Toad inbreeding

[Shari]

I'm new here, and new to raising toads. I have 2 American toads that I recieved as tadpoles with a batch of about 12, all seemingly from the same egg batch. I raised them all to toadlets and released all but the 2 oldest and, at the time, I had no idea of their sex. Now they're a bit over 3 months old and I'm pretty positive from their differing size and the fact that one has a pale throat, the other speckled, that there's 1 male and 1 female (I could be totally off here, as I don't really handle them, nor do I know if they're even old enough for the male to chirp). I bought a 20 gallon reptile tank and plan to keep them together in it once I feel they're big enough to properly find their food in such a large area.

My question is - if I keep these toads together, and they're a brother/sister pair (I'm not even positive they are, as they were rescued from an evaporating puddle), will this cause issues with any offspring they may have?

[Larry Wardog]

I'm new here, and new to raising toads. I have 2 American toads that I recieved as tadpoles with a batch of about 12, all seemingly from the same egg batch. I raised them all to toadlets and released all but the 2 oldest and, at the time, I had no idea of their sex. Now they're a bit over 3 months old and I'm pretty positive from their differing size and the fact that one has a pale throat, the other speckled, that there's 1 male and 1 female (I could be totally off here, as I don't really handle them, nor do I know if they're even old enough for the male to chirp). I bought a 20 gallon reptile tank and plan to keep them together in it once I feel they're big enough to properly find their food in such a large area.

My question is - if I keep these toads together, and they're a brother/sister pair (I'm not even positive they are, as they were rescued from an evaporating puddle), will this cause issues with any offspring they may have?

You would have to hibernate them for the toads to breed. Were you planning on breeding them?

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[Herpin Man]

Occasional sibling breeding is unlikely to cause issues. It happens regularly in the wild. However, temperate toad species are seldom bred in captivity, due to requirements for cycling and creating a proper breeding environment. They are very unlikely to reproduce simply by being kept together.

[Larry Wardog]

Occasional sibling breeding is unlikely to cause issues. It happens regularly in the wild. However, temperate toad species are seldom bred in captivity, due to requirements for cycling and creating a proper breeding environment. They are very unlikely to reproduce simply by being kept together.

I have read in various places that American Toads can recognize their kin by the pitch in their voice and will refuse to mate with kin. In captivity I wonder if they will breed with kin but the source I got it from was a PA state website. It is very difficult to breed these toads. I am attempting to breed them this winter with toads that are completely unrelated. I will post my research and everything that happens on here for everybody else to see if it's successful or unsuccessful.

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[Shari]

Thank you all for the replies! I don't have any plans to breed them this coming year, but was possibly thinking of doing so in the future. As a beginner to all of this, I think I have alot more research to do before I can get to that point. I would rather avoid any possible issues with inbreeding, so I may add some unrelated toads next year, give them a year to grow, and revisit the whole breeding thing then. I'm looking forward to reading about your results with the breeding AAron, keep us updated!