Which way should the eggs lay?

[ChristinaM]

When incubating eggs, which side should be up? The side with the developing embryo? ( the reddish circle of veins ) or the clear side?

I ask because, my one container of eggs rolled, and now they are not the way the were laid.

They are being incubated on a grate placed above saturated vermiculite... ( hence the easy rolling of the eggs, I accidently nudged the container with another container ).

Thanks.

[Newt]

always mark ur eggs with the tip of a marker when u find them in the egg laying chamber then move them to ur incubator
then u can tell which side should be up if they roll

as for how to set them now i dont know so hopefully someone else will have a better answer

[Reptile Kings]

I agree with Newt in the marking of the eggs so that you'll always know the right side up.
As for now, there's no way of knowing, but growing embryos are a lot stronger than most think, i've turned freshly laid eggs over many times by mistake and they all hatched perfectly. I believe Linda from Painted Desert Geckos even accidentally dropped one once, and the egg still hatched.

Best of luck,
-Sam

[Painted Desert]

I did drop an egg... yup, I sure did... cracked it too. That albino leo went on to hatch, called her Miracle. I think Betty has her, the resulting broken band is quite interesting. Clearly severed.

I think Sam and I and Hilde have all had conversations regarding rolled eggs. I for one stopped long ago being hyper sensitive when collecting eggs from the lay area.... heck, i've rolled those eggs enough to scramble em:D The egg does not form a "right side up" for between 24-48hrs.... so collection time is pretty safe. I do mark my eggs in the incubation box... but, lately, I've been a little negligent DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS and old age. So, little things do happen. For me, because of large numbers, I incubate my eggs in batches of 40 or more. Sometimes a hatchling will run in the incubation box for 12hrs or more before I find him. He may turn over an incubating egg, if he's fiesty. And, on one or two occasions, those eggs were not marked. So far, so good, no problem. Here's what I'm thinking. The chorionic villi (or is that a medical term??) that form the oxygen exchange on the egg underside, still need to "breathe". As long as the turned egg is not occluded from oxygen... it will still go good. Heck, in the wild, females often use the same lay area. So what would be to stop another gravid female from walking all over incubating eggs and turning a few? They've got to have a way to survive...

[DragnDrop]

Right on, Linda.
Not only is it likely that other females will dig up existing egg, but things like earthquakes are sure to shake up a few thousand of them (leos come from an area known for quakes, not necessarily strong ones, but enough to scare the heebie jeebies out of me if I were to live there).
You have about a day or so after laying to place the eggs before they orient themselves. After that, they 'might' die if rolled, though I've done it, even dropped a few over the years, and they went on to hatch (and of course, some didn't). It could depend on how badly it was jiggled, was the embryo detached from the yolk? Was there any internal damage to any of the parts? Rolling or dropping probably doesn't do much harm, it's the damage to all those fragile bits and pieces inside the egg that would do the egg in.

I wouldn't incubate the eggs sitting on a grate, free to roll. If you bury them partway or even completely cover them in the incubation substrate, they can't roll, so you have no worries there.
Snake eggs are often incubated on grates etc., but the eggs are also in clumps, making rolling near impossible. Individual eggs should be stabilized to keep them rooted to the spot.

[p8ntballer]

e just put em in the way they were laid and bury em half way but thats for corns un less thatts wat ur doin?