Leo Morphs

[IamKaervek]

I was at the pet shop today, and noticed some of their Leo's. There were a couple advertised as Albino (babies for $40), and 1 as a Blizzard (juvenile for $60). I was wondering if there's a way to find out whether or not the Leos' genetics are likely to be passed on to their offspring (boy, I'm really bad at this genetics stuff, even after reading 3 pages of it the other day!). For instance, without being able to talk to the breeder, how would I know if the genes for the albino were dominant, and thus pass on to its offspring? Would I just be taking a shot in the dark?

I'm thinking het means dominant, and homozygous means recessive, but I'm not sure... I guess I'll have to read that article again and hope it sinks in this time *sigh*

[mlededee]

take a look at this: http://www.gekkonida.com/genetics-guide.htm. that should help you out a bit.

[BallPythonBabe448]

Het= Heterozygous, one dominant allele and one recessive allele. The dominant masks the recessive.

If you can visibly see the albino or blizzard trait, that means that they are Homozygous. (either two dominant alleles or two recessive alleles)

If you want to breed albino leo geckos or blizzard leopard geckos, then your best chances would be breeding the leo to another leo with the same morph.

[IamKaervek]

take a look at this: http://www.gekkonida.com/genetics-guide.htm. that should help you out a bit.

Ah, groovy. Thanks for the link!

Het= Heterozygous, one dominant allele and one recessive allele. The dominant masks the recessive.

If you can visibly see the albino or blizzard trait, that means that they are Homozygous. (either two dominant alleles or two recessive alleles)

If you want to breed albino leo geckos or blizzard leopard geckos, then your best chances would be breeding the leo to another leo with the same morph.

Alright. Believe it or not, you've just cleared up what 3 pages of geneology discussion couldn't I appreciate you taking the time to sum it up for me.

Do albino and blizzard Leo's tend to be highly sought-after, or are they quite common? $40 and $60 for the albinos and blizzard (respectively) seemed a little low in contrast to the normals.

And by the way, the albinos and the blizzard I saw at the store, based upon my extremely limited knowledge of genotypes/phenotypes, were Homozygous. I'm looking forward to picking them up in a couple weeks, and hopefully I'll have myself a male/female pair

[IamKaervek]

After looking at this page ( http://www.gekkonida.com/morphs.htm ), it would seem that the albinos I saw at the pet store may have been blizzards instead. The albino-types listed on that page all have noticeable shading/color patterns, whereas the advertised albinos were patternless and a more light-grey / pinkish color. Of course, I suppose the color-patterns might come in with age?

Thoughts?

[mlededee]

they are pretty popular in the world of leos. there are however, different kinds of albinos--trempers, bells, rainwaters/las vegas albinos... i'm guessing at the pet store there was no label as to which type of albino these geckos were? those prices are typical pet store prices for those gecko morphs. i am not a fan of pet store (especially chain store) geckos, especially leopard geckos. too many times they are full of worms and other parasites, malnurished, dehydrated and who knows what else. if you decide to purchase these leos be sure to check them over carefully. make sure they have nice fat tails, bright eyes, clean vent areas and are active and alert. consider taking them to a vet to have fecals done and to be treated for parasites as well. too many times i have gone into a pet store and the leos looked like they were about on the verge of death. to an untrained eye they might not look so bad, but you don't want to deal with the heartache of losing a gecko you haven't had for very long so please be careful.

all albino or blizzard leos are homozygous. if it wasn't homozygous then it could be heterozygous for albino, which means it would be carrying the gene but it would not be visibly different from a normal. not het or homo albino or blizzard and it's a normal.

[IamKaervek]

i am not a fan of pet store (especially chain store) geckos, especially leopard geckos. too many times they are full of worms and other parasites, malnurished, dehydrated and who knows what else. if you decide to purchase these leos be sure to check them over carefully. make sure they have nice fat tails, bright eyes, clean vent areas and are active and alert.

This is a small mom-and-pop store, which is a little reassuring. I didn't pay much attention to the tails or the eyes, and all but a couple (they actually had about 6 or 7 in one 10gal.-long tank (is this a bad sign in itself?) were under the hide, while a couple were in the foliage/at the water dish.

I will definitely spend some time looking them over more thoroughly next time I go in!

And a little off-topic, but since we're here: is there a database online that's used to track regional reptile shows that you would recommend checking out?

[mlededee]

if they are still small a 10 gallon may not be too bad, just depends on how big/old the geckos are.

you can find a list of shows here: http://www.kingsnake.com/events.html

[elevatethis]

Just for example:

I have a 1.2 group of leos. The male is a banana blizzard, one female is a banana blizzard, and the other female is normale.

The babies from banana blizzard x banana blizzard will all be banana blizzards. The offspring from the banana blizzard x normal will all be 100% hets for banana blizzard.

What I'm really interested in though is since banana blizzards are a cross between a blizzard and a patternless, meaning they are homozygous for both blizzard and patternless, what would happen if they were cross to a pure blizzard or a pure patternless?

[Gecko Den]

Just for example:

I have a 1.2 group of leos. The male is a banana blizzard, one female is a banana blizzard, and the other female is normale.

The babies from banana blizzard x banana blizzard will all be banana blizzards. The offspring from the banana blizzard x normal will all be 100% hets for banana blizzard.

What I'm really interested in though is since banana blizzards are a cross between a blizzard and a patternless, meaning they are homozygous for both blizzard and patternless, what would happen if they were cross to a pure blizzard or a pure patternless?

Cross the double Homo to a single Homo and you will get 100% of the common Homo that are 100% Het for the other.

Using your example, breed the double Homo to blizzard and you get all blizzard babies that are Het for Patternless.

Breed the double homo to a patternless and you will get all patternless het for blizzard.