Egg mass data results!

[muddoc]

Some of you may remember that I said I was going to do some studying to find out how much water moves in and out of an egg during incubation. Well the results are in. This data is just a portion of what I would like to do, to have a better understanding of what goes on during incubation. Hopefully this may help with incubating potentially problematic clutches (Caramels in particular). Alot of theories are around as to how to correctly incubate Caramel eggs to have fewer problems with kinking (assuming that the kinking is a result of incubation).

I had a clutch from Caramel to Het Caramel that resulted in 4 eggs, 1 boob egg and 1 slug. After a couple weeks, we were down to 2 good eggs left. Fortunately I had picked, from day 1, one of the eggs that didn't go bad during incubation. I weighed the egg when it was laid, and every week there after until it hatched, in an effort to measure water movement. The eggs were incubated, on accident, in a box with standard water content(i.e. not drier medium as one would normally use with a Caramel clutch), and the medium was 2:1 Vermiculite to Perlite. Here are the results.

Lay Date 6-1-08 weighing 90.4 grams
Week 1 - 92.3 grams - gained 1.9 mLs of water or 2.1% gain by weight
Week 2 - 94.0 grams - gained 1.7 mLs of water or 1.8% gain by weight
Week 3 - 94.5 grams - gained .5 mLs of water or .5% gain by weight
Week 4 - 94.2 grams - lost .3 mLs of water or .3% loss by weight
Week 5 - 93.3 grams - lost .9 mLs of water or 1% loss by weight
Week 6 - missed weigh-in
Week 7 - 80.2 grams - lost 13.1 mLs of water or 14% loss by weight. (This just amazed me how much water was given off at the end of incubation)
Three days after the last weigh-in, they hatched.
The snake weighed 60.9 grams or 76% of the total egg weight.
The egg shell weighed 2.5 grams or 3% of the total egg weight.
The fluid left in the egg weighed 14.4 grams or 18% of the total egg weight.
That left 2.4 grams of unaccounted weight or 3% of the total egg weight. I guess this could have been some fluid carried out by the snake, or maybe even a piece of umbilicus that the snake dropped in the incubation box.

Unfortunately, these 2 eggs hatched, and 2 male Het. Caramels crawled out. So, I didn't get any results as to how the incubation may have affected the spine of a Caramel Albino. The Normals are perfect little babies, but I have never heard of any kinking in Het Caramels. I guess I will repeat some studying next year. Sometimes these things take awhile.

Enjoy the information, as I was really interested to see the drastic movement of water near the end of incubation.

[Petboy15]

Thanks for sharing Tim. Very interesting. I wonder where all that weight goes at the end?

[Monty]

wow thats crazy. im not much one for statistics but thats crazy the amount of water gain and loss

[muddoc]

Thanks for sharing Tim. Very interesting. I wonder where all that weight goes at the end?

This is the period of time that the egg "deflates". I would guess that this occurs to soften the egg some to aid the animal in piping out. Concurrent with thid water loss is also when you see the temp in the egg box start to rise slightly and the moisture start to really accumulate in the box.

[Ladydragon]

very interesting, now I understand the dimpling in the eggs before hatching. looking forward to next years study and hopefully you hatch out a caramel baby as well. thanx Tim.

[muddoc]

very interesting, now I understand the dimpling in the eggs before hatching. looking forward to next years study and hopefully you hatch out a caramel baby as well. thanx Tim.

Don't worry Doris, we missed on Caramels in this clutch, but I have a clutch in the bator from a Poss Het girl (proved her out) that has 3 Caramels in it. I almost wish I would have weighed some eggs from this clutch as well. Oh well, I'll be happy with some baby Caramels.

[littleindiangirl]

Interesting stuff! You are just a big well of knowledge Tim, I was actually searching for some more posts of yours when I ran onto this. Major props for the schooling!

[kc261]

This is very interesting! Thanks for posting it.

I knew eggs could "breathe" and with the deflation when it gets close to hatching time, it makes sense that they lose some weight. I would never have guessed it was so much though!

[broadude]

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this research and sharing your findings with us!