BREEDING THE STRIPED PUFF ADDER BITIS-ARIETANS - INBREEDING AVOIDANCE

Inbreeding, the loss of genetic variability, is the most important gen etic consideration in the propagation of small populations. The loss o f vigour, reduced fecundity or decreased survival are often consequenc es of inbreeding and may lead to the extinction of a population or rac e. There is now a captive population of a rare, striped morph of the p uff adder that originated from a single mating, and the avoidance of i nbreeding is uppermost in devising a successful breeding strategy to p ropagate this commercially-valuable variant. We outline a breeding pro gramme that produces true-breeding striped puff adders without increas ing levels of inbreeding.