Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, recent post had me thinking about this:

has anyone done any detailed work on the Gentics of Dragons and the breeding of them??

like do some colors relate to size? to life span? to high rates of cancer? higer or lower clutch sizes?

and I'm sure you could add a few other ?? to that list.

anyone done any of this?
anyone working on it?

any data published?

just wondering about it....
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I would also be interested in these studies. I'm a pre-veterinary biological sciences major and was thinking of doing a study of my own. Basically, I would hold back every dragon in a clutch (maybe not Pumpkins...people might be too upset =) and record their growth rates, color development, social behaviors etc. I also thought I would research the affect of natural sunlight vs. mercury vapor bulbs vs. an incandescent and fluorescent combo vs. incandescent lighting with D3 supplementation on growth rates and color development. If I have enough dragons I may test the idea that carrots add to orange/red color development. Each dragon would also be pictured every week. Anyone else interested in doing this sort of research should compile their data for these experiments to gain a more universal significance.

Peter

Cool Looking Dragon!

FWIW I was thinking of this idea, perhaps you might want to talk to your college about this:

collect data on as wide a varity of dragons as possible.
obtain for each dragon a blood or other sample to allow later dna testing as funding permits. also obtain length, weight, age and one or more photos, name and contact info of owner.

compile all basic data into a computer database , photos age etc...
DNA: attempt to coralate size and color with DNA and any parentage data found. try to see if any relationships exist between general health and other factors such as color and size.

goals:

help make beter selections for crossing.
help to prevent geneticly "Bad" breeding practice.
establish baseline data on healthy dragons.
establish baseline data on any known or identified geneticly linked ilnesses.
also aid in development of beter medical care of ill dragons.

you might start by asking each major breeder and folks on this board to collect samples when they take dragons to the local vet and send them to your school for cataloging.
offer to publish data on a web site for further study.
have your school host the web site if possible.
contact breaders and herp supply companies and herp clubs for support, funding and sponsership.

This could be a *VERY* long term project I KNOW!!!
but could help you get a good degree and help the hobby.
If I had the time to organise this I would do it

if you think this might be a worthy project I could provide some help with a database design and some software and web space
(I write database software for a living)
but my time is very tight for at least a year on a big project at work.

post back if you think this sounds interesting.
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