General Care Discussion :: Albino RES Breeding

[lawsofpower48]

I have Albino RES and Caramel Albino RES....I was wondering how the whole breeding thing works with producing more Albino or Caramel albino RES? Anyone have any ideas? Ive been digging online for hours on how to breed more albino res or caramel albino res. thanks in advanced for inputs.

[SpotsMama]

Our recommendation is to not breed them. There's not a lot of info on this site on breeding because we feel there are too many lovely RES out there in need of homes and people should consider adoption rather than breeding. Most of us on the forum don't breed our RES. If, however, you are seriously interested in breeding, there are other sites out there with people who breed turtles that may be better able to advise you.

[lawsofpower48]

thanks for the information spotsmama. my question was mainly on the albino genes and how it works. im definitely interested in breeding the albinos though.

[mat012]

There are several breeders at Austin Turtle page - the forum is Turtleforum.com. They will be able to help. In fact if you are in FL I believe there is a convention going this week or next. You could talk to many in person. BTW albinos and morphs are the only types of RES available for sale or trade in FL.

[lawsofpower48]

There are several breeders at Austin Turtle page - the forum is Turtleforum.com. They will be able to help. In fact if you are in FL I believe there is a convention going this week or next. You could talk to many in person. BTW albinos and morphs are the only types of RES available for sale or trade in FL.

im actually from California. I noticed most of the breeders or the hobbyists are from florida....its too bad we dont have the conventions here otherwise i would love to attend one. not too many people have albinos or any other morphs here. very rare. But thank you for the link, i will try that out as well, this forum is very nice as well, ill be switching back and forth!

[TheComputerGremlin]

I think the genetics of it would dictate that an animal with albinism would have two recessive genes, hence the lack of color. So if you had two parents with albinism, they would have to result in all albino children.

HOWEVER, remember when you are playing with genetics, you risk not only the lives of the babies but if they are ever released, you could decimate the natural order of things. I believe that how they "breed" albinos is by taking an albino and breeding it with a wild-type turtle (green). 50% of the children will have a Rr gene, meaning they carry the albino gene recessively. Then you breed those children with an albino and end up with 50% of the children being albino. This is a means for SAFELY breeding albinos, rather than risking the destruction of the gene pool. I would recommend the safer route rather than end up with potentially damaged babies ...

[lawsofpower48]

I think the genetics of it would dictate that an animal with albinism would have two recessive genes, hence the lack of color. So if you had two parents with albinism, they would have to result in all albino children.

HOWEVER, remember when you are playing with genetics, you risk not only the lives of the babies but if they are ever released, you could decimate the natural order of things. I believe that how they "breed" albinos is by taking an albino and breeding it with a wild-type turtle (green). 50% of the children will have a Rr gene, meaning they carry the albino gene recessively. Then you breed those children with an albino and end up with 50% of the children being albino. This is a means for SAFELY breeding albinos, rather than risking the destruction of the gene pool. I would recommend the safer route rather than end up with potentially damaged babies ...

thanks for the input.... i was told by someone that if i had 2 albinos from the same seller, youre pretty much going to have albinos...but if you had mixed ones and purchased them from different sellers, its possible you will not.....so im not too sure.

[Linus]

Well both of the turtles are rr. You get all Alibinos in less in a rare case.

----rr rr
rr rr rr
rr rr rr

[megcornell]

What are you planning on doing with the babies?
Albinos are infamous for being very difficult to raise.
And with the overpopulation of RES, and the poor standards of care most are given, I can't seem to find a good reason for wanting to add to the problem.

[lawsofpower48]

What are you planning on doing with the babies?
Albinos are infamous for being very difficult to raise.
And with the overpopulation of RES, and the poor standards of care most are given, I can't seem to find a good reason for wanting to add to the problem.

well, im from bay area california.... over here there isnt many probs with RES (as i know of).... im planning to try to breed a batch of albinos to keep for myself or give them to family members that want some too. thats why im looking into trying to breed albinos only since im aware that regular RES are EVERYWHERE....

Another question....what if i was to breed a caramel with a regular albino....any chances i will get one or the other.....im hearing that i will possibly get a regular RES? can someone confirm if that is true? If so, what are the chances of getting either albino or caramel instead of the regulars...thanks guys

[Daniel3507]

keeping one albino is hard to do. keeping a "batch" would be a huge undertaking. do your family members know how much time and money goes into to keeping one turtle?

[megcornell]

I'm not totally sure how RES coloring works. I know that albino is totally recessive, but caramel is a color morph that may not be on one loci so you very well could get normal RES. Since albino is recessive, it would only take one dominant gene to wipe it out.
I think it'd be a risky breed truthfully.
I couldn't find any research on genotyping in turtles, but I'm not even sure if the eggs that are caramel x albino would be viable, they may have too many problems. I think that if it were a viable solution there would be way more "exotic" RES out there. It's not too hard to come by a pair of those turtles, but I just don't think they breed successfully.

[untsmurf]

if you do breed them and have regulars will everyone still want them? if not will you be able to properly house all of them for the next 40 years? if not won't you just be adding to the overpopulation problem?

[TheComputerGremlin]

lawsofpower48 - I think you misunderstand the concept of RES being overpopulated. This isn't just your regular "green" RES. All RES, whether hybrid RES, green RES, caramel RES, albino RES, are overpopulated. Just because we are always saying they are overpopulated doesn't mean that an albino RES is a different species. No, it's simply a different COLOR. So you breeding them will just make them more overpopulated.

You can find plenty of websites and breeders willing to sell an albino turtle to someone, so you wouldn't be providing a unique service. You would simply be creating broken turtles who would be cared for even worse than their hardier green RES counterparts.

Back to your question, I'm guessing "caramel" is like the dilute gene in cats and dogs. It's a different type of gene, not just a relative of the recessive albino gene. So I'm going to go out on an educated limb and say breeding them would not necessarily produce albinos or caramels or any viable eggs at all. The best way to breed albinism is to alternate generations as I mentioned before. The same would be true of breeding the caramel coloration, alternating generations will produce the best results.

[meltedspork]

Is it just me...?

I totally do not understand the fascination with albino or caramel or whatever other color morphs. What is the big deal? Albinism is a birth defect... so why is it so desireable? Just because people think it looks "cool" or something? What about the poor turtles? Poor eyesight and numerious other problems; that is desireable? And what if they are released into the wild? They would be killed right away as they have no natural camouflage.