my first try at candling...

[daneale777]

I just wanted to share with you guys what I saw when I candled my eggs. This is my first snake mating, first time with eggs, and now my first candling. That being said, please excuse the quality of the photos. I was trying to do it with a flashlight in one hand, the camera in the other, whilst trying to be quick, so as not to let the temp. change too much.
The first pic is one that obviously looks good; pink with veins. *How exciting* The second is one that is yellow inside, but with not even a speck of mold like the few others that are obviously not good. I'm planning on continuing to incubate all of them, regardless.
Thanks for looking.

 

[Crowskin]

Good luck with the little ones! He's hoping the eggs are alright, and that the yellow one somehow still develops..

least the first one is looking mighty healthy I would think. Not that I know much about eggs but still

-Crow

 

[daneale777]

Good luck with the little ones! He's hoping the eggs are alright, and that the yellow one somehow still develops..

least the first one is looking mighty healthy I would think. Not that I know much about eggs but still

-Crow

Thanks Crow. I candled all of them and at least nine of them look perfect from what I know. There are two that are yellow like that, and I'm sad to say that seven are slugs. Not too bad of a ratio for my first time breeding. My girl is a proven breeder, but I don't believe my male has ever bred before. He was someone's "pet" who they fed once a month. He seems to be a bit stunted from what limited info I was able to gather, but he's very happy now. I don't know if that could have anything to do with it. Zelda is also known to be a double clutcher, so they're having another Honeymoon right now, hoping for another small clutch. (fingers crossed.)

 

[Piper]

Congrats on your first clutch :dancer:

For the candling: try rubber banding a black piece of material over the flashlight. Cut a small diameter hole for the light to shine through. It will still illuminate the egg & allow you to photograph the vein structure better.

I have 4 eggs so far this year that appear to have "gone bad". They started out with perfect white shells, but never developed veins. The inner color does appear to be a murky yellow. Once they start to exude a bit of moisture, I know for sure they're non viable. (some good eggs with an extreme amount of "windowing" may also exude moisture, but those HAVE veins.)

About halfway through the incubation you will start to see movement inside the eggs. I have a clutch laid 4/12. I observed moment a few days ago for the first time I don't leave the light on them for too long, I don't want to stress the developing embryos (and I'm not sure at what point they develop eyes & light sensitivity)

Hope that helps

 

[daneale777]

Congrats on your first clutch :dancer:

For the candling: try rubber banding a black piece of material over the flashlight. Cut a small diameter hole for the light to shine through. It will still illuminate the egg & allow you to photograph the vein structure better.

I have 4 eggs so far this year that appear to have "gone bad". They started out with perfect white shells, but never developed veins. The inner color does appear to be a murky yellow. Once they start to exude a bit of moisture, I know for sure they're non viable. (some good eggs with an extreme amount of "windowing" may also exude moisture, but those HAVE veins.)

About halfway through the incubation you will start to see movement inside the eggs. I have a clutch laid 4/12. I observed moment a few days ago for the first time I don't leave the light on them for too long, I don't want to stress the developing embryos (and I'm not sure at what point they develop eyes & light sensitivity)

Hope that helps

Thanks so much for the more detailed instructions on how this is properly done Piper! That reminds me of what we all did in school when I was very small for a solar eclipse, with the dark paper and a pinhole and all. I will for sure try it that way the next time I check. I also read something about the possible benefit of slight temp. fluxuations during incubations and the theory of how this may help to get a more even male/female ratio. So, when I briefly open to check on them every few days or so, I remember that. My temp is between 80-83 besides that.
It is so cool that your eggs were laid about 11 days before mine, and you saw movement already. Congrats. The miracle of life sure is amazing!