breeding ?? inbreed ??

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Originally Posted by cinderbird

You can breed two completely unrelated fires together to get a black eyed leucistic, same goes for lessers and pastels, etc.

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Except that plenty of morphs can only be traced back to a single individual

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

Except that plenty of morphs can only be traced back to a single individual

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But when you've taken the original and bred it to several normals, you get genetic diversity. ;) Genetic diversity is what you want when breeding.

Breeding animals with the same genetic material over several generations ( or even one, in some cases!) can sometimes lead to the visible forms of genetic deformities ( Visible, and Not quite so visible*internal stuff that you wouldnt even dream of*) if done incorrectly, or without careful thought in the process ( or even WITH careful thought/correctly).

Inbreeding animals should be done with selective care and careful monitoring, as animals can be prone to weaker immune systems( or stronger...depending on the mutations brought forth by the breeding) , shorter lifespans ( or longer, depending on the mutations brought forth by the breeding) and so on and so forth.

Inbreeding can work both ways. But GENERALLY, in very wide stroking basic terms, it is not usually not considered "good", as you are limiting the genepool in that specific generation of animals. ( Many responsible people who inbreed for a specific trait, also then outcross those lines to other unrelated animals to then strengthen the bloodlines) It may be the faster route to a color mutation, but at the same time, could mean the appearance of a less than desirable mutation along with that color mutation, such as highly visible things like Kinking, Wobbling, Spinning, Loss of Motor Control, Mal-formed scales ( Or none at all!), No Eyes and so forth. These are just examples, are are not always caused by inbreeding for a specific trait, and sometimes, these deformities are linked with the mutation being bred for itself.

It should be done with considerable care, and lots of time devoted to keeping bloodlines strong. ( Its too bad too many people are completely unwilling to follow this fairly common knowledge of the subject, just to make a buck, and due to lack of space to keep such a project at hand, I find it unfortunate really.) and while many people do practice this method of breeding responsibly, others still do not and i cant help but wonder at what will become of the animals in captivity many many years from now?

The constant inbreeding of ANY animal will eventually cause some type of genetic anomaly to occur. Sometimes its a color mutation, or pattern abberency, and other times there is some other consequence, like beaking in super cinnamons(I think), missing eyes in albinos, or severe kinks in caramel albinos. In dogs inbreeding has caused a lot of auto immune diseases to surface in different breeds. So to answer your question continued in breeding to fix traits will eventually lead to issues, some severe and some not so. I don't think that we are seeing severe problems yet. Enought wild blood is still collected and used is breeding programs. And anything different coming from the wild is probably the result of a spontaneous mutation( like the candy ball)..We know about beaking, and kinking, missing eyes ect., and I have heard anecdotaly of lines being prone to R/I's(weakened immune systems). Which no breeder out there will ever admit to. But this is why as a breeder you must assemble as diverse a breeding group as possible, even going so far as trying to find out what locality your wild caught/hatched came from. Unfortunately that is almost impossible, unless you deal directly with your importers. And thats just for your normals. As for your morphs you really have to research where they came from and what they go back to.
Mike