Newt genetics

[danny]

With a large portion of the members on the forum posting about the start of the breeding season, I was wondering about the genetics of newts. I bought a 0.0.7 group of C.e.popei from Duncan and they are all siblings. Now in a couple of years when they are ready to breed, is it a good idea to have these siblings mate? Will there be a great risk of deformaties, etc? How many generations of newts can be breed from this one group of seven?

 

[jennifer]

Based on the experience of me and many other people, the risk of deformities isn't very significant. You WILL get healthy offspring, probably for many generations. Enjoy your popei, they are awesome newts!

 

[danny]

Thanks Jen! Glad to hear that any offspring the newts produce will turn out just fine.

 

[shaylin]

With any species it is usually not a good idea to breed siblings simply because you are exponentially increasing your chances of getting a double dose of 'bad' alleles for any given gene. This probably will not manifest itself as 'deformities', except very rarely, but probably in things like decreased lifespan, overall poorer health, decreased reproductive capability, etc. I would highly recommend outbreeding your newts if you can, in the long run they will be much healthier for it!