Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Good Afternoon all..
I bred and kept Leos for nearly 5 years as a teenager. I moved away to college and had to sell my collection of nearly 60 animals. Well I've graduated and recently purchased a home and am looking forward to re-entering the hobby. I have some questions and am hopeing you (leopard gecko forum) could be of some assitance.

1.Has anyone purchased rack systems from Reptile Basics? Are you statisifed? Would you reccommend any one else?
2.If I'm understanding the genetics. There can be Bell/Tremper/Rainwater.. Aptors/Raptors because they are all unique strains of albinism.
3. From a purely speculitive point of view. What appears to be the most dynamic leo projects. Mack Snows? Raptors? Which strain of albinism is the one breeders work with most?

Thats all the questions I have for now but I'm sure there are more to come. Thank you for your time and assistance.

Yes you are correct on the albinoisms. they are all different. actually bell and rainwater might be the same. there is also another called las vegas. I am sorry i cannot be specific. someone that might know wouold be Dan from www.hotgeckos.com. i know he works with reinwaters as they are called. if you email him i bet he will reply. i think the aptor and raptor are mostly tremper strains for now but im sure they are working on the bells and so on. a good website to go to, to read this stuff would be Ron Trempers www.leopardgecko.com and also www.wmsherp.com has some good info.
As far as the racks go i have not purchased from them yet but planning on it very shortly. i feel like i have looked everywhere but RBI plastics seems to have the most competitive deals and what i need that is ideal for my apartment and small space.
as far as what everyone likes it seems as though raptors/aptors are hot at the moment. a while back it seemed as though everyone was working with trempers but the bell have become very popular and many large names are working with it. Also rainwater and las vegas are gaining popularity as well. it really all just depends on what you like. there is a brand new morph out called enigma by Kelly Hammock @ www.hisss.net. this morph is extremely hot at the moment but good luck getting one. theres a waiting list... there are so many line breed traits that people like too, such as Stripes, Super Hypo Tangerine Carrot Tails (SHTCT), and Line Bred Snows.
i personally am old school working with tremper tangerine jungle albinos, line bred snows, patternless, and regular and tangerine albino fat tails. sorry i wasnt able to answere more specifically but maybe someone else will chime in.

There are only 3 strains of albino at this time...

1- Tremper

2- Rainwater = Las vegas

3- Bells

Raptors, aptors, hybinos, sunglows and all other albino variations are the result of mixing other morphs with one of the three strains of albino...

GreggMM is right. To add, I seem to recall a while back though seldom used the Trempers were also called Texas & Bells were also called Florida.
Sorry to get a little off subject. But GreggMM, you probably know more on this then I do. Are some there some APTOR/RAPTOR projects going on out there useing the Rainwater & Bell lines? Last I knew the APTOR/RAPTORS were all off the Tremper line. But you know how that goes, every time you turn your back there's a new morph project out there. LOL.

You are right about the breeding projects... Always something new going on...LOL... Thats why the leo hobby is so awesome...

Anyway, I know of atleast one person who is working the Bell albino line into the APTOR/RAPTORs...
I am sure that the person working on this project will get exactly what they are looking to produce...

What is the prediction of what the outcome will be?

Well, I am certain it will look like a APTOR/RAPTOR but it will be Bell line... I think it will look better to be honest... There is something about those Bells...

I agree. In my opinion the Bells are the best looking of the three albino lines. I don't have any at the moment, they are one of many morphs I've been debating about working with.

I recently purchased a couple of the Animal Plastics racks with the indirect belly heat & hooked them up to Helix thermostates. I'm very pleased with them. There easy to assemble, there is very little difference between the temps of the topshelf & bottom shelf, easy to move & manuver, & the people at Animal Plastics are great to work with.
They have a variety of sizes & tub styles, I went with the 4'H X 2'W 18"D Iris racks. It can house 14 shoe boxes or 7 boot boxes.
The whole set-up(including shipping, tubs, & thermostat) ran around $500.00. I'm actually planning on housing a large majority of my collection in these racks set-up with the Helix. At $500.00 a rack I hope to have it all done by the end of the year. But it will be well worth the investment.