Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am pretty sure this has been asked about but it has been bothering me lately. so i have a couple of snakes that i look forward to raise them to breeders. but some of them are related pair so i'm not sure whenever i should breed them or not. for example i have a pair of bullsnakes that are related from what i have been told, and i am thinking if i should get another pair and match the one i have? i know that inbreeding is how you get colors and patterns (morphs) to begin with. what are your thoughts? help me out i love learning! lol.

Generally inbreeding should be avoided if at all possible.

Every individual animal is born with a diverse genome. Most contain some mistakes and weak points, as well as unique sequences that fight viruses and maintain all other bodily functions. By breeding closely related animals you loose some genetic diversity and you increase the risk of amplifying any weaknesses, mistakes, or mutations.

Problems don't usually appear from the first generation (although they can). But if done for several generations without any outbreeding, the line will eventually fail completely.

When you have unique traits, sometimes you need to inbreed to reproduce them, but any good breeder should also outbreed the trait to get hets and ensure that his bloodline stays vigorous and healthy.

If you can, I would recommend getting another pair and switching them. That would give you two unrelated bloodline when you go to sell them as well. Or trade one of your current snakes for an unrelated one of the same sp.

If you do breed the siblings its not the end of the world, but I would be especially careful not to sell the offspring as "pairs" to someone else who is going to do the same thing. Thats how weird deformities start.

i agree. i am still looking around and try to find some nice snakes to switch around and pair up with. i only have 4 snakes that need different mate of same sp. thanks

Admit it. Secretly you want someone to tell you to BUY MORE SNAKES!!
There, I said it.. tell your wife I said so.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

lol good one! and i do want more...33 snakes is not enough for me. really i just wanted to know about inbreeding. i'm just worried about whenever i should breed them or just get other snakes to pair them up.

I've been browsing the ACR - and it seems that there are many corn snakes that are inbred for three generations out there.

A biologist may correct me, but I *believe* it only takes one generation of new blood to revitalize a line.

For example - when they released make Texas cougars in Florida where there was a genetic bottleneck - they immediately saw signifigant improvements.
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

released make Texas cougars

MALE Texas cougars ...
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Although it worsens in further generations, inbreeding can have effects at any point. Just luck of the draw what kind of genes you start out with.

There are many 3rd generation inbred corns out there, and are there are quite a few too many babies with kinked tails, bug eyes, or animals with reduced fertility. Corn snake breeding (like balls) is one big game of genetics. You don't see huge numbers of deformed balls yet, but just give it another few years and they will start popping up all over the place. Also the registry is frequently used by breeders working with cutting edge, new traits, a situation where some inbreeding is inevitable.

And no you cant just erase the damage with one or two outbreedings. Significant inbreeding leaves a less variable, more homogenized genome, a scar on that animals family tree that will persist for generations. Florida panthers are still one of the most genetically homogeneous and inbred species in the world despite several intoductions of new blood.

but if you take a snake with a large number of homozygous gene pairs due to loss of diversity, and pair it with a snake from a different line, the only homozygous gene pairs in the F1 offspring would be pairs where the snake from the other line also carried the gene, correct?
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

It is not that simple.