Re: cross breeding of brother & sisters?

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Posted by Richard Fife on March 26, 2001 at 09:42:12:

In Reply to: cross breeding of brother & sisters? posted by graham(UK) on March 25, 2001 at 12:25:15:

Unfortunately there is always a chance of perpetuating a problem. Just as the inbreeding produces an albino, it can also cause other problems. What kind of problems depends on what kind of problems the parents have. Inbreeding can also perpetuate desirable traits. Extra strong and hardy tortoises have a good chance of producing strong and hardy offspring.

One way to �fix� the problem is to outbreed. This can be done by breeding an albino male with two completely unrelated females. 50% of their offspring would carry the recessive gene for an albino (heterozygous). You then breed the offspring from both unrelated normal females. If you were lucky enough to have paired up offspring that were both heterozygous (no way too know until you see the offspring) then 25% of their offspring would be albinos and have a much-reduced chance of perpetuating other problems.

The problem with all this is that it will take quite a few years to come up with out-bred albinos. This out-breeding is part of a long-term plan. I have bred leopard geckos to 15 generations with out any problems. I am hopeful that I can breed spurred tortoises to 3 generations without a lot of problems. So far these albino tortoises seem extremely vigorous and hardy. Only time will tell what their offspring will be like. I expect they will also be vigorous and hardy!

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Correction Richard Fife 03/26/01 (1)
- That's IF this albinism is a true Mendelian trait. n/p EJ 03/26/01 (0)

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: Unfortunately there is always a chance of perpetuating a problem. Just as the inbreeding produces an albino, it can also cause other problems. What kind of problems depends on what kind of problems the parents have. Inbreeding can also perpetuate desirable traits. Extra strong and hardy tortoises have a good chance of producing strong and hardy offspring. : One way to �fix� the problem is to outbreed. This can be done by breeding an albino male with two completely unrelated females. 50% of their offspring would carry the recessive gene for an albino (heterozygous). You then breed the offspring from both unrelated normal females. If you were lucky enough to have paired up offspring that were both heterozygous (no way too know until you see the offspring) then 25% of their offspring would be albinos and have a much-reduced chance of perpetuating other problems. : The problem with all this is that it will take quite a few years to come up with out-bred albinos. This out-breeding is part of a long-term plan. I have bred leopard geckos to 15 generations with out any problems. I am hopeful that I can breed spurred tortoises to 3 generations without a lot of problems. So far these albino tortoises seem extremely vigorous and hardy. Only time will tell what their offspring will be like. I expect they will also be vigorous and hardy!

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