Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was always under the impression that if an egg did not bind to the rest of the clutch and rolled off that it was bad. Well anyway I had an egg roll off the main group when I was pulling the female off of them. It rolled completely over and fell over the edge of the her lay box, I quickly flipped it back and figured I would incubate to see what happened. To my surprise it pipped yesterday.

If any egg jostling was going to drown the embryo this complete flip and 4-5 inch drop would have. I was very surprised to have a little albino head pip out yesterday.

Any other experiences like this? What is the point of not turning the eggs when this just showed me it doesn't really matter even if they get turned all the way over?

Rolling the eggs after the embryo has adhered to the wall of the egg would cause it to dislodge and most likely die, just as you have suspected.

However, if the egg is rolled before the embryo attaches, usually within 24-36 hours after the eggs are laid, then there is a much smaller chance of the embryo breaking away and being killed. This is how female Ball Pythons are able to lay all their eggs then gather them up into a neat pile for incubation.

So if you moved the egg before the baby glued to the inside, then that is probably how it survived.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

theres lots of eggs all the time that are roll offs that hatch perfectly fine. not to mention there was a guy on another forum who did an experiment, and it really doesnt matter if/when you turn/move eggs, they will still hatch just fine
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www.bamreptiles.webs.com
www.facebook.com/bamreptiles

I dropped a whole box of corn eggs...30 plus...at about the three week or more mark...they fel...some rolled on the flor....I stuck them back into box...not knowing which way was up for alot of them...and only a few died...most hatched fine....

....balls roll eggs alot ...as mentioned ....they pull them all in a pile....then lay on them for 60 days ....flattening them...and we all here sugest they urinate on them to keep them moist.....not proven...and I'm not going to Africa anytime soon....

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................JY

Now if the female lays it off to the side and doesn't wrap it, that egg may go bad... Is that what you are thinking of?