Just looking for some input and probably a really simple genetics question to some of you experienced breeders but please go easy on me
As some may know i'm getting married in the summer (yey! Although the diet is going pitifully as I had a takeaway pizza last night
) and we now are in our new home. Dale got a new job a week and a half after he got made redundant and is now an engineering managager in a top food company which is wonderful.
We took my dad and step mum out for a meal a couple of weeks ago and he asked what we would like as a wedding present and me joking around said 'Another bengal would be nice
' and imagine my shock when Dale (my OH) said 'Yeah, maybe a girl this time and now your not working as much maybe you could look into breeding if that's what you really want' Hence to say I had a heart attack and nearly fell off my chair!
Anyway, we have been talking about it between us and i've been explaining all the financial costs such as breeder insurance, vets bills, emergency equipment if something goes wrong, not to mention a complete revamp of cat things around the house and possibly a dedicated room as well as outside runs. We've been talking about all the time and effort that would have to be put into making it work and the support that we need to give each other and the cats and kittens that we may raise. And we came to the conclusion that we could do it and I would certainly love to do it but I said I would talk to the amazing people on here first and get some views from the breeders
To give you an idea of timescale I wouldn't be looking at getting a queen till the end of the year and I would definately want a kitten rather than an older queen as she would be a pet foremost and I love the bonding experience with kittens. Which means I probably wouldn't be breeding till 2013 as i'd want her to be fully grown and confident before even thinking of mating her so its a good couple of years away yet I would think. I will then have a good 2/2 1/2 year background with bengals (including EG Milo) which will stand me in good stead rather than now with only 6 months experience.
I have read through just about every topic in the breeding section and tried (so hard!) to get to grips with genetics to work out what I would want to achieve from breeding and how I would go about it. I think that the best way for me would be to have 1 queen and take her to stud which isn't a problem. What I am aiming to achieve was the easiest decision..
SNOWS!! Beautiful snows! They are my favourite colour of bengals and in my opinion they are very typey compared to other colours. For example, I love my Deuce to bits but I know what his flaws are and what I would change (physically) about him. I would want to concentrate on creating kittens with big well defined rosettes with good type obviously. Deuce is a SLP and is Spotted rather than Rosetted which is fine with me as he is my baby darling and I never planned on religiously showing him and obviously not breeding him. His brother on the other hand is slightly darker than Deuce and has fantastic clear rosettes and has done really well at the shows he's been to and is now being offered as a breeder. Thats the sort of kittens I want to produce
I think they are breathtaking when they come of age and get their darker markings through, I never get tired of looking at snows.
I do have a few questions which I hope aren't stupid
1.) As i've said I would want to get a kitten, is that a good decision? Especially as I would ideally want a Seal Lynx Point and markings are quite faint on them when they are young
2.) If for example you mated a Seal Lynx Point with a Sepia would you get 25% sepia, 25% lynx and 50% mink? That is ideally what I would like to do but I don't know if i'm getting the genetics wrapped round my head a bit?
3.) Is it ok to register a prefix with TICA before you have bred any kittens? I'm sure it is but I just wanted to check. I want everything to be ready and set up before I do anything at all.
So, breeders of BCF, please throw any opinions, advice or anything at me that you think I might find useful or ask as many questions as you can to check that I have thought of everything before I decide to make changes in my life (house stuff and the likes
)
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