Who can mate with who?

[sandrachameleon]

It was a question for debate, not to slam me. I know in the wild animals usually don't care, so I thought it was a valid question.

I hope you didnt feel slammed by my response - it was not intended as such. I just wanted to provide / add my thoughts on the subject.

And I now want to add, while i think it likely that inbreeding increases risk of both parents passing on a defective gene, it also increases the chances of a desireably trait (colouring comes to mind).

But since I like chams for more than pretty colours, I guess I find the possible benefits dont outweigh what I feel are genuine risks based on basic biology concepts and no knowledge of specific studies.

 

[Sporkthedork]

its not just in herps its in most complex living things............ generation after generation you see deforms, all kinds of health problems,



look at worms right now? the breeders didnt intro new blood, just kept inbreeding and inbreeding and now those worms were causing problems with the animals that ate them......


but it does happen, again trans veileds were inbred, where else would, would be breeders find those genes to express the trait?

Inbreeding does pose the genetic bottleneck problem which could lead to some negative effects such as deformities or lack of genetic diversity as seen in some groups of leopards. However, even though I don't agree with it, it is constantly being done with snakes, especially with ball pythons. Also don't forget, it's been done way before the ball python market hit the scene. Carrier pigeons and most breeds of dogs were created due to selective breeding (which I'm assure inbreeding occurred). That's probably why some breeds of dogs come with a warning list of possible health problems. Look at bulldogs and dashounds (sp?), before you adopt/buy one they tell all you all the problems that could and will eventually happen. They warn you of the possible vet bills to come should you chose to have these breed of dogs. Yet, many people still chose to have them. By the way, I am in no way into inbreeding any animal, but I can see why people do it. Some of my favorite ball pythons that I have are probably products of inbreeding.

EDIT:
What's the worm issue, you mentioned? I haven't heard of this.