Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read something a few weeks ago about being able to determine albinos when candling eggs. I think it said about 2-3 weeks before the eggs hatch? Well, now I have 3 weeks to go before my eggs hatch from a verified het male to a said to be het female, which I 90% trust she really is. I've been candling like crazy the last few nights. I love seeing them moving around in the eggs. This is my first ball clutch ever. I can't believe I did it. It's getting so hard to remain patient. Anyway, I don't know if it's just wishful thinking but I swear I can see a difference between 2 of them and the other 5. Can you tell by the albinos being more transparent than the normal looking ones? When can you expect that their pigment has developed enough to be able to see a clear difference? Any info, ideas or experiences you want to share is appreciated. Thanks alot. Ryan.

Ryan,

Last year we produced quite a few albinos and like you I candled my eggs near the end. I found that at 2 - 3 weeks you can tell the difference. It's obvious when you see dark pattern on the hatchlings inside that they are hets. Albinos show very little contrast if any, visible through the egg.

I limited my candling to once a week. I'm not sure what effect a bright light might have on those developing eyes. Everything in moderation is a good rule.

It becomes more difficult as the eggs begin to collapse. I mark my eggs with an 'A' if I think it is an albino. I was correct 95% of the time.

Are you having fun yet?

Markus
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www.ballpython.ca

I find that at about 40 days I can see the baby quite well.

Christy

Yes the albinos when candled after about 37 days will illuminate much more than the hets (or poss hets) do, it's about the same idea as taking a small flashlight and holding it in your hand with your fingers sealing off the light, your fingers will "glow" , the albino eggs look much the same, you'll think their is nothing in there because you really can't see anything moving around like you would a het or normal. I also have been able to pick out Pieds much the same way, the white areas are a dead giveaway that a pied is in the egg, you will see where the breaks of pattern come in and seem to disappear because you can't really make out the white coloration. Also I've been told that Spiders are easy to tell as well, I'll be trying that out here this year with a few Spider x Normal clutches in a couple months. I candle eggs in my walkin incubator, so it's easy for me to mess with them a little, I've done it for years now , it's like peeking at a gift and putting it back just the way it was . It's alot safer to candle them than to cut them , as I have lost eggs from cutting them open , it usually doen't hurt anything after 51 days but it can still mess with things more than just leaving them alone until at least a few have pipped their eggs on their own.. Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles.