>>I would not suggest interbreeding different species of turtles. Many times the hatchlings will have problems. Why create turtles with deformaties? Also many times the eggs wont even hatch. Last but not least, theres no market for them. If you want to breed, stick to the same species.



Ditto what Chris said. Don't do it, there's no need for it & no market for it.

As a similar example: we have a lovebird that we caught in our backyard. Once we did catch her I began researching all the info I could find on them & found that there are 9 separate species of lovebird from the African continent & that in the wild they do not interbreed. Quality breeders do not interbreed them in captivity.. they frown on diluting the blood lines, they frown on the anyone attempting to interbreed because that would lose the 9 distinct species.. plus they say that hybrids are often mules anyway.

Ok so I took all that into consideration and have found that our lovebird IS a hybrid. She's the hybrid of a peachfaced & a masked.

Now why is it we found her in our backyard & in six weeks of searching we could not find an owner?

My theory is because she was a breeder's mistake so that person set her free on purpose to get rid of her. I checked the pet stores that sell them.. none of them carry lovebirds that look like her, they carry 2-3 of the 9 species you'd find in the lovebird pet books.

Breeder mistakes in the bird world aren't that different from the turtle world. I wouldn't hybridize anything because I think it'd just lead to a lot of headaches down the road.

We kept the bird because she's adorable but we'd never even think of getting a male for her.. in fact someone offered us a male & we turned the offer down.
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PHRatz

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