We previously introduced the basics of leopard gecko genetics in our article “Leopard Gecko Genetics—Part 1.” This follow-up post will introduce the concept of a double recessive—an animal that displays two recessive traits. It’s time to dust off those biology cobwebs again! In our previous post we mentioned that the genotype is the alleles of a certain characteristic. For example we would write a genotype as YyZz. The phenotype is the way the animal appears. Though the genotype shows a het y and a het z trait, we actually see the Y and the Z. As you begin breeding leopard geckos,...
Read more
Knowing what the sex of your leopard gecko is can be extremely important. Without knowing if you have a boy or a girl, how would you even know what to name your gecko, right? Not to mention that if Sasha turns out to be a boy, then he and Zanzibar are going to have a rough go of it—males don’t like other males! Then there is that mental shift you have to make when you believe that Phil is a boy until you realize that he is really Phyllis and you never quite feel the same about him—uh, her. So,...
Read more
Have you ever felt like you needed to be a geneticist in order to figure out the difference between one leopard gecko morph and another? Have you ever wondered why one leopard gecko may cost three times as much as another when they look virtually the same? Do you have great plans to create a new leopard gecko morph that has never been seen before? Leopard gecko breeding often requires a basic, and in some cases advanced, understanding of genetics. Good thing we all paid attention in our biology classes, right? When we understand genetics, we not only understand why a...
Read more
Takin' pics of geckos is fun! Here are some of the good ones fom this year. This is the male sunglow holdback from last years group. We haven't named him yet, but blazin' hot is what we should call him. He is stellar! The baby next to him is one from this year that is also AMAZING. Should be a male as well. Here are two of the HM R2 Bolds we produced this year. We aren't sure what to do with these yet. They are real lookers. This could be a pair for next year. This is a fun pic...
Read more
One of the fun things about having a leopard gecko farm is checking the ‘bator for hatchies. You never know what you are going to find. Actually, we have a good idea because we keep records and we watch hatch times and we have “due dates” marked on a calendar. But at any rate, you still never know “what” you are going to find. It’s almost like Christmas morning, or maybe Easter. In the case of some of our geckos it’s like Halloween—they are Halloween Masks you know. So, geckos lay eggs in pairs and those eggs generally hatch within...
Read more