breeding and background?

[monstresque]

I've thought about it before and it was brought up again today, so I thought I'd ask; what is the likelihood of ever loaning out/breeding my merauke if I don't know his background?
It's a purely hypothetical question at this point - I don't really know a darn thing about breeding - but I am curious.
I made the mistake of not asking my merauke's previous owner where he got him, and have since then deleted the contact information. I even tried seeing if his ad was still up, but it has of course been deleted as well.
I feel confident that Calcifer probably came from a decent breeder, as his previous owner was a reptile breeder himself, and he grilled me pretty hard before considering allowing me to take Calcifer home. He said he was cb, and I know of at least a few reputable breeders in nearby states. But this is of course just an assumption mostly based on the previous owner's character.
Does the fact that I don't know his family history matter very much, breeding-wise?

[Dakota]

As long a purity is not in question, it isn't overly important. I doubt he's CB, more likely WC from Papua.

[Dood]

Even pedigreed or papered species are only as credible as the person writing them

Very few breed registries, even the more respected ones, the have the funds, or desire, to police their members and make sure the pedigrees are correct - people still lie about their animals genealogy - check out the "purebred" long haired Whippets, silver Labradors and tobiano Arabian horses, just to name a few

Apparently a lot of the "Easterns" out there are Northern and IJ hybrids/integrades

Just be honest and don't try to pass off your baby skinks as purebred - if Calcifer looks like a merauke then breed him/her to a merauke and if you get any wonky looking babies you'll know something else is in the history - or that of the skink s/he was bred to

[monstresque]

Good to know! Thank you. I think it would certainly be interesting to see what Calcifer's offspring would look like, if only just once. Maybe someday.

As long a purity is not in question, it isn't overly important. I doubt he's CB, more likely WC from Papua.

What makes you think he's WC? Just curious! I was under the impression that, health and temperament wise, there's a significant difference between WC and CB.

[Dakota]

My WC's are the sweetest skinks I have.

[monstresque]

That is not the answer I expected!
But that's nice.
I have no way to tell, so I guess I'll never know. Oh well!

[Teacup]

A lot of the gigas are imports since those countries basically have open borders. In contrast, the Australian species have to be captive bred since Aus is locked down so tight (although people do occasionally smuggle them out, which is shameful).

I don't know the full lineage of one of my Meraukes and have no clue about the second but both are lovely examples of the subspecies so I feel confident breeding them in future.

[splashy07]

My preference are Gigas and mine are imports as well. As Dakota said, mine also are sweet as pie. Absolutely no different from my captive bred Northern. I don't think it has anything to do with where they came from, but the care and attention they are given afterwards. The fact that I've had them since babies probably helps a bit, but have also had adult WC in the past (at a time when it was the only choice a long long time ago!!) that tamed down very quickly. I believe its all about what you like and how you care for it.