is it even worth it?

[scottsquatch]

Heres the deal, I really like amel bloodreds and thought it would be a fun goal to create my own line instead of just buying somebody elses.

Using a genetics calculator, it will take me 3 generations of breeding to get the desired morph based on the genetics I would have to use as a starting point.

Heres where my question comes in, I have been looking at a LOT of photos of amel bloodreds and a lot of them don't look like much more than nice sunglows. I realize there can be a lot of variation in the same morph, but are those really "intensely red" bloodred amels the exception rather than the rule?

If that is the case, I would rather just buy one and devote my time to a different breeding project rather than go through all that work to produce a "really nice looking sunglow".

Thanks for any help and/or information you can give me.

Scott

 

[princess]

Well according to my calculations it should only take 2 generations (if you count the animals you produce yourself and not the original parent stock) which will be around 4 or 5 years at least.

It could be a fun project for you and be quite satisfying but only if you do it for the right reasons. If you do it to make money...you'll probably be dissapointed.

You're right, often a nice sunglow will outshine an amel bloodred. I think the trick to producing a really nice line would be to start with a good quality(high diffusion) bloodred and a sunglow type amel

I think also starting with a het or 2 would be good. Perhaps you could find an amel het bloodred from one source and a bloodred het amel from another and you'd still be making your own line.

 

[Russell]

I hear ya!

I'm in the same boat! I too love the intense red amel bloods seen on Don Soderburg's South Mountain Reptiles site. But yes, I too have seen as you put it, the sunglow look of several I've seen otherwise. First off, the bloodred gene as I understand it is complex, not a simple one gene, but a combination of genes. Amelanistic animals vary as you well know. So I'd suppose you'd have to start out breeding sunglows to bloodreds. Cause breeding say a candy cane to a bloodred probably isn't going to work! Too much white! Regardless, no two animals are exactly alike, and in every strain/morph there is going to be a wide variability.

There's certainly a sense of pride developing your own strain of amel bloodred. If you have the space for all the hets you should keep back to breed and really want to go this route. I say go for it! It's really personal preference.

But if your like me, are able to scrape up the money to do it, go ahead and buy a pair. My recommendation is to try to get high on the waiting list to make sure your getting some high end babies. The breeder always gets first pick. But if your high enough on the list, your babies will still be very nice if not top of the line. Breed them, and hold back what you like down the road. It's what I'm doing with my Okeetees.

Best of luck however you pursue this. Perhaps you can do both. Like say, if you have your own amel strain you want to breed to your bloodreds. Go for it. And when you buy amel bloods, you can just cross breed them when the hets are old enough, and get more amel bloods.

 

[Serpwidgets]

You can probably make the project much more interesting and productive by adding some more genes. Here's something to consider:

Instead of crossing an amel to a blood, try starting out with something like hypo bloodred X sunglow motley. Instead of just hatching an amel blood here and there, you would also have the possibility for amel motleys, blood motleys, hypo bloods, and a lot more "non-normal" offspring in the grandchildren. (And you've got way better odds on hatching a double morph.)

If you exchange the sunglow (amel) motley for a hypo anery motley (which might be sold as ghost motley or pastel motley or a dozen other trade names, hehe) all of the first generation will be hypos, so all of the second generation (including the amels) will be hypos, giving you no normals and 4 times better odds on hypo bloods and hypo blood motleys. (The only down side to this is that you cannot pick the "orangeness" of the ground color in an anery. )

 

[Serpwidgets]

Heh, for some reason I was thinking snow motley or hypo snow motley... anyway, try any of those out (and anything else you can imagine up) and see if anything catches your interest.

 

[Kat]

This guy came from Kathy Love.

 

[cornmorphs]

its a long route, but it will be worth it.
i went the long way round producing my own line of ghosts, nothing special but they are all my own hard work lol.

 

[scottsquatch]

thanks for all the input

Thanks for all the input guys, its all very much appreciated.

Serp, that is certainly a nice twist to the idea I had. It would definately make for much more interesting hatchlings. Maybe I can try that project as well if I can pick up a hypo bloodred and a motley sunglow this summer.

Don't worry, not in it for the money Princess. Just wanna start breeding a little to pay for all the rodents one of these days. That and a little personnel satisfaction.

Russell, good luck with the okeetees. I have a nice female from Kathy Love's line that needs a mate. Maybe we can talk.

Kat, that is an awsome pic. I might have to pick up one of those! Heck, a sunglow like that might make my whole project moot!

Tnanks again for the responses guys.

 

[Kat]

...sunglow? He's an amel bloodred...

-Kat

 

[scottsquatch]

OOPS! my mistake

I am sorry about that Kat. In the first photo I saw he was more orange so I thought he was a super nice sunglow. Can you see what I mean though, I've seen examples of both that look so similar, that I don't even know if I should bother creating a line unless I can be sure to get that intense red I am looking for. I just now looked at examples of sunglows at cornutopia and I can't even tell the difference anymore! lol. BTW that second pic is REALLY nice.

 

[Serpwidgets]

...sunglow? He's an amel bloodred...

Sure, why not, there are sunglow motleys.

BTW he has gotten a lot prettier, it looks like there's a lot less of the white compared to when he was little, eh?

 

[Kat]

Yeah. The only white he has dorsally now is from scraping his backside on the underedge of the waterdish/hide he has in his cage. Why he doesn't just use the opening, I'll never know...

-Kat