Reptile & Amphibian Forums

just wondering if anyone has any experience on chameleon inbreeding the pluses and negatives on the whole subject i havent seen many posts on these forums about it, i know its a kind of taboo but im curious as to why some breeders like to do this.
-----
4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther
______

[removed advertising from signature file]

Edited on August 7, 2004 at 22:57:51 by phwyvern.

OK, quick and dirty:

Some breeders have no clue about the effects of inbreeding or how to CAREFULLY select for a genetic trait they want such as a color. Think about inbreeding effects such as hip displasia in dogs. The intent behind inbreeding (mating siblings or parents to siblings or back to their own offspring) is usually to increase the chances of a desired trait showing up in future offspring. Or to intensify the magnitude of a trait (bluer and bluer or bigger and bigger). There are many problems with it. There is usually a trait or mutation you don't want being carried along with it such as sensitivity to a disease, less than perfect organs, shorter life, etc. The more you "concentrate" the chances of the good trait showing up the more you concentrate the chances of the bad. You might have a really smart retriever but it will be so crippled with arthritis at age 2 it can't work. If you don't understand the genetics of the creature you are working with or you start off with a small poppulation at the beginning, you won't know what traits are even genetically linked or how many times you can pair close relatives before the offspring start showing genetic damage. Also, creatures that are very inbred tend to be poor producers. The number of surviving offspring tends to go down over time. This is seen a lot with endangered species. The population spirals down further and further in what is often called inbreeding depression. If the number of healthy members of a population gets small enough the species just can't keep itself going. Eventually it is very hard to find ANY members of the population that are not related (such as the gene pool of veiled chams in the US) to breed "cleanly" and get back to a healthier set of traits. Cheetahs are almost all genetically identical both in the wild and in captivity. They are very specialized (not because of human meddling) and might be considered at the far end of their particular hereditary tree branch. The worry is that if some infectious disease hits any local population of cheetahs it could wipe them all out.

Was that more than you ever wanted to know?

thats great and very informative, thanks allot

-----
4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther

______

[removed advertising from signature file]

Edited on August 7, 2004 at 23:00:12 by phwyvern.