critique my eggs, please (Now incl. pipping and popping)

[ZEROPILOT]

I have 14 Redfoot eggs dropped in Late September,October and as late as November 10th.
By the same female, I presume.
Some could be 120 days old.
Ten of them glow clear when I "candle" them with a pinpoint LED light.
There is also a dark, YOLK? Layer at the bottom. These eggs look like oil and water that has separated. Light on top. Dark on the bottom. A few also have a visible air bubble at the center of the top.
It is my thought that these may be duds.
However, three eggs are dark inside. There is an irregular shape. Almost No light will pass through the shell. I'm thinking that these may be viable?
Also, one other egg has a solid mass near the top of the egg. It remains the same shape no matter where I shine the light. Shaped like a fat disc....tortoise shaped.
I'm most thrilled about this one!
Can anyone shine more insight?
I'm an egg novice.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Clear eggs with dark bottoms look just like this.
They kind of glow

 

[ZEROPILOT]

3 mostly dark eggs pretty much look like this.
Almost No Light Gets through.
Something is going on inside?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Tortoise shaped shadow egg.
An early development?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thanks. Because of phone data I won't be able to read the replies untill Thursday morning.

 

[allegraf]

I never candle them, I'm paranoid it may affect the development. You can tell if an egg is viable if it is all white and like tortoises, feels heavier than it looks. If you can see a difference in color it may be a dud. I am not sure what you mean by an "air bubble" on top. I'm not sure if you saw the article Cdmay wrote on eggs: http://www.tortoiselibrary.com/e-breeding-2/incubation/

I hope this helps. Fingers crossed for hatchlings soon!

 

[Anyfoot]

There is an air pocket in bird eggs, I'm guessing its the same for tortoises. When you peel a hard boiled hen egg the flat part at the thick end is where the air pocket was.
I risked it with some eggs a while back that looked like the air pocket was really big, I broke 8(I think) eggs open that looked like this, they were duds. Looked like a big air pocket at one and at the other end dried up yolk, both ends were separated with dried membrane.(the thin skin you get on a boiled egg I presume)
So does an infertile egg shrivel and dry up creating a bigger chamber on the air side of the membrane as it shrivels (so it looks like a big air pocket).
I'm not saying open them up ED.

 

[Anyfoot]

There is an air pocket in bird eggs, I'm guessing its the same for tortoises. When you peel a hard boiled hen egg the flat part at the thick end is where the air pocket was.
I risked it with some eggs a while back that looked like the air pocket was really big, I broke 8(I think) eggs open that looked like this, they were duds. Looked like a big air pocket at one and at the other end dried up yolk, both ends were separated with dried membrane.(the thin skin you get on a boiled egg I presume)
So does an infertile egg shrivel and dry up creating a bigger chamber on the air side of the membrane as it shrivels (so it looks like a big air pocket).
I'm not saying open them up ED.

Like this one. Got to be a dud.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

This is what the ten eggs basically look like.
I don't want to move them just yet.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The light colored liquid moves visibly when you touch the egg. It is very liquid.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Like this one. Got to be a dud.
View attachment 197399

These eggs are MUCH smaller. Maybe 70% that size?

 

[MPRC]

I'm here to follow. I have a female digging like crazy.

 

[Anyfoot]

These eggs are MUCH smaller. Maybe 70% that size?

I've never had a Biiiiig egg hatch yet.
In the very little experience all the eggs I hatched looked white as chalk. When candled they just looked like a solid mass of dark shades. I thought the last clutch were all duds but they hatched.
The ones that seem obvious duds to me are the ones that don't chalk and the ones with a definate line showing some of the egg empty. All the eggs I've had that look dark without candling have been duds too, I assume this is the embryo and albuem rotting.
Not sure about the one you've drawn Ed, if it looks like light is passing through the egg then there can't be a tortoise in there at this stage( I'm thinking).
Your talking 90 days or so into incubation aren't you Ed ?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

90 days at minimum. over 120-130 days is possible.
The ones with light passing through are not chalked. Nothing but liquid visible.
There are 10 of them in total.
Only four that light wont fully penetrate. Three of those are very dark.

 

[Anyfoot]

90 days at minimum. over 120-130 days is possible.
The ones with light passing through are not chalked. Nothing but liquid visible.
There are 10 of them in total.
Only four that light wont fully penetrate. Three of those are very dark.

Your drawing to me suggest the yolk has sunk to the bottom of the egg. It will be interesting to see what is inside them. I'd just leave them for now though.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

In the past, my dud eggs began to crack about a week before they actually exploded.
So the dark eggs are either in development or they have begun to rot?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Also, my Vermaculite has dried out, but the interior humidity is still over 80% because I pour water into the corners every few days.
The substrate in contact with the eggshells are dry. Is that O.K.?
Humidity and temperature are still rock stable.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Update.
As of today, the big female is laying again....

 

[cmacusa3]

Update.
As of today, the big female is laying again....

Awesome!!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yep. Four more eggs. Tiny again.
See how small they are in a chicken egg container?
I'm now about certain that the same 7 year old female deposited all 18 eggs in clutches of 3 to 5 eggs. Weeks apart.
That would explain why 4 of them are so dark and different. They might be the oldest.
The new 4 are in the incubator....