Hello everyone.... Seems I have nothing to do other than think about my torts and their offspring..... Or potential offspring. Bubble laid an egg 69 days ago and full of hope and ever the optimist I placed it in my newly arrived and tested incubator. So far nothing has happened and I haven't checked to see if it is fertile for two reasons. Firstly I have no idea what I would be looking for.... And secondly I am..... To be honest.... Scared of touching it!!!! My question -s - is how long do I leave it before I can presume it isn't fertile.... And how do I dispose of it.... The last may seem a daft question.... Throw it in the bin comes to mind.... But what if there is a tiny tort in there. It is a hermann b egg.... And the female has lived with a male all summer. X x x hugs x x

stellanne, i know what you mean by being worried about touching the egg. i worried my self sick the first couple of time i tried to candle.when you lift it up to the light , is it dark or light? try shinning a torch under it and see what you can see.Im not sure how long you should keep the egg for but i would leave it a while longer. im sure someone will be along shortly to tell you.......tiggy

You make me smile Tiggy... I read all your trials with incubation and all the heartache you had..... And the eventual joy of the pitter patter of multiple tiny feet. I will speak to myself tomorrow and look to see what the egg is doing.x x x hugs x x

I have the same dilemma Stellanne!!

I have one solitary egg in the incubator as it failed to hatch with my last clutch of 4. That was 2 weeks ago, so mine is about 70 days, but I'm scared to just throw it away and haven't got the guts to crack it open.. I did try candling it and it just looks orange with a darker orannge blob at the bottom, however when I candled them all they seemed to look like that!

WHAT DO WE DO?????

xx

Jeanette that is no help.... LOL x x

Can you multi-task? If so, take a photo of the egg with a torch shining up through the bottom and another of it shining through the back, maybe one of us will be able to tell?

thanks Dawn I may give that a try whilst maybe doing the ironing and hoovering at the same time?? ha ha

I might get hubby to lend a hand on this one... he he xx

Stellanne- no help, sorry, i've just sort of stolen your post... ha ha x

that was aimed at both of you xxxx

Not stolen.... I feel I am not an isolated case which is comforting. Deep breaths and with torch in hand..... And fragile egg in the other hand and camera in ....... Umm... This is taking multi tasking to a different level .... X x x hugs x x

stellanne, kirkie put some great pics on this site. you can see each stage of development in the eggs.i can tell at 24 days if mine are fertile( kirkie can tell at 14 days but im not that good). Have a look at the pics then you will know for next time!!!!!!!!!!tiggy