Pros and cons of keeping dragon pairings

[Twilightdreamer1979]

I've searched to see if a topic like this already exists, but it's hard to find a needle in a haystack (keyworks like "Mate" "Breed" and "Pairing" bring up LOADS of results)

 

Anyway, my question is (as the title suggests) are there any pro's and con's of keeping your dragons with the same mate?

 

TD.x.

Edited February 12, 2011 by Twilightdreamer1979

[Sinsdaemn]

Right there with you on the difficulty of searching. Personally, I really rather like the idea of lifemates. P'raps it's something to do with faithfulness and the like but I just generally keep the same dragons paired together.

[Twilightdreamer1979]

Right there with you on the difficulty of searching. Personally, I really rather like the idea of lifemates. P'raps it's something to do with faithfulness and the like but I just generally keep the same dragons paired together.

 

I just want to point out I'm NOT bashing the search facility, just that the keywords I'd need to search for are very common words in the world of DC

 

Yeah, I kow what you mean about lifemates.. but if you have a difficult dragon (like my old pink) is it worth trying her out with other dragon males, or keeping her with the same mate whom she is sometimes interested in.

 

TD.x.

Edited February 12, 2011 by Twilightdreamer1979

[Draco Knight]

Well, there aren't any rewards to keeping certain pairs together besides knowing that they won't refuse eachother.

There are no actual cons...except if you refuse to break the dragons it could mean more work of you want to start/join a lineage project that calls for one of the dragons but not the other.

Pros and cons for this are entirely based on preference...I don't think any of the dragons i regularly breed have been completely faithful.

[CatCreature]

I'm having them paired only for my notes sake. It makes it easy for me to know who's related to who. (I'm using NotePad... Don't laugh! ^^')

Edited February 12, 2011 by CatCreature

[GiratinaOF]

My holiday drags and my metallics have strict life-mates. But my commons are quite free here.

[tehjohnli]

My metallics usually are set for life. But only after I find a pair that they like producing eggs with. ^^

 

 

[Xythus]

I'm having them paired only for my notes sake. It makes it easy for me to know who's related to who. (I'm using NotePad... Don't laugh! ^^')

HeeHee, dont worry, I use excel/spreadsheets to keep track. I feel like a big dc nerd!

 

I have a couple of super faithful dragons, I love them! (Like "me", for example: http://dragcave.net/progeny/n/Xythus)

[RheaZen]

Lifemates are nice. I have a PinkxPink pairing and a RedxRed pairing. They're not completely set though - I'm willing to breed those dragons to other dragons.

[klinneah]

Lifemating can become a problem when two dragons who previously were a rare and a common suddenly become two dragons who are a rare and a rare (as was the case with Gold x Frill - many users who had their Golds lifemated to Frills suddenly were swarmed with divorce cases).

 

Other than that (and really, how likely is it that something like the Frill drama will happen again?) lifemating really is a great way to keep track of who's who on your scroll ("I've got Johnny Gold paired with Louisa Purple, and I've got this Purple on my scroll that's Johnny Gold's child, I wonder who its mother is!")

[Twilightdreamer1979]

Hi

 

Thanks for your replies..

 

So from the replies so far, Dragon life partners are primarily for ease of your records to avoid inbreeding?

 

TD.x.

[Kanakha]

To be honest I've never really cared about pairing dragons up until very recently. Actually I only started pairing dragons just a few days ago. And even now, it's not that serious for me.

[dragonpuck]

If you keep progeny, life mates can help prevent inbreeding- if that bothers you, I gift most of my dragons progeny, and /or they are in lineages that continue in the next generation with a CB so I avoid family mating. EATW has a wonderful add on that gives a breed preview so It's easy to see if you have chosen the wrong( or right ) dragon to bred with.

