Just curious, what difference have you noticed with having the embryo of your ball python eggs on top during incubation instead of having it on the bottom. Does it make a huge difference? I ask because I’ve heard both ways it works but if your embryo is on the bottom you run a bigger risk of a drowning or other birth defects. Whats everyone’s opinion on this. Other resources and research would also be cool as I couldn’t find much on this topic.
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Far that I know if the embryo it will drown. So in my opinion it’s better safe then sorry and just keep all the eggs upright.
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I’ve always wondered cause in the wild who’s over there flipping them? I can see the argument either way but I’m just wondering if there has been people that didn’t even check that and still had success. If you look up “whole clutch died from being upside down from incubation” you get nothing really.
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Reptile eggs don’t need to be turned. The eggs glue themselves together to prevent one from rolling. When you get a clutch you don’t have to necessarily check to see where the embryo is because when a egg is first laid the embryo is in the middle, after about an hour or two it will travel to the top if the egg where it will start developing.
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I’m sorry I guess I shouldn’t say “turning them” but who’s making sure they are coming out every time with the embryo on top? I’ve seen clutches with eggs stuck with the embryo upside down so it leads me to believe either way would work. I also know people that just incubate the way mom laid them. It’s just interesting to get different points of view.
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Well as I said before the embryo is in the middle to start out with.
As far as this I really don’t know I haven’t heard of that before but it could be.
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I’ve not bred BPs yet but I have had quite a few Kingsnake clutches so I’ll go off of that as far as general rules of egg incubation.
I’ve always made sure the embryo is face-up when placing eggs into the incubator but I’ve almost always been on time to separate the eggs before they become too stuck to do so and have never had any issues with this.
With this said I did have 2 eggs in my most recent Kingsnake clutch that could not be seperated and the embryos were in odd positions where I physically could not reorient them, however they both incubated just fine and came out perfectly healthy with no defects. I simply marked the top of both eggs and let them sit as close to the position they were laid in.
I think the big kicker here is the eggs being rotated after the first 24 hours of being laid by the mother, as long as they are kept in a similar position to what they were laid in and not moved from then on they should be just fine. I’ve also heard of instances of accidental egg rotation with the hatchlings surviving and still coming out just fine once their position was fixed (this is why it is so important to mark the position of the embryo on the egg, or the face-up position of the egg if the embryo is in an odd position and cannot be reoriented). Hope this helps! 
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That’s my view.
Mine are always left the way they are laid and no problems with hatching.
I keep them stuck together to avoid the chance of rolling but might take a few off if its an odd shape that wont fit in the box, even then I make sure the extra ones stay the same way up and support them with straws so they cant roll by accident
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Just to make sure I understand, if it’s in the middle
When it’s laid I would assume you wait to candle yours til after the couple hour mark? I just spoke with a couple breeders that don’t candle for yoke, just for veins and leave them how they lay. Interesting either way.
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On my last clutch I’ve just done that, I’ve left them how they laid and they are thriving and healthy, but others will say you need to candle and make sure embryo on top.
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Yes some people do like to rotate and believe it makes a difference, but I don’t believe there is much difference.
If it does make any difference, I think rotating late without knowing how long its been is a risk in it self.
Mine work out fine.
I do candle but just for veins.
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The reason for candling isn’t usually to tell where the embryo is. It’s usually done to check and see is the egg is alive because you have slugs and then you have infertile eggs that look normal on the outside but there isn’t any veins and it won’t hatch. Now sometimes the do candle the eggs to see where the embryo is, but that is usually when there is a egg that wasn’t laid on the pile has gotten roiled to some other part of the cage.
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I’m aware why we candle, I was just asking how you would do it? Im assuming you would have to recandle after the first initial candling for finding the embryo?
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You would if you did your first candling 5 min after they were laid. But because us humans are always late they end up happening both at the same time.
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