Pros and cons of keeping dragon pairings

[Elennilda]

There are no in-game advantages to mating dragons for life (for example, they won't give more eggs if they are never bred to other dragons). So in the end it is just a matter of personal preference.

 

If I pair two dragons, they are mated for life. That's just a rule I made for myself when I started the game, and now I feel very guilty if I switch pairs around. I have done it once so far, when a really nice mate came along for a silver that was previously paired to a CB white. Of course this does make things harder for lineages. For example, my only gold (which is CB) was paired to a 2nd gen red over two years ago, before lineages became so important. But I still won't break up that pairing.

I do pay attention to lineages now when searching a mate. I love searching the 'perfect' mate for a certain dragon, some of my dragons stay bachelors for quite a while before the right mate comes along.

[Lizzyluna]

My dragons are all mated for life: once I get an egg, the couple is fixed. It's easier to have the mate at the top of the list.

[Chandler87]

I like the idea of lifemates but I've found that over time, my needs and ways of playing have changed. Well, it's quite easy for me to lifemate commons that are only going to be bred with their own breed (e.g., neo x neo). But my once lifemated CB Vine x CB Black pair? Not anymore, considering the rarity of CB blacks. My lifemated Frill x Gold pair? Oops, not an option anymore. My lifemated CB water and Gold? Faithful until Blunas came out.

 

So yes, I'll change pairings up although lifemates definitely make things easier when it comes to breeding time. And when change needs to happen, I'm very intentional about it, and not randomly selecting whoever looks pretty/handsome that day.

[AAurion]

Yeah, I've always kept mine mated for life once I find a pair that works. I'm another of the people who keeps track with notepad I use the same one to keep track of what other dragons I need so I can have all of them.

[Ollie]

some of my dragons have lifemates and it's easy when you breed when you can just click the first dragon at breeding page so you dont have to think about inbreeding and such. But sometimes it seems that they get "bored" on the same mates.... and need something new

[leeway]

Some dragons I pair because, man, I'm terrified of ruining a good thing:

Carriwitchet x Jacquemontii

 

And some I pair because their names go so well together:

Pennywise x Pound Foolish

 

Only downside of 'they look good together' is, sometimes, they're not the best breeders. ^^; Heh.

[thiefofhearts]

I would say one pro would be that you dont accidently have a dragon mate with their progeny. I only have a handful of dragons myself but I'm sure it's more difficult with people who have silver and gold trophies.

[Drachenbande]

I'm always happy to know a pair reproduces, so they're likely to stay together with the opportunity for a little escapade if necessary.

[elderberrysyrup]

Usually have mates just because it is easier to write descriptions for them. I don't mind going outside of mates, I tend to do so for whatever reason.

[Dolphine]

Dragons in the lineages i participate and in my personal projects have a mate for life.

But if people ask to breed two dragons that happen not to be mates, i'll be happy to try if it works out.

 

Btw: I keep lineage charts in spreadsheets too, i guess everyone who is working on a certain lineage is keeping track of his/her breedings.

[dragongrrl]

I prefer a life mate if I find the right pairing, but have tried several with two or more dragons just to find that right pairing. I don't want any inbreeding on my scroll, and a committed pair helps keep the lines clean.

[Cinnamin Draconna]

Nope, no lifemates on my scroll. Some pairs stay together more often than not, but this is more due to breed popularity than anything else. I usually pair my metallics with whatever breed is currently popular, and avoid whatever breed is currently clogging the AP.

 

Some pairs I keep together to avoid inbreeding... primarily my stripes, because I have so many of them. When working on large breeding projects, it's best to keep pairs together until the project is finished.

 

But for most purposes, I'll change pairs as needed or on request.. especially holiday dragons.. everyone seems to want a different pairing, so i'll breed holiday x anything, anytime. I keep records of refusals and thanks to the new progeny pages, it's easy to see successful past pairings.. and lineage trackers help to avoid inbreeding.

 

Breeding is my primary thing on DC, so I'm full of advice, opinions and anecdotes about breeding.

[zephyr_123]

Usually I end up forgetting who I paired with who, and just breed based on what egg I hope to get. For my metallics, though, I do have a strict mate to try to keep their lineages prettier and because I know they accept each other.

 

Also, because of the lineage that I started, I'm trying to get checkerboards, so I have permanent mates for the dragons involved, mostly to prevent inbreeding.

[FireAngel73]

I do tend to lifemate once I've found a successful pair (like my ice x water pair), but mostly just so I know there won't be a refusal or inbreeding.

 

One con of lifemating can be when you have a pair that doesn't refuse, but frequently doesn't breed or doesn't produce eggs. I kept a pair together for a while because I didn't want to risk refusals, until one day I just tried a different match and ended up with the egg I wanted from it. Sometimes lifemating with an "ok" pair means missing out on a really great pair, so it's best to try a lot of mates and just remember or keep records of the best matches until you pick a lifemate.

