My last post on this subject too......

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Posted by jif on October 22, 2001 at 07:40:02:

In Reply to: MY LAST POST ON THIS SUBJECT posted by Ghi Reptiles on October 21, 2001 at 21:52:48:

As far as cost of the animal being irrelevent, I have to disagree. I managed a pet store for a while. 90% of the people who buy that $10 iguana are not going to spend the hundreds needed immediately or the thousands needed over several years to grow that lizard up to be a healthy adult. Unfortunately they ARE inexpensive, disposable pets to many purchasers.
The albinism issue also bothers me. Purposely breeding animals to strengthen an advantageous genetic trait is great! Albinism is not a beneficial trait. In the wild it presents all kinds of problems, not the least of which is making the animal more susceptible to predators. There are reasons why we don't see more albinos in the wild.
Also, where are the breeders that buy these iguanas going to find unrelated mates for them? Since Ed is the only one with a breeding pair what they will have to do is grow them up until they are breeding age, breed them to an unrelated animal, and them grow their offspring(possible hets) up until they can be bred back to the original animal. We're talking almost 10 years here to breed albino iguanas. That is, unless they really want to inbreed and mate brother to sister.............

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My 2 cents... JohnT 10/23/01 (0)

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: As far as cost of the animal being irrelevent, I have to disagree. I managed a pet store for a while. 90% of the people who buy that $10 iguana are not going to spend the hundreds needed immediately or the thousands needed over several years to grow that lizard up to be a healthy adult. Unfortunately they ARE inexpensive, disposable pets to many purchasers. : The albinism issue also bothers me. Purposely breeding animals to strengthen an advantageous genetic trait is great! Albinism is not a beneficial trait. In the wild it presents all kinds of problems, not the least of which is making the animal more susceptible to predators. There are reasons why we don't see more albinos in the wild. : Also, where are the breeders that buy these iguanas going to find unrelated mates for them? Since Ed is the only one with a breeding pair what they will have to do is grow them up until they are breeding age, breed them to an unrelated animal, and them grow their offspring(possible hets) up until they can be bred back to the original animal. We're talking almost 10 years here to breed albino iguanas. That is, unless they really want to inbreed and mate brother to sister.............

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