It’s fun to watch the evolution of a gecko. The change can often be extreme. That’s one reason why we hold our animals back for so long before we sell them—it’s nice to see what you’ve got. Some geckos start out looking like they are going to be great and end up being pretty normal. Others look pretty normal and then… kapow! It’s gecko evolution! 

 

The changes can start to show pretty quickly—like the patterns on the snows and the bolds. The snows can start to get some spotting right after the first shed. The bolds often go through some changes around the stripe and the intensity of the head pattern can sometimes be seen fairly quickly. The bold striped Halloween mask below is only a few weeks old and its head was nearly solid black when it hatched. The stripes on the side were also solid black.

In some cases—like when you are watching the colors come in—the evolution can take some time. That is what we’ve seen with our sunglows, tangerines, and especially the tangerine amel fat tails. The color of the amels here will change significantly from the time they hatch until adulthood. The smallest fat tail gecko below is only a few days old, the middle fat tail gecko is a little over a month old, and the larger fat tail gecko is one we hatched last year. All three are white sock tangerine amel fat tail geckos. 

Whether you raise geckos for a living or for hobby you have to admit that part of the fun of these creatures is opening up the hide to find a gecko that has changed since the last time you peeked in.

 

Brian