Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I hear some people in here have a pair of alligator lizards that successfully mate and have offsprings.

I am curious. Wouldn't the gene weaken if you keep a female and a male from these eggs and continue to breed them? In a way it is incest/inbreeding. Or it doesn't matter with reptiles?

I read an article a while back that zoo keepers were doing this with cheetah to strengthen the population again because they almost went into extinction. They end up dying sooner because of the inbreeding.
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I will be back!

Inbreeding can cause issues, but it usually takes more than one generation.

One of the issues, in California you are suppose to have F&G Breeding permit for native species. You are only allowed to have 2 wild caught southern alligator lizards, any beyond that must be captive bred by you or by someone else under permit.

With that short sighted limitation, unless you know another breeder with a permit to trade with, you kind of are stuck inbreeding.

One or two generations isn't likely to cause any issues as there still will likely enough unique genes in the pair.

Last year I collected a gravid female. I held back four of her offspring. This year, I'm collecting her a male (which will put me at bag limit) and will hold back four more (if all goes well) - so hopefully, my "F2" generations down the road will only be from pairs with a common father.
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Last line should have said common mother, not father.
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata