would you breed siblings together or not?

[bmreptile]

I have been offered a pair or trio of het albino checkered garters at an unbeatable price.... thing is they are related nd i dont know if ethically i would feel good about breeding siblings together.
what are your thoughts?

[Didymus20X6]

I'm no expert, but it would seem to me that inbreeding can cause genetic problems in the future. It might be okay for one generation, but I wouldn't breed those offspring together.

[adamanteus]

Breeding between siblings or between parent and offspring is pretty much standard practice in the hobby. Obviousy, if you can get an unrelated pair it's better, or introduce 'fresh blood' further down the line when the chance arises.

[bmreptile]

your in the uk mate, don suppose you have any garters or waters for sale?

[adamanteus]

You're in the UK, mate. Don't suppose you have any garters or waters for sale?

Sure do! Follow the link in my signature, and go to 'For sale/Exchange'.:)

[bmreptile]

i see you have some florida blue garters? or just common garters? ether way poss het melanistic. some reason i think these will be out my price range! :(

[adamanteus]

No, the Florida Blues have already gone. Sorry.

[MasSalvaje]

I have been offered a pair or trio of het albino checkered garters at an unbeatable price.... thing is they are related nd i dont know if ethically i would feel good about breeding siblings together.
what are your thoughts?

I hear this question a lot and I still don't have a very straight answer for it. I do not believe there is anything morally or ethically wrong in breeding siblings unless you know of a life threatening trait that is being carried that will certainly manifest itself by inbreeding. Inbreeding for the most part will not cause any problems that are not already in the genetic makeup of an individual, however just as you increase the chances of producing an amelenistic animal by breeding 2 sibling hets, you will also increase the chances of producing a snake with a serious defect if the 2 siblings breed were carriers of that specific genetic defect.

I see the problem in that we too often breed animals to make better looking specimens as opposed to breeding animals to be healthier overall individuals.

If you are completely opposed to breeding siblings, you may want to avoid color morphs all together because there are very few if any morphs in the industry that have not come as a result of inbreeding.

-Thomas

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

well, all decendants of a color morph are somehow related!!! Because typically they are descendants of one single snake. They all are inbred to SOME extent!!!

[lampy]

Yeah snakes do seem to be, love the one your with kinda critters!

[ssssnakeluvr]

they can be bred together...lots of breeders do it without any bad consequences. generally an odd morph is found, babies are bred to each other or back to the mom. this produces more of the morph, then once more are created, they are usually outcrossed with other snakes and produce offspring that carry the gene. these are then bred together to produce more of that morph, but with different parents to increase the genetic diversity

[KITKAT]

When discussing inbreeding, many people focus on defects, and forget there are two other bothersome problems with this practice:

1. Inbreeding depression - the tendency of inbred animals to have progressive depression of their reproductive capabilities.

2. The tendency of inbreeding to weaken immune systems.

That being said, animals that produce litters, rather than single offspring, can withstand inbreeding if one is willing to have losses. The species deals with this by natural culling - the death or sterility of those individuals in the litter that have inherited one of the various problems caused by inbreeding.

Although it is standard practice in the herp hobby to breed relatives, and to breed animals that are possibly related due to lack of information regarding the CB parents, grandparents, and greats... I am often of the opinion that inbreeding, whether known/intentional, or unknown, can be the cause of some of our losses.

Based on this, my advice would be breed siblings, then when keeping offspring, breed those offspring to unrelated individuals.

Just my $.02