Dave, I find it very interesting that the hatchling weighs more than Its egg at the time of laying. I just recently started keeping similar records on a few of my egg clutches. I use a slightly drier moisture content than most when incubating my eggs. My eggs usually start to dent/collapse slightly a week or two before hatching. My babies are usually one-three grams lighter than the egg at the time of laying. the empty egg shell usually weighs in at one-three grams. the sum of these two weights usually equals the exact weight of the egg at the time it was laid. I am puzzled when I contemplate how a hatchling can weigh more than the egg at the time of laying. I understand that an egg can gain weight by absorbing moisture, but even then I don't know how that could cause the baby to gain more weight than the original egg weight. In fact the studies I am familiar with show that the more moisture an egg absorbs from its medium, the smaller the hatchling will be. I'm not contradicting your data, like I said in the beginning of my post I find it very interesting. Have you had other similar results with other clutches or species? Has anyone else gathered similar data? All my data is from north american ratsnakes. Regards, Rusty

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• Laddersnake clutch DUW - devboy, Mon Sep 8 15:01:12 2008
• Very Very Interesting.....More.......... - rustduggler, Mon Sep 8 16:21:13 2008
• RE: Very Very Interesting.....More.......... - devboy, Tue Sep 9 02:26:13 2008
• Thank you Rusty! - devboy, Tue Sep 9 12:04:40 2008
• RE: Thank you Rusty! - rustduggler, Tue Sep 9 20:04:07 2008
• RE: Thank you Rusty! - devboy, Wed Sep 10 02:10:26 2008
• RE: Thank you Rusty! - devboy, Wed Sep 10 17:20:22 2008
• RE: Thank you Rusty! - devboy, Fri Sep 19 15:06:26 2008
• RE: Laddersnake clutch DUW - RandyWhittington, Tue Sep 9 08:36:21 2008
• RE: Laddersnake clutch DUW - devboy, Tue Sep 9 12:01:27 2008