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"Midnight" Blizzards

venomlust Apr 12, 2006 09:25 PM

Can anyone offer any information about this morph? Is it a legitimate morph all on its own or is it just a result of temperature control during embryonic development that breeders take advantage of to make the gecko develop with darker pigmentation?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, because even with all the carrot tails, jungle albinos and every color of the rainbow morph, I still find "midnight" blizzards beautiful in their simplicity.

Replies (13)

venomlust Apr 12, 2006 09:48 PM

Here's a picture of what definitely appears to be an adult gecko. Picture is property of CrestedGecko.com
Image

fattiesnleos Apr 12, 2006 09:55 PM

i am not possitive but i really think it all has to do with temp. that is just my guess.....

skmcwilliams Apr 13, 2006 10:21 AM

Actually it seems that incubations temps aren't really playing a part with my "midnight" project. My males that I incubated a a higher constant temp are much darker than my females at a lower. My pic is of a couple of my males with regualr white blizzrds to show their contrast. Thanks

Venomlust Apr 13, 2006 12:10 PM

Ah, beautiful geckos you got there!

So then, is there a known hypermelanistic (i guess?) trait? Is it some other trait being added to blizzards that darkens the pigment? Is it being passed down?

Sorry for all the questions, just fascinated :P.

fattiesnleos Apr 13, 2006 02:47 PM

those two lighter leos in the second and third pic look like patternlesses not blizzards. and the first lighter in the second pic looks like its ready to shed.....

skmcwilliams Apr 13, 2006 02:56 PM

Nope, they are 100% blizzrds, both those females I have had from hatchlings, but I do know the difference between patterneless and blizzards, and yes the one female was getting ready to shed but I think even in "almost" shed mode you can tell the contrast between the two.

venomlust Apr 13, 2006 06:34 PM

Can you offer any information about the "midnight" trait and your breeding project? How you are getting midnights, etc.

Would definitely appreciate any information you could give.

Paradon Apr 13, 2006 02:58 PM

Wow! That's a pretty one! Would a patternless be blizzard? Does it take a special characteristics other than being patternless to be a blizzard? I have one juvy patternless, and I think he/she is a blizzard like you white one.

skmcwilliams Apr 13, 2006 03:07 PM

Adult Blizzards and adult patteneless can look a lot a like. I have seen so many that I can tell the difference in adulthood. But as babies patternless still have a very faint pattern that runs down their body, this dissapears as they get older. Blizzard are born white but can have some yellow tinge on their body. That's why in the third pic the female blizzard could be mistaken for a patternless because she does have some yellow on her but she still came from blizzard parents so that's how I know for sure

bluetreefingers Apr 13, 2006 04:26 PM

wow... that "midnight" blizzard is beautiful! i had never seen such thing! is it a trait that can be passed on to others if a pair is bred?

what is the pricing on such geckos?

skmcwilliams Apr 13, 2006 08:48 PM

I got my first midnight three years ago in a trade. I couldn't verify anything on his background so I didn't know the genetics behind him. I then purchased what was supposed to be a male and 4 females from Garrick at Crested gecko that are his "line" bred midnights. Unfortunately only one of those three females ended up being female. So it hasn't gone far in helping with proving my line. My male is black and stays black where the line bred tend to lighten and darken but still stay darker than your avearage blizzard by far. I bred my blackest male to the darker female of Garricks last year for some reason she laid quite a few infertile eggs plus a inucbator accident only allowed for me to get one hatchling from the pair. And my luck again it came out male.LOL So anyway he was black when he hatched(more so then normal) and then over two months he lightened until he was about 7 months old and now he's progressively gotten dark again to a dark grey and that's how he has remained. I can't say for sure if he is only a line bred or if he would be a het for black. I am now trying to breed his father ( who is still the blackest) to any dark blizzard I can find, hopefully this year will prove more fruitful on my project and more females will come my way

skmcwilliams Apr 13, 2006 08:54 PM

Also forgot to answer your other question. I am not sure what a "true" midnight would go for. I mean the completely black ones that are proven genetic. I haven't even done that to mine yet so I won't be selling any until I know I have a line bred trait or a recessive trait on my hands. I know Garrick was selling babies depending on darkeness on his line bred trait for $65 to $200. Hope this helps.

venomlust Apr 13, 2006 09:30 PM

Thanks a million! Very interesting...
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