- Joined
- Dec 22, 2012
- Messages
- 141
Bit of a strange question but do tortoises have to be non related to breed like other animals? (Not something I'm planning on doing just wondering)
i think it takes a couple of generations of inbreeding to create any real problems.But would the babies have problems like other animals do like deformities etc? Reason I wondered was round my area there is not many different breeders that sell the same species and as many people buy pairs so chance of interbreeding
It would take more generations for there to be problems than it would for mammals.
And btw, tortoises should not be housed in pairs.
Can you explain why it would take more generations for tortoises than mammals?
Nope. Just what I was taught by professors who know a lot more than I do. They explained it well, but those details escape my ever aging mind. I'm sure it would be easy to research and find more solid info.
Just for fun, it would take even longer to see any issues from inbred insects, like roaches. I recall the statistic that it would take 99 generations, or more, to see any sort of genetic abnormalities from a single pair of roaches. Add a third roach of either sex and it jumps to 999 generations or more. I can't back any of this with scientific citations. As I said, its just what I remember from school so many years ago.
So I looked around and found that mammals tend to travel further to mate. While reptiles can handle and cope better with inbreeding because they don't travel as far and the same with insects.
Try this ......All a bit confusing I think!!