Candling eggs

[The caretaker]

Advice please
How old do eggs have to be before you can tell if they are fertile by holding a light to them. Mine are now a couple of weeks old and just look like a cream color. I thought if fertile they might be veiny by now ?. My eggs are horsefield
Thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

It usually takes a couple weeks before you can see the blood vessels inside the egg.

 

[The caretaker]

Thanks for your advice Yvonne

 

[Wanda]

Here are,some photos I took of one horsfield egg which might help,you.
2 days


4 days


6 days


11 days



13 days you can easily see the heart beating now



16 days




20 days


24 days the eye is visible and you can see limbs moving



66 days


2 years !

 

[The caretaker]

Hello Wanda
Thanks for taking the time for posting the photos for me. By checking my eggs and comparing them to your photos they don't look very promersing at two weeks but I will wait to see what happens. I have a egg from another clutch it is aproxmitley 40 days old i only put a light to it very recently the egg just looks a dark mass so I am more hopefull with this one ( what do you think ? ) if it is a successful egg this would be my first out of 3 clutches. I have had no baby tortoise yet so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks again.
Derek

 

[Wanda]

That is just what happened to my egg. Obviously incubation temperatures will make a difference - this one was incubated at 29-30c. Also I have since had an egg that was overlooked and consequently was left in the ground for at least two weeks and given a really bad shaking when it was discovered! It had started chalking over already but that was it. Despite everything being done wrong it did go on to hatch last weekend! If I recall correctly, about 40 days you will see a black mass filling a lot of the egg. There might be a clear patch at the top but you can't really see anything else. It does sound hopeful! Good luck, and let us know what happens!

 

[The caretaker]

Thanks for your advice.
I am going to try to post some photos of my eggs the one you can't see anything is over 40 days the other 3 are around 20 days old.the line you can see on the second egg is on the shell.what do you think. Thanks. Derek

 

[Wanda]

The 40 day old one looks on target so keep an eye on that one for pipping in a couple of weeks. The first picture doesn't look fertile to me. The second one looks as if it started to chalk over but not fully. And I am not sure about the third one. I would leave them for a bit longer and check them in a couple of weeks time and use these photos for reference.

 

[The caretaker]

Thanks for the reply Wanda
Your advice and opinions will help a lot as all of this is new to me. I have read up a lot on horsefield tortoise and have bought books on keeping and breeding tortoise.
I have my incubator set at 31.5 and humidity around 70 I have these settings on advice I have received.
I will keep you posted on the eggs.
Thanks.
Derek