incest in malies?

[pickles760]

i assume there should be some side effect to rebreeding mealies, meaning breeding possible bro/sis' from my first mealworm batch or if i should start over or what?

 

[shadowx362]

well because they are simple celled organisms( right wording?) they can tolerate inbreeding for longer than lets say Humans which could have side affects in one generation.
However every few years you should bring new stock because the meal worms could start to have reproduction problems.

 

[nats]

I don't know anything about the genetics involved with inbreeding
mealies, but I have noticed that the pupae (aliens) get smaller
with each generation.

 

[bitterbeauty]

I never gave this any thought since they were just bugs lol. But I guess I can see that.

Maybe this can be tolerated for longer periods of time if you start with a larger specimen of mealworms? Maybe like 1000-2000? Or possibly get X amount of mealworms from several different locations (example 100 from the local pet store, 500 from a breeder, etc) and put them all together. Just a thought.

 

[nats]

Well than, dont the major commercial breeders do it? Inbreed I mean?

 

[laurlaur12]

mine won't even breed, let alone inbreed!! haha. I have had beetles for a month or so now, and still no little guys

 

[LeapinLizards]

The more simple the life form, the less likely inbreeding will cause serious effects.

There are cases that getting different blood lines are suggested in order to strengthen the colony, such as the case with roaches.

 

[bitterbeauty]

mine won't even breed, let alone inbreed!! haha. I have had beetles for a month or so now, and still no little guys

They are probably just too little to see or still in the egg. I got really impatient my first time around and after about 2-3 months I had good size baby mealies.

 

[cwazy]

mine won't even breed, let alone inbreed!! haha. I have had beetles for a month or so now, and still no little guys

look closer! :main_laugh:

 

[laurlaur12]

thanks for the encouragement! I'll keep waiting

 

[Lena]

It's fine.

In fact - inbreeding isn't as detrimental as people seem to think. It only ups the risk of deformities occurring a fraction of a percentage in humans.