Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've always heard/ read that snake eggs can not be rotated after they are laid... something about an air bubble and the embryo adhering to the upper inner surface of the egg. So like many, I always mark the top of every single egg and take great care to not let the eggs rotate in any direction more than a mm or two.

Well, I believe it was Rainer who said king eggs can be turned with no problems (I could be wrong about who, but I think it was Rainer), and now reading through the old Carl Kauffeld book: The Keeper and the Kept, he states that he rotated a clutch of bullsnake eggs every few days throughout the entire incubation time and still had babies hatch.

sooo... is all the talk of not being able to rotate snake eggs just bs that keeps getting regurgitated by folks that don't know better, or does it depend on the species?

Colubrid eggs are real tough. But why would you want to rotate them?

I had clutches get down around 33F and still hatch. I have shipped kingsnake eggs and they were fine. I think perhaps tropical boid eggs are the ones that are more sensitive.

Colubrid eggs are tough as nails.
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

Hi Arron, Its not an A or B type of answer. First, eggs are very tolerant. After all, they squeeze out the females bum. Have you see that?
And yes, the zygote is located in the middle of the egg before being laid and after its laid, the zygote migrates to the upper part of the egg.
It appears there is a critical time when the eggs can fail if rotated. I do not know how long that is. When first laid, the eggs can be rolled tossed around, etc. Then later in development, they can be rolled etc etc, many stories, like my pet ferret got to some cornsnake eggs and moved them to its cage and they still hatched. Even though many had tooth holes in them.
I think the critical time is withing the first couple of weeks.
Lastly, I have moved them even at that time with no problems. I guess we have to define what moving them means and who had how that rule was made. For instance, rotating weak/dead eggs is a problem, rotating healthy eggs may not be. Simple put, I do not worry about it, but I don't rotate them for fun.

Sorry, Aaron, I spelled your name wrong the first reply.
Also, folks commonly blame the first available item, other then themselves.
So these types of rules get passed around and newbies fall for them. That is until they roll the eggs and the eggs hatch. Heck, I have dropped a box of eggs and they hatched. I have also had eggs die without being rolled. I guess folks need something to assign blame too. Logically, I would not mess with eggs with the zygote is so small that a good sneeze will rock its world. Great question, thanks for asking

I'm not going to start rolling them or playing ping pong with them or anything, but it's good to know that I can relax when dealing with eggs. I've always treated them like I'm defusing a bomb and the slightest touch would be disastrous.

it's good to learn.

Aaron,
I'm glad you asked this question, it is good to rehash these subjects from time to time. I learned some time ago by accident that colubrid eggs are very resilient. As you have heard, they can withstand the occasional shock and bump and roll pretty well. I even cut one just a little to peek inside (I thought the egg was dead), taped it back together, and it hatched.

As others have mentioned... colubrid eggs are particularly sturdy. This is not true of all eggs, and even colubrid eggs can be damaged. Before I get into any details I will say that you should always try to avoid turning eggs.

When the eggs are laid they can be safely rotated for the first few hours (possibly even as long as 48 hours) before the embryo attaches to the top of the egg. This is why many people can drop / roll eggs by accident when collecting them from the female and still have the eggs hatch out fine.

The first few weeks are where the egg is most vulnerable to be turned. The yolk is dense and sinks to the bottom of the egg. The hatchling is tiny at this stage compared to the weight of the yolk. If the egg is turned upside down the yolk could smother the embryo, or even more likely is that rough/quick turning of the egg (dropping, rolling) can easily damage delicate membranes within the egg. Ever made a scrambled egg by shaking the egg?

Later in incubation (species dependent but lets say 1/2 way) the embryo has gotten big enough that turning the egg is unlikely to cause any damage unless it is very rough handling. Some people have reported that embryos will pip out from the bottom of the egg if the egg is turned late in incubation.

Turning an egg gently by 10-20 degrees in any direction is not going to ever cause much harm..