Do eggs develop at varying rates, too?

[Aminah Undone]

I've read quite a few times that people have different species' eggs hatch at varying times ..not all on the same day ..even some hatching with weeks in between. So I'm curious.. do the eggs also develop at varying rates?

I candled Sela's eggs a few days ago ..we're about 13.5 weeks in.. and I noticed that some are slightly larger than others, but all have veins in them ..to differing degrees.

 

[jannb]

I would think that they do but that's just my own personal opinion.

 

[Aminah Undone]

It does make sense that they would, since they hatch at staggered rates within the same clutch. Just thought I'd ask anyway.

 

[eriksorg]

On my last clutch of Oustalets, I had one hatch at 7 months and the rest go at 10 and 11 months....#42 in all!!!

 

[kinyonga]

There are likely several things coming into play here....
Placement in the incubator may mean that one egg is incubating at a slightly higher temperature than others in it....and the temperature affects the number of days that the eggs incubate before hatching in many species. Warmer temperatures (up to a point) can cause the eggs to hatch sooner than they might otherwise hatch...and cooler temperatures mean that they will hatch later.

Degree of separation in the incubation container...how far apart the eggs are placed in the container can affect the hate time. In nature, they are all laid in a hole touching each other so all of them hatch at the same time. Its said that the hatching of the first one gives of a signal to the rest to hatch. And in the wild its important that they all hatch at once so they can all work to dig out of the hole. Some may be weaker than the others when they hatch.
If the eggs are separated in the container, then when the first one hatches, its too far away from the others to give off the signal and the others will usually hatch in their own time. However, if the hatched baby walks across other eggs right after its out of its egg, they will often be the next to hatch.

I'm sure that there are other things that ma/can affect the hatch date too...maybe rainfall for instance.

 

[Aminah Undone]

Thank you!

I'm so excited for these babies to hatch, but I still have quite a long wait.

 

[sarah777]

I've got some that incubated in the same contianer with 3 hatching out 3 weeks ago 1 finally sweating today and four more that look like they aren't ready at all. Very strange my last clutches have all hatched around the same time even if they were in different containers although, I do have one lone egg from a clutch that is now 2 1/2 months old that looks fine but no where near ready to hatch.

 

[pssh]

Plus there is a diapause that many species have to break. Keeping the eggs at the cooler end of the spectrum for a few months and slowly warming it up over the period of several weeks usually breaks the diapause so they all begin developing at the same time. When you leave the eggs in your closet and dont control the temp, they are more likely to hatch at different times because each egg decides when it's warm enough to start developing. At least with panthers anyways.