Beetle breeding over long term with close relations.

Eleodes hispilabris

Eleodes hispilabris

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If brother and sister beetles breed, will their larvae have a higher chance of deformities, or are they different from us? Over long terms, will they produce less larvae, (or more unhealthy ones)? Is this usually not a problem?

 
Ok, Thanks
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Inbreeding generally isn't a problem with insects, and the genetic diversity eventually gets higher with each generation, at least if you are rearing more and more to adulthood.

 
I agree with hisserDude there generally isn't a problem just select the largest males and females to breed. Butterflies can only be inbread for a few generations before they get sickly and to small.

 
Also, I had a friend breed a monster Dynastes hercules hercules with its sister. Their offspring came out with curved horns, but that's normal to happen sometimes. The others were all perfect. They also did not move much.

 
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Pleas don't listen to most people that commented on here. Inbreeding in most insects such as beetles is bad. You could breed sister and brother but overtime if you continue doing it they will die out. But you should be able to do it up to F4-5. Id add new genes after that

 
ExoAnimalBre said:
Pleas don't listen to most people that commented on here. Inbreeding in most insects such as beetles is bad. You could breed sister and brother but overtime if you continue doing it they will die out. But you should be able to do it up to F4-5. Id add new genes after that
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I've bred several Tenebrionid species for several generations, many of which started out with a single female, and they are still going strong despite the initial inbreeding... It could depend on the species, but "inbreeding" is usually an excuse people use for when their cultures die out for seemingly no reason, when many times husbandry issues are simply to blame.

 
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Just remembered! I had a few pairs of Atlas beetles around a year ago. They were brothers and sisters; the guy didn't use fresh bloodlines for years before this. The beetles were slow moving and would not breed. They also died much earlier than they were suppose to.

 
Eleodes hispilabris said:
Does anyone know the scientific reason for this?
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Supposedly, protracted close inbreeding forces recessive genes - most of which are adverse - to manifest. Please note, however, that I'm not a geneticist nor do I play one on TV. Clearly, long-term inbreeding never harmed European royals: just look at illustrious rulers like Charles II of Spain.

 
In breeding is an issue in the long run for rhinos and stags. you can get deformities and high death rate.

some stags can go over F7 without any problem, but some will have problems starting F3.

Because of this, beetle shops in Asia tries to import wild beetles so they can "refresh" the genes.

 
Yeah, that's what I thought...If you're broke, and all you're surviving is by beetle sales, you only have one option before you borrow from Gov't--INBREEDING!...lol

 
I would say, I'd try to get as high of a population feasible as possible. Like around lets say 7 pairs of adult beetles to stabilize the population.

 
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