Bad Match Breeding

[Mommy2many]

Sorry to hear about the babies, Steve.

[guidofatherof5]

Yesterday, I had 3 T.marcianus - Checkered Garter born on the Ranch. Under normal circumstances this would be cause for celebration but in this case it isn't.
2 albinos and 1 het.
1 albino and the het. both have bug eyes. Not the severe cases but still not normal. They were born to my normal het. female(this her first litter).
All 3 seem to be behaving normally. Time will tell if they fade out like all the other T.marcianus scrubs born here.
On a scale of 1 - 10,. 10 being the best I would say I've been at a 1 with the last 3 birthings.
I will no longer breed T.marcianus on the Ranch. It's best to not put these little through this.

[ConcinusMan]

Sounds like you got bad genetics from bad breeders. A friend of mine keeps having terrible luck with ones she gets from shows too. But one i got for her from Julio did great and is huge now. In fact all snows radixes and albino checkereds I got from Julio are some darn fine animals. No inbreeding associated issues. No issues at all. I've had them from other people and they just failed to thrive, had shedding issues, wouldn't grow well, etc.

Don't give up on the species. Just don't breed the ones you have. I suggest you get them from reputable breeders who outcross and get some WC too and cross those into the lines. The problems won't be there. Albino red sided have the same problems. That's why I'm thrilled to get some of yours.

[guidofatherof5]

Just giving up for now.

[ConcinusMan]

Well it's not like there's a shortage or anything.

[guidofatherof5]

If these babies start to get balloon eyes I will put them down. I hate having to do it but I think it's best all the way around.

[chris-uk]

I have a bug-eyed marcianus watching me at the moment. It's one of the two rescues that came to me via Greg (and it's the same one that bit me a couple of months back). I don't know whether the bug-eyes has anything to do with the bad attitude, or if the mental attitude was conditioned into them by the previous owner. If the bug-eyes are a marker for mental problems I wouldn't want to keep babies that would turn out like these two.

[ConcinusMan]

Neurological problems are one of the things that can happen with inbreeding depression, along with bug eyes, poor fertility, and other congenital defects/reproductive problems. It is plausible this could affect disposition and intelligence.