# Breeding Redfoot help



## REDfoots (Aug 30, 2014)

Hello everyone,

My name is Jacob and I have 2 Redfoot tortoises. They are about 2 1/2 years old and about 5-7 inches carapace length, I got them within 16 hours apart from each other at my local pet store. They are both very healthy but I was wondering what age they would need to be so that they can breed? Also how big do they need to be to breed? Can I even breed them, because they are brother and sister? Please get back to me as I would like to breed them so I can have more. I love my tortoises so much that I want more so I can have a whole family  I also would like to ask would it be ok to put another species of tortoise in with my tortoises I have now Thank you 

-Jacob


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## tortdad (Aug 30, 2014)

Rule #1. Never mix species and a parasite that is healthy for one can can another to get sick. 

You've got a few more years before they reach maturity and breeding age

Are you sure they are even a boy and a girl? 

Post some pics for us. 


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)


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## Mundoexotico (Aug 30, 2014)

redfoots if they are from captive breed, most of them breed ate age 4/5 years old or since 23 cm plastron. if they are capture breed will take much longer


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## Mundoexotico (Aug 30, 2014)

do you have pictures? for my calculations your tortoise have no more than 13/14 cm


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## Abdulla6169 (Aug 31, 2014)

You cannot breed brother and sister. In some animals like betta fish that is generally recommended, but for tortoises it's a definite no.


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## N2TORTS (Aug 31, 2014)

First of all I know there is a lot of controversy in this and how it can be strung out to a very heated debate….and when trying to share experience/info there can be some negative opinions and harsh words. While experiencing both sides of the spectrum ….here is my two cents.
In-breeding means that you are breeding close relatives together. Like parent to child or child to child or half-sibling to half-sibling. A lot of people who say they are line breeding are really in-breeding……
Line breeding means that you are breeding distant relatives to each other. Like grand-sire to grandchild, or uncle to niece, etc. The problem with line breeding is not the breeding itself, it’s the selection of offspring to become breeders! More on this in a moment.
First let’s do a clarification of terms. Inbreeding a negative term for irresponsible breeding. Line breeding is the preferred term used by educated breeders who may occasionally breed related animals, but also introduce outside genetics to the line to keep it strong. IF line breeding is done correctly it can be done without any decrease in the health of the population. But you have to be very careful.
You also have to consider what a species is adapted to in the wild. Much of the scientific data we have about the dangers of inbreeding comes from laboratory bred mice. However mice are a fecund and widespread species that probably never evolved with closely related animals breeding on a regular basis. Certain reptiles may be very different. Take for example desert snakes from the southwestern US. Often you find small population hubs centered around a small piece of good habitat (a cliff face or stream bed for example) with many miles of poor habitat in between. These populations must be more able to deal with small gene pools or they would die out. They also must have some amount of gene flow between populations or they would evolve into different species or die out. I am not sure exactly where tortoises fall on this scale, but I would imagine there is a lot of species variability especially in the Red Foot world .
When you are considering captive populations you need to consider both the amount and the severity (for lack of better words). I.E. how closely related are the animals, and how many generations have they gone through without new gene introduction?
Breeding two closely related animals one time will not do anything bad unless you happen to be very unlucky and the parent animal is heterozygous for a dramatic genetic defect. *This situation happens in nature all the time*. As another person said, “they don't know or care who their relatives are.” 
If you continue to only breed siblings (just an example) for many generations you will begin to see signs associated with inbreeding because you will increase the chances that individuals will carry multiple copies of a defective gene. These may be very subtle, like low hatch weight, or they may be dramatic birth defects.
So when and why do people do it?...... There are two different scenarios that are common and they are very different. In the herp world snakes have been a prime example because of quick turn around in incubation times and size of clutches. Species like corn snakes and ball pythons have become popular due to the amount of mutations. These mutations are (usually) recessive which means that both parents must have the gene for the offspring to show the trait.(Like My Hypo Redfoots) This means that if you hatch out the first albino ball python ever, the ONLY way to get more of them is to breed it to its relatives. A good breeder will then out breed to maintain genetic diversity. But many people see the $$$$ and keep breeding closely related animals because it is the fastest way to get these traits without waiting for out breeding. No one would ever know until many generations later when the entire population has a problem…..
Coming full circle... the biggest issue is the selection of breeders. I don't care if you hatch out a tort that is bright yellow with purple polka dots, if its legs are wimpy and one eye is bigger than the other, DON"T BREED THAT ANIMAL!!!! And don't sell it to someone else with the intention of breeding it!

The reason inbreeding is less of a problem in the wild, is that if a breeding produces less fit animals, they will die off naturally …... 
Stepping off soap box...


PS: Your Reds have a few years to go in age and maturity till you will see any viable clutches with any consistency


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## Yellow Turtle01 (Aug 31, 2014)

Yeah, that sums it up  
Don't mix species, not a good idea...


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