 

 

CB's are in demand for lineage and breeding projects, especially metallics/holidays , if mine were lifemated I wouldn't be able to gift out as many eggs

 

@Twilightdreamer1979

don't worry about *bashing* the search function, the only DC' ers for whom it works are mods

[Pink]

I think it's just simpler to have one mate that always shows up at the top of their breeding page, but then it's just as easy to have two or three there. I don't keep mine exclusive, but I do sorta pair them.

 

[AlternateMew]

I like finding life mates. Big pro for me: knowing who's related and who's not. Easier to avoid inbreeding.

 

BUT I wouldn't mind breeding a certain pair outside of their partners if someone asked.

[arula]

Lifemating can be fun if you like to play with your dragons-- make up stories about them, doodle pictures of them together, re-sort your scroll so that they're sitting together... I've done this with one pair, a water and a magi. (Which made it delightful when Shallow Water dragons came out.)

 

With everyone else, though, I can't commit to lifemating them because I like trying out different lineage projects, seeing how different breeds look together in lineages, etc. If I only have one CB White, I can't promise her away to one dragon forever-- I'm going to need her for a lot of different things.

[Indelicately]

Honestly, I have mine set for life now because I have over 500 dragons and I don't have the time to go looking for a dragon to mate with another dragon. So for me it's mostly a time thing.

 

Having said that, I will breed them to another dragon outside of their mate if someone asks or if it's for a lineage.

[Stromboli]

I've only got a few pairs that I make sure to lifemate. They're older dragons, and have descriptions involving their romantic relationships.

The one lifemated pair that I will never ever break is between my first male and first female. My first male was a CB black, and my first female was a lineaged guardian. I've since grown to prefer CB or even-gen parentage, but this pair will never have it. ;-; It also means that I have only one CB black that I can switch partners with.

But, y'know, Eva Liona and Drago Mauro give me eggs more consistently than any other pair. It's not all bad. :3

[dustpuppy]

Only very few of my dragons have life mates (3 couples, to be precise). It can be difficult enough to find the perfect dragon for a breeding project, and I wouldn't want to break up life partners (it's just make-believe, but if I don't stick to my own rules then why bother making them up? ). However, some have "favourites" (which can become life partners if no other eligible mates show up).

 

I have some dragons I will never try to mate because they would hate each other if they were real and had the personality and history I made up for them.

 

(Did I mention that I need a life? )

[PuzzleChick]

I like lifemating because I'm a bit of a romantic, plus it REALLY helps prevent inbeeding and keeps record-keeping clean. I try to keep my main breeders linked to one specific mate if they like each other and consistently produce eggs.

 

On the other hand, certain CBs that are hard to come by might get switched around occasionally to produce an egg with a certain linage. I try to avoid ever officially lifemating those ones to anybody though, because otherwise I feel a little guilty.

[Sir Barton]

The only ones that I have paired permanently are my holidays so I can be sure that when their breeding season rolls around they won't refuse. That being said though, if someone wants a different common from the holiday during the off season I don't mind splitting up the pair and giving that a shot.

[Twilightdreamer1979]

hmmmm... well, I've been trying my silver boy without a couple of different mates (a pink and a white) now I'm wondering if I should just pick one and stick to it?

 

I also have a line of stairstep Skywings I'm working on PB Skywing stair but I will be looking to breed some of these with Storms/Greys, and in a separate line, breed some of these Skywings with Waters and Blunas.

 

It sounds like i'm going to have to be really careful to avoid inbreeding

 

TD.x.

[rubyshoes]

I don't think I have life mates for any of mine except for a few of the golds and silvers. The other metallics and holidays I switch around with whatever I may be trying to get more of a certain dragon type so that even if the metallic doesn't produce a metallic egg, the egg produced is still wanted.

[Sashimi]

I'm always trying to find a "permanent" mate.

Mine never produce eggs in the first time they meet

[Pinkie]

I give the vast majority of mine mates, but that doesn't mean they are always strictly faithful. Their affairs with other dragons gives me some useful material to work with when describing.