Desert Female Concerns

[angllady2]

I would like to see some first hand experience as well. Look, we've all heard the horror stories. We've all seen people dragged through hell for even thinking about breeding a Desert female. The viciousness and endlessly repeated tales make it sound like there is no one left out there who would even consider breeding a Desert female. Then something like this pops up and the hatred goes on. I am not interested in another blame game, nor another muckraking thread. In fact, if anyone with experience in breeding Deserts would like to PM me and share that experience to avoid such nonsense, that would be most gratefully accepted.

But I, like others, would like to know the facts, not hearsay and slander. Have you bred Desert females? How many of them? How many years have you tried? Did you get any viable eggs at all? Did you have any medical complications with your females? Have you bred only single gene females? Double gene? Triple? Do they all share the same problems, or does it vary from female to female or from single gene to combos? If you have decided to stop breeding Deserts, what made you decide to quit? If you are still trying, what makes you keep hoping? Have you lost any Desert females for reasons you feel directly relate to breeding? Have you lost any Desert females for reasons you feel were not related to breeding? In your experience, are Desert females harder to feed? Raise to breeding size? Slow to breed? Slow to produce eggs of any kind, even slugs? Do you think age could be a factor? Size?

There are so many questions I would love to have answered in a respectful way by people in the know about these things. Pieces of the puzzle I guess you might say. Not because I want to bash someone, nor even necessarily because I want to rush out and buy a cheap Desert female and try to breed it. But simply to have a better understanding of these problems and possible solutions. I know for example that HGW supers are lethal. Or if they hatch they fail to thrive. But there is a lot more information available on the who and why of Pearls than there is with Deserts. I think mostly because rumors fly from post to post and from website to website and no one bothers to check how accurate they are because it is accepted knowledge that Desert females should not be bred.

So please, anyone who can share first hand experience with us, please do so. I promise to keep the conversation civil and as best I can intelligent.

Gale