Inbreeding?

[genevieve]

Looking for some opinions on inbreeding. What do you think of breeding brother and sister, from the same or different litters, when both are good, healthy examples of the species? I'm talking more about dwarfs than Syrians or Chinese, and I'm not really thinking of inbreeding to further a new colour or anything, just inbreeding because you happen to have two related hamsters who are of great quality.

There's no inbreeding in my thoroughly thought out 8-month breeding plan right now, but I'm curious as to what others think about it just in case it's something I want to consider in the future. Personally, I plan on avoiding it just because I have no need to do it, but things could possibly change a few years down the line.

[Hamtastic]

This is a good thread on a very similar topic:
Breeding Full Brother to Sister?

In general, inbreeding is not a good option for any animal due to logical genetic consequences of the possibility of inheriting two pairs of damaged genes and genetically passed diseases. A varied genetic pool is healthier, as stronger healthier genes have a better chance at being exhibited in offspring. Examples in humans would be royal and noble families, where inbreeding caused all sorts of illnesses and deformities, from ancient Egypt to recent times.

[Demecat]

Domesticated hamsters are inbred enough - especially Syrians - and any further inbreeding should never occur without a very good reason.

A good example in today's society is British Muslims:

British Muslim inbreeding endangering future generations health – Glad to be back - My Telegraph

[genevieve]

Originally Posted by Hamtastic

This is a good thread on a very similar topic:
Breeding Full Brother to Sister?

In general, inbreeding is not a good option for any animal due to logical genetic consequences of the possibility of inheriting two pairs of damaged genes and genetically passed diseases. A varied genetic pool is healthier, as stronger healthier genes have a better chance at being exhibited in offspring. Examples in humans would be royal and noble families, where inbreeding caused all sorts of illnesses and deformities, from ancient Egypt to recent times.

Yes, this is my main reason for not wanting to breed any closesly related hams.

Originally Posted by Demecat

Domesticated hamsters are inbred enough - especially Syrians - and any further inbreeding should never occur without a very good reason.

A good example in today's society is British Muslims:

British Muslim inbreeding endangering future generations health – Glad to be back - My Telegraph

My other big reason.