Mixed breeds

[Baoh]

Originally Posted by cherylahutch

They are lovely tortoises and I guess it could go the other way and potentially you could breed out any genetic problems. I think the thing that bothers me is it seems like a science experiment

That depends upon whether there are any problems for it to breed out (or breed in).

Honestly, it is a science experiment. How that is applied depends upon the conduct of such, though. A science experiment can be a vivisection procedure on a human baby on one extreme and a science experiment can be for the development of a biotherapeutic that prevents a human baby from dying from a horrible disease on the other.

[cherylahutch]

I do agree that we can learn so much from Science experiments and that these things can bring alot of good but if it just for experiments sake I can't say i would agree with it. There are alot of amazing discoveries many of which have brought horrendous consequences along the way to great discoveries but I suppose it is how far you are comfortable with going for experiments sake.

[Baoh]

For me, I do not want to cause suffering, but experimentation is useful to gathering new knowledge.

When, in the leopard gecko market, a number of us involved in breeding noticed the troubles the "Enigma" trait seems to cause in terms of circling, head tilts, and feeding proficiency. Some continued working with the trait with abandon, some with continued with caution or in attempts to see if outcrossing might mitigate the negative symptoms, and some discontinued. I noticed that some animals could handle it better than others, but it was still a crapshoot with respect to getting an animal whose quality of life was negatively impacted. As such, I discontinued working with them personally. I did not want to generate large numbers of negatively impacted animals despite their physical beauty even if I produced a sizable number of animals that got along extremely well. It is a personal decision, I think, so I do not tell those who do still breed them anything negative. In any case, if I noticed the same in my tortoises, I would evaluate and likely discontinue anything generating negatives.

Now, causing no harm is a nice ideal, too, but can be a bit impractical. Even with perfectly healthy parents, a small percentage of babies out of a large number of offspring may be born with defects such as an undeveloped eye or a missing limb. These things appear to usually be developmental rather than genetic in my experiences. If we took the idea to an extreme and said, in order to avoid 100% of any chance of contributing to the production of a defective baby, we would no longer participate in breeding, then we would be trading one kind of cost for a population reduction cost in return. It depends on the degree of sacrifice by probability one is willing to accept in chance.

[EJ]

Can I get on your soap box when you're done...?

Originally Posted by Fred123

There are a few people on here that do mix species, and I am sure that they will love this post as an opportunity to get on their soap box and promote their interpretation of tortoise care. In my opinion it is not good practice to mix species, they each have different needs and differing mating/dominance behaviour. This can cause stress to a tortoise.

You may feel that your pair are getting along, I would tend to think that one is dominating the other, or it certainly will in the future. They may get along fine and have no health issues, but I fail to see why anyone would run the risk of testing this theory. That said everyone is entitled to their opinion.... and this is mine.