Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question. I just ordered a gecko (see pic below) online and I am really excited about her no matter what she is. She is listed as a "Hi yellow" but it also says her lineage comes from "albino x albino." So... If two albinos mate, shouldn't they always produce albinos since it is a recessive trait? I realize that the genetics may be more complicated, but that is how it makes sense to me.

Anyway, based on the markings of the 1 month year old, what do you think about her? Her head looks really pink so far, but I don't know if that means anything. Either way I am going to be happy with her... Just let me know your thoughts.

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-Kristin

Nice looking gecko!

>If two albinos mate, shouldn't they always produce albinos since it is a recessive trait?

Yes, but in this case, the problem is with the language. There are at least three different, independent mutants that all produce a more or less similar appearance, and all three are called some sort of "albinos". There is Tremper albino, Rainwater albino, and I forget the third. Tremper albino x Tremper albino does produce all Tremper albino. Tremper albino x Rainwater albino produces normal-looking babies. It would be a lot more obvious that they are different mutants if one was named "albino", another was named "white", and another was named "extreme dilute".

The breeder apparantly either lost or never got the full mutant names and wound up crossing two different types of albinos. This sort of thing happens every so often in a lot of different species.

Paul Hollander

I think they're all 3 referred to as albinos because in each case the creation of melanin is defective. Each, however is defective due to a different gene involved.

When you cross a Tremper albino with a Las Vegas albino you get offspring with one defective "Tremper" gene with a good copy of that same gene from the Las Vegas albino. The offspring also inherits a defective "Las Vegas" gene and a good copy of the same gene from the Tremper albino. Because the "good gene" from each makes up for the corresponding "bad gene" in each parent, this means that creation of melanin can be accomplished and the offspring looks normal.