black speck you speak of though. How strong is the light you use for candling?

Mark

[muddoc]

Hey Tim, thanks again for this post. I just got my last clutch of the year this past week and when I candled them I paid more attention to where the yolk was positioned in the egg. Sure enough there was one that was upside down so I ripped it out of the cluster and put it in the egg box right side up. I still don't see this halo or the black speck you speak of though. How strong is the light you use for candling?

Mark

Mark, I have a mini mag lite that has batteries going dead in it. So my light is minimal at best. However, I normally use one with fresh batteries, and it is easy to see. I can still see it with my dim light, but I guess when you know what you are looking for, it is easy to find. I guess when I get my next clutch of eggs, I'll try to get some photos to post up.