inbreeding *POLL*

im curious what the general sensus is on inbreeding. also i would imagine that there is a difference in opinion as to what constitutes inbreeding.

so heres a poll.

You forgot the poll

no. its there. one correction though...

it supposed to say "i wont buy albinos OR fancy morphs..."

I think that by the time you are seeing physical defects, it's gone WAY to far. Who knows what's going on in the inside of these little guys before we start seeing the physical traits of inbreeding.

I don't breed Geckos. But, If I did, I wouldn't Inbreed them. I think it's wrong no matter what the animal is. Although I bet my Blizzard or Albino are part of someones Inbreeding Project.

Steve X.

i couldnt exactly pick one... the closest i saw was

outcross siblings to nonrelated mates in order to preserve genetic diversity.

and

only when phisical defects occur do i feel the need to outcross.

i feel that inbreeding is okay to a degree however when you start hatching out defects... the animals need stop being bred, start over or something but i also think sibs should be outcrossed as well. and i am a firm believer that new gene pools are essential for stronger animals so when you have a new line of unrelated stock breed it into your current stock to strengthen it, actually i think thats the key.

Originally Posted by AquamanX

I don't breed Geckos. But, If I did, I wouldn't Inbreed them. I think it's wrong no matter what the animal is.

Steve,

I respectfully disagree. Not all "inbreeding" (outside of Appalachia) has deleterious effects. Virtually all US Bredl's Pythons are from two lines, Casey Lazik's and Doug Price's. Casey supposedly started with four animals and Doug started with exactly two (I have spoken with him directly about this). So basically all "Price line" Bredl's are descended from that one pair and are therefore related and highly inbred. There are thousands and thousands of Bredl's in the US, all descended from 6 founders, all highly inbred, and rarely are deformities seen. That is not to say that it doesn't happen, as with the eye deformities being seen in Boas, but to say that it is always wrong is just a bit of an overstatement.

How many people have started an insect colony with just a few founders? Are their roaches or whatever they are producing deformed? Probably not.

Line breeding for non-Mendelian traits is quite common in herpetoculture. I select my breeders for nicest color, temperament, size, etc, and breed them back to each other. Outcrossing would defeat that purpose. That isn't to say that adding new blood to a line, when appropriate is not beneficial. It may be at times for aesthetic and genetic reasons. But not necessarily.

I'm not defending inbreeding, just pointing out that it happens all the time in the animal world in insular populations and in captive breeding programs and most species do OK.

I buy many of my breeders young and from different sources. I go out of my way to make sure siblings never breed. On my offspring, I make sure I know which parents it came from and make sure those offspring aren't bred to any others from that line. The closest to inbreeding of my geckos is 1/2 cousins! If the lines are outcrossed at least every other generation and offspring with deformities are never bred, I don't think there is too much of an issue with inbreeding herps. But I have 2 brothers and i grew up with all of my cousins so the thought of inbreeding my own animals just grosses me out ...just a personal choice!

I only go as far as parents to children. I think its a good idea to bring in some new genes every year.

Im going to stop with that being said, before this turns into something like a "sand or Paper towel" thread.

I dont think I can pic any of those choices..... I do believe that inbreeding is ok to a point..... If you think about it, in isolated populations in the wild, there is a fair amount of inbreeding in many reptilian species..... There is such a thing called locality spacific recessive traits..... This is where a recessive gene becomes the dominant form in an isolated population..... For whatever reason the recessive gene works out better than the normal wild type..... As you all know, in order for a recessive gene to pop up, there needs to be some level of inbreeding.....

I think the problems some people have with inbreeding reptiles stems from their own personal morals and not the real science or nature behind it...... We need to remember that reptiles are not people and they do not thrive by our morals or religious beliefs......

On the same token, I believe that inbreeding can go too far and you will see problems if too many generations that are closely related......

There are way too many gray areas in this topic to actually go with one particular answer....