I know what you guys clicking on this are thinking. Breeding Projects can't be that bad. So many people do them! And, after all, you've probably seen so many success stories, right? So many people making their desired lions within months to a year, it probably filled you with a sense of thinking that it can't be that hard.
Entering Witchwood. Or, as I've taken to calling her over the years, Bitchwood. Witchwood is my Queen, and the only remaining clone of the 04/16/2021 Bushveld Raffle Lioness, the very first ever Bushveld RL. Witchwood was also the first ever Bushveld Stud on site. She's a piece of Lioden History! Imagine how distraught I was, coming back October 2022, to find out that the RL line had died out completely, the RL on a dead account, the owner inactive since June 2021...
Since I had a clone stud, though, I realized... it can't be that hard to revive the RL, can it? I already have the project 'finished', I just need to breed a female clone and then I revive the line and preserve the first ever Bushveld RL's looks for years to come.
As it turns out, that would be one of the last thoughts I had as a sane individual. Now, a year later (a year and eighteen days later, to be precise... oops), I have decided to start a project tracker so everyone can see the misery I am going through. The tracker will be updated every month I do not have a spreadsheet for you, but I do have a project cave for you guys to gawk at. I am not sure what cosmic crime I have committed against Witchwood and her kin, but I am sure that there is a secret tenth circle of hell reserved just for me and those who have wronged her.
As of writing this thread, here are some stats for you to look at:
700+ Cubs Born
30+ 14/15s Missing Base Born
20+ 10/15 or higher Bushvelds Born
4 Bushveld 14/15 Cubs Born
5 Witchwood Incarnations
2 Friends Recruited to Help
300 GB Spent in Eye and Skin Rocks alone
400 GB Spent Total
My method for this project is simple, survive. In order to preserve value, I keep Witchwood and her breeders as clean is possible, which is why she has been replaced so many times. In fact, I replace her every two months, each even month. She is replaced every February, April, June, August, October, and December. My friends, however, do not care to keep their breeders as squeaky clean as I do, so I'm sure eventually a clone will be born that makes the Habsburg family line look like your average Suburban Family. Such is the life of a project breeder.
Each time I replace Witchwood, the last month of her life is reserved exclusively for mass breeding. She is bred to as many NCLs as possible to produce fresh, G2 Breeders for the project. Usually, this is done in batches of 20 to 25 NCLs, with varying genetics. Any failure Bushvelds (those without Savage Amber Mane) are sold on TC to fund the project. I only keep cubs born that are an uncommon or rare base, or with 7 or more Witchwood traits. From there, their cubs are only kept if they have more than 10 of Witchwood's traits.
If a Marking Clone is born, provided they have Savage Mane, they get their base changed to an Uncommon base, and kept. If they don't have Savage Mane, they are either banished permanently (chased), given away to members of my clan, or listed on TC.
How do I prune breeders, you ask? I get sick due to my immune disorder, forget to feed my lions, scramble to reclaim only the best of the best, and rinse and repeat about every three months.
~~~~~~~
No updates yet. Will put new updates here on notable cubs.
~~~~~~~
Let me answer some common questions I've gotten about this project, as well.
Why don't you change Marking Clones to Special Bases rather than Uncommon?
I used to. Then I had a Hirola Marking Clone naturally born. I no longer do this.
Why don't you keep all cubs?
I have a very limited amount of territory space with a lot of it eaten up by my rare slots. If I kept every common based cub, I would genuinely be overrun.
Why do you still do this project if you hate it so much?
I'm just that dedicated to not preserving a piece of Lioden History! She jumped out of the PC like the glitch from that one Scooby Doo movie one day and is holding me hostage. She has a gun.