i was recently getting some fruit fly cultures at petco when i stopped to look at their crested geckos (just for fun you know)... there was one in there that had the classic flame pattern but was a deep redish brown. they were only $40 and looked to be very healthy (eating CGD, temp gradient, 6ft tall cage) so i bought him.

now here's my question... i get the guy home, he's doing great but after his next shed he's completely normal looking. he actually looks like my other cresty... i guess it'd be called a flame pattern, i dunno. the base color is just a plain medium brown. is this normal for them to go through extreme color changes like that? and if so, how do you go about 'shopping' for different morphs if you're buying babies? its bad enough you cant tell the sex.. :/