Many times an egg will not hatch when we 'expect' it to. But I sure don't recommend opening them.
A couple of weeks back I posted a photograph of a hatchling redfoot that had taken 250 days to hatch. The other eggs from the same clutch had hatched almost two months (!) before it but since the egg still appeared good I did not open it. I had a lot of anxiety for sure, but I misted the egg in question heavily and waited. When the egg finally did pip (WAY later than it should have) the hatchling still had the enormous yolk sac that redfoots always have.
If I had decided a few weeks after the clutch mates had hatched, that this egg should now be opened I could very well have lost the hatchling.
In the above photograph the hatchling inside the egg is CLEARLY NOT READY TO HATCH! There are copious amounts of fluid and veining surrounding the hatchling which makes this fact obvious. When an egg is ready to hatch this material has been absorbed by the hatchling and all that remains is a large yolk sac under it.
The fact that Graham is successful in doing this is a testament to his care after the egg has been opened. But my question is this....why open an obviously fertile egg in the first place? If I have learned anything in almost thirty years of hatching tortoise eggs its this...you can never really predict exactly when they are 'ready' to pop.
If you are losing full term embryos prior to hatching then I would take a look at my incubation techniques.
Are the temps too high? Is the humidity too high? Or low? Do the eggs get jarred?
Be patient.
But if you really feel the need to open an egg, then Graham's method seems like a good one.

[ Hide Replies ]

• cracking an egg by myself??? - murziano, Thu Jul 21 06:09:36 2005
• RE: cracking an egg by myself??? - tortusjack, Thu Jul 21 06:32:02 2005
• RE: cracking an egg by myself??? - murziano, Thu Jul 21 07:44:15 2005
• RE: cracking an egg by myself??? - tortusjack, Thu Jul 21 15:11:06 2005
• I sure wouldn't do that! - mayday, Thu Jul 21 15:09:02 2005