interbreeding

[Rebecca]

Is it insest to breed and grandparent and a grandchild. I'm talking geckos of course. Also is it wrong to breed the parent and child?? I know the bloodline will not be as strong and that, but they would be ok right?? Basicly for those I have confused do the same rules apply to geckos (when it comes to interfamily breeding) as it does to humans??

[reverendsterlin]

inline breeding is what has set most morphs

[jakejeff]

Breeding grandparent to grandchild is insest by word but like reverendsterlin said thats how most morphs have evolved.

[Clownfishie]

Inbreeding hasn't proven to be harmful with leos, to the best of my knowledge. As the guys said, that is how basically all of the current morphs were developed. As a precaution though, it can never hurt to introduce some outside blood every couple of generations, rather than just constantly breeding siblings/parents etc together...

[BigDan]

Yes there was some inbreeding in morphs at the start to fix the traits but many breeders have done extensive outcrossing in order to strengthen their bloodlines.

I personally do not like to breed closely related animals together.

If I bought females from one breeder I would buy males from another.

Some breeders in the U.S. have expereinced problems with some of their animals in terms of poor fertility and deformities directly derived from many years of inbreeding. They just do not openly talk about it.

You should track down a mate from another unrelated source of the same morph if possible, you will be rewarded for it in the end with healthier hatchlings and more of them.

I have worked extensivley with the leo morphs and have multiple unrelated breeding groups of almost every morph out there. Just for example my Rainwater albino breeding groups were outcrossed extensively and on average my females each produced 14 eggs last season. I had one that laid 11 clutches (22 eggs) and I had a hatch rate in the high 90's. For many of the females it was their first season as well.

A few years ago the Rainwater albinos were said to be poor producers with fertilty problems. Due to outcrossing they have become alot stronger line now.

I personally feel that inbreeding should be avoided if possible. Just look at the state that the Dumerils boas are in here in Canada. This is due to inbreeding over multiple generations.

It does not matter if you are breeding dogs, cats, snakes, fish genetics is genetics and inbreeding causes problems.

Geckos are no different.

Just my 2 cents.

Dan.

[Rebecca]

I'm not breeding the males and female from the same clutch. I have 2 het blizzard geckos one male one female from 2 different places. If I don't produce a blizzard with them I wanted to breed the babies to the father to get a blizzard. I know I can buy one but I wanna make one, well so to speak. I have 3 female all from different clutchs but only one is het bliz. So it might not even happen I may find another het bliz or I may luck out and get a bliz first try.

[Alicewave]

I'm not entirely knowledgeable on the subject but I believe one or two generations of parent to child breeding in Leos is ok. It's when you start doing it in like 10 or 12 generations that it's a problem. If you want to become a professional breeder I wouldn't do it at all. But if it's just to keep as a pet I see no harm in it.

[Rebecca]

I don't plan on doing it more then once maybe twice depends. I do want to start breeding to sell but it'll be a while before I get to that!!

[Dom]

I personally think that its shamefull to inbreed when the resources are out there.. I mean the available blood lines are out there.

If there was no other choice, then yes, this would be the way BUT this is not the case.... You would be producing weaker animals for absolutly no reasons.

[Rebecca]

I don't think it is for no reason. I want to produce a blizzard gecko but do not have the 200 or more to spend on one lizard. I am a student working to suport herself and her hobbie. Where I live there is no breeders within 5 or 6hrs drive. And I may not even have to do that. It'll be about a year or so, and I might luck out to begin with. Also as the others have stated how do you think the different morphs came to be?? The resources may be there in that part of the world but at this end there is not much, and shipping is a killer. That is the whole reason I want to in the next year or 2 start a business breeding geckos for people who can't afford the sometimes 100.00 shipping from where ever to get the neat geckos (in my opinion)