Inbred feeders

[stepho]

With the discussion of inbred chameleons going on I started to wonder about inbred insects, and feeders in particular. I imagine the nutritional value is the same unless they have under developed muscles or less fertile eggs?

 

[sandrachameleon]

My first hissers, all two of them, produced years of offspring all entirely healthy. I added some additional roaches to the colony about a year ago because I thought it might be good for genetics, but honestly there was no evidence of inbreeding issues and I've notice no improvement from the additional ones added last year.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

I've only noticed problems with fruit flies....as many people who breed fruit flies do.

I need to buy new batches from different people once a year or so, sometimes more often. I try to always mix my cultures as best as I can, but sometimes it just doesn't work when a culture fails or is slower to produce than others.

Roaches, I've seen no problems and started with very few. Now I have thousands.