Edited February 12, 2011 by FireAngel73

[Iside]

I like usual mates because it is easier to keep in mind which pair gives which lineage, who is related with whom and so on, but I'm not very strict on breaking a pair if needed.

I have only one pair, my cb magi x cb white, which ir really a life pairing and will never mate any of them with other dragons because of their history

[WatersMoon110]

Most of my dragons are in mated pairs, with a frozen hatchling from each. But I rarely do breed dragons with others than their mate, like when the Goldfish Dragons were released. I tend to let these grow up and mate them. But almost all of my dragons are now mated for life. And I will probably do this to all future dragons as well.

[Lolchen]

I like the idea of lifemating (I'm a romantic), though I mostly don't follow it on DC. Dragons will be dragons. Some got a description with their "lifemate", those stay mostly true. Though I've got an albino dragoness, that got a child from another, and it reflects in her and the child's description Drama, baby, drama!

 

Anyway, I don't like binding myself to only certain pairs, especially with the less common dragons around (I only got a cb white, what can I say?). I just check if my chosen dragons would produce inbreds beforehand.

 

Most times, my dragons only have two or three partners.

/e I'm surprised to find I actually have life-mated dragons. Apparently. Like these dragons here.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Lolchen

[Luna Hoshino]

I tend to keep my gold with his stone mate because he's produced way more gold eggs with her than with any other dragon I've tried him with. They're also both CB, so it makes for nice 2nd gen eggs! Other than that, I tend to pair up my dragons depending on what types of eggs I want at the moment.

[LadyNatasha]

Heheh, I do completely life mates, but ONLY after the first time the female produces an egg. This way, if I breed Dragon1 to Dragon2 four times and they get no offspring, than I can just pair Dragon1 to Dragon3.

 

The main reason that I keep dragons paired up with permanent mates is because I self-RP/write personal fanfics about each of my dragons, and I like to think of them like Bald Eagles: mated for life.

 

Of course, it always helps to have the mates pop up at the top of the breeding list.

[tiktokism]

Some of my dragons have permanent mates, most of them do not - especially as most of them are bred once in a blue moon, at most. The only pair I would never change are Qwister and Idina - they gave me my last non-holiday multi-clutch and breed relatively consistently, and Qwister's description is about his devotion to Idina. When I get up to hers... someday... hers will be about her love for him.

[Twilightdreamer1979]

Sounds like it's a bit of a mixed response.

 

The Pro's to keeping life mates are:-

* It's easier keep track of offspring to minmise the risk of inbreeding

* Wont mess up current dragon descriptions

 

 

The con's to keeping life mates are:-

* You may have to get several dragons the same (e.g. CB white or black) to get desired pairings

* If you keep any offspring, you have to be more careful to check it's not inbred (if you care about such things)

 

My Dragons and I thank you

 

TD.x.

[Carnivorous M.]

I pretty much just lifemate all my dragons, when I do mate them. I'm one of those people who has come up with a sort of intertwining story for my cave and given at least vague personalities to all of them. In fact, I think there's only been three occasions that I remember where I broke up a lifemated pair (one of them switched to a different lifemate, the other one just had a one-night stand ).

 

Nowadays, I've kind of gotten tired of trying to keep track of all the lineages and stuff when I breed, so I just pick up eggs out of the AP if they've been there for a while with no signs of getting picked up. Occasionally, if two of them stand out as a well-matched or cute pair, then I mate them in my head, and maybe get them to have a kid, but other than that it's mostly memory-based.

[Artemis Moonsong]

My dragons are named after pairings/couples that I like, so they are all lifemated

 

The only "con" I have is that sometimes a pairing that previously reproduced really well will suddenly start giving the "no interest" message during breeding. This is pretty discouraging.

[dragongrrl]

My dragons are named after pairings/couples that I like, so they are all lifemated

 

The only "con" I have is that sometimes a pairing that previously reproduced really well will suddenly start giving the "no interest" message during breeding.  This is pretty discouraging.

"No interest" will come back around and give you eggs again. Sometimes they just want a break, whether a week or a month, but they will give you eggs again. If they refuse after successfully breeding, "refuse to go near each other" that may be a glitch which can be fixed. If they have never bred and you get the refusal message, they never will breed, unless they are Rare x Rare, which will happen somewhere in the future when TJ enables that feature.

[gravija]

I have 5 mated pairs on my scroll and they've been that way for years. My goldxblack pair is permanent because they have given me tons of eggs, including many golds, and I just don't find that kind of success on the rare occasion I split them up to pair with others. My magmas don't seem to breed well with anything on my scroll but reds and magis, so I have two permanent pairs from those as well. My '09 Valentines are mated for life to a couple CB pinks, both because I like the way the lineages look and I have this funny feeling they'll refuse if I try them with anything else.

 

To me, it's more of a mental thing for having permanent pairs. I like to think of certain dragons preferring one another over others, but I'm aware that it's pretty random with breeding (unless there's a flat out refusal).

Edited February 13, 2011 by gravija