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Re: CANDELING EGGS


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Bull, Pine, and Gopher Snake Forum ]

Posted by HDEAN on April 05, 2003 at 05:26:52:

In Reply to: CANDELING EGGS posted by P-RAT on April 03, 2003 at 13:14:45:

:THANKYOU CARL , how do you go about candling eggs,This is my first clutch ever ,my 2bulls are shedding now and expect them to lay soon,I guess alittle nervose,THANKS FOR YOUR HELP,P-RAT


PRAT,
Turn off the room lights and hold a pen light against the egg. You should see great vein work. Sometimes you need to move the pen light to a different angle to catch the lighting just right to see the veins. Good veins only mean that it is fertile and not that it will hatch. Something else, usually genetic, may happen during the process that will make the egg go bad. I have had veins not show up for 2 weeks after being laid which is unusual since they usually are there in a few days. I took perfect looking eggs that had no veins for 2 weeks to a show for kids to touch, pick up etc to feel a real egg and then when I got home I was going to go ahead and throw them out but something told me to re candle them and they had veins and all hatched. All the eggs were touched by a hundred people and not put back in the position as laid and they all hatched. I always candle eggs to know if the female and male are fertile. If you don't candle and the eggs look nice and white and then the go bad you will start to question what might have caused it when maybe they weren't fertile to start with. I have had perfect looking snow white eggs with no veins go past the expected hatch date and still be snow white even though they never had veins , didn't hatch and were never fertile. In my opinion you should leave the eggs alone as much as possible since there is no reason to bother them. However, I have done experiments with misting, turning eggs etc and have noticed no problems with these hatching. Eggs are tough and not as fragile as some people think. Not recommending you move them or turn them only saying if an accident happens don't panic. I have had eggs a week from hatching that were turned and still hatched. A friend of mine dropped a whole tray of eggs and they hit the floor from 4 feet off the ground and rolled around and there was no way to know in what position they originally were in and they all hatched. Good luck. HDEAN


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