>>I have had a small collection of reptiles for sometime, including three bearded dragons 2 females and one male. Recently I have been thinking of breeding them and possibly acquiring another male. I was reading online about Back-crossing, line-breeding, and out-crossing. What are these breeding techniques? I am interested in how they work and benefit the breeding process.
What most of these terms involve is breeding animals to their relatives or "inbreeding". While these techniques are ok with some snakes and lizards (ie. leopard geckos, corn snakes) they are *NOT* ok for bearded dragons!!! Bearded dragons in the US have a *very* small gene pool due to the ban on exportation from Austrailia. If you breed a dragon to its sibling, you get all the good traits enhanced, but the bad traits (including some you may not be aware of) will be enhanced too. Many problems can arise such as mutations, deformities, and small weak animals. This is because when if you breed two related animals then their genetic make-up is more similar than two unrelated animals, if they both carry a recessive gene for a trait that isn't exposed, then their offspring are much more likely to display that trait, good or bad. With BDs it is ALWAYS best to only breed animals if you are *absolutely* positive they are unrelated.
>>In addition, beardy colorations (Red, Yellow) what type of traits are these? i.e. recessive, Co-dominant, etc.? I have a Red male, Red Female, and Yellow Female, so i am wondering about how these crosses will result...
From what I undestand, these traits are controlled by many genes and are not easily predicted. I have heard that the genes for reds and yellows are quite related though.
-Drew
-----
Owned by:
1.2 bearded dragons - Legolas, Rosy, Miss Scarlet
0.1 Indonesian blue tongue skink - Sarah
1.0 reverse oketee corn snake - Bernard
1.0 ball python - Patrick
2.0 guinea pigs (I know, they're not herps!) - Punky, Jeepers
