Inbreeding

[reptilez]

What the side effects of inbreeding in Ball Pythons? The reason Im asking is because, i didnt know thatomething could go wrong. My friend and I both bought one(I got a female, he got a male) from PCPC at the 2002 August show last year.
Thanks for the help,
-Reptilez

[Katt]

Well so far I don't know of any inbreeding problems with ball pythons, but I have heard of problems with leopard geckos and especially with boas, with albino boas with bad eyes, being a biggie. As well as in burms with albinos, not always, attaining a large size, and having more RI problems.

[Invictus]

My understanding is, it's only after long lineages of inbreeding that you start to introduce genetic defects. That's how pattern morphs come about - by selectively inbreeding offspring to try to bring out colors, patterns, etc. Heck, 90% of the Corn morphs you see out there are human-made. ALL albino boas came from one single specimen, and then the offspring were inbred to produce long lineages of them. Same with albino burms. Point is, chances are even your BP has some inbreeding in its background.

I can't say I know anything specific about BP inbreeding or the defects it can produce. I'll leave that to those here who have breeding knowledge of that species, but, I think it's ok for a few generations. Getting unrelated pairs is still best though.

[Jeff_Favelle]

What the side effects of inbreeding in Ball Pythons?


Increased homozygosity. Not a side effect. Just a direct result. And it doesn't have to be bad. Not at all.

[Katt]

Increased homozygosity. Not a side effect. Just a direct result. And it doesn't have to be bad. Not at all.

Depends on what the alleles are carrying.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Yep.

[reptilez]

what do u mean by Increased homozygosity?

[Jeff_Favelle]

The increased chance of like allels being paired up. 2 allels control every gene. Its how genetics works (or at least how it works in theory to help us explain things). So if you breed animals with LIKE genes (siblings), then the likliehood of like alleles being paired up increases. That's all. Nothing more.

[sapphire_moon]

?????????? english??????? lol

[BoidKeeper]

What he is saying is that the chances of unwanted traits turning up are increased when you pair two snakes that share the same genes. If the blood line you are working with is carying some kind of defective gene you'll see it sooner if you keep pairing snakes that share those genes then ones who don't.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Tim_Cranwill]

Or there are the "Wanted" traits that may pop up as well... :)

[BoidKeeper]

Exactly. Like the hypo gene in corns giving you two surprise ghost corns in your last clutch! hee hee
Cheers,
Trevor

[Tim_Cranwill]

Yeah, that must have been a crazy surprise! :) Have you figure out how that happened yet?

Sorry to get off topic... :D

[BoidKeeper]

sent ya a PM,
Trevor

[Jeff_Favelle]

I never said "unwanted" traits. I never said "recessive" traits either. It doesn't matter. They all get paired up with the same percentages.

[Linds]

As Jeff mentioned, its sort of like concentrating whatever traits are in their genes with each breeding. Actually making the offspring more pure. You may get some great traits, but you may also get some negative ones as well. You have to be extremely selective and cautious when inbreeding. Reptiles are said to be quite resistant to the negative issues of careless inbreeding, however there haven't been any real studies done to back things up. IMHO if you can outcross, then go for it.

[sapphire_moon]

I see......kind of.....lol