Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How can you tell the difference between Albino and Hybino(sunglow) babies? Any help is appreciated.

thanks,

Dan
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1.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - (Maverick & Anna)
0.1 High-Yellow Leopard Gecko - (Charlie)
1.0 Blazing Blizzard Leopard Gecko - (Blaze)
1.0 Crimson Corn Snake - (Cap)
0.1 Albino Corn Snake - (Cleo)
0.0.1 California Banded King Snake (Spot)
1.0 Ball Python - (Monty)
1.0 Cockatiel - (Buddy)
1.0 Holland Lop - (Jack)

albino and hybino are the same thing. the only difference is is that a hybino is a hypo albino gecko. the body is mostly yellow with no pattern. just like a non albino hypo would have no pattern (spots) on its back. these pics are not hybinos or even albinos but in the first pic it is a regular pattern gecko. in the second pic you can see it has less spots wich is regarded as hypo. just think of hypo or hybino as = reduced pattern or spotting. im sorry i dont have any better pics. hope this helps. also i would say besides the albino part being a recessive trait the hybino or hypo part is a line bred trait, i think.

Thanks for the input! I understand the genetics behind the animals, do you know if there is an easy way to tell as babies?
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1.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - (Maverick & Anna)
0.1 High-Yellow Leopard Gecko - (Charlie)
1.0 Blazing Blizzard Leopard Gecko - (Blaze)
1.0 Crimson Corn Snake - (Cap)
0.1 Albino Corn Snake - (Cleo)
0.0.1 California Banded King Snake (Spot)
1.0 Ball Python - (Monty)
1.0 Cockatiel - (Buddy)
1.0 Holland Lop - (Jack)

well honestly i have never seen a baby hybino....but from talking to people who breed them it sounds as if as they get older their yellow fills in more. so i am assuming they look like normal albinos when they are born. im pretty sure thats how it works with regular hypos from what i have seen. im sure more people will chime in.

The distinction between albino and hybino is indeed less dark pigment in the latter. "Hypo" and the twice-abbreviated "Hy" before "bino" are abbreviations for "hypomelanistic," where hypo = less and melanin = dark pigment, thus, less dark pigment

Hypomelanism is a line bred trait, that, as fattiesnleos mentions, promotes fewer black/dark brown spots. A line bred trait is one that cannot be bred all one way or the other, but rather, oscillates from less to more (here, dark pigment - spots). Taken to the extreme, hypomelanism can result in a complete lack of dark pigment. Hypomelanism seems to run hand-in-hand with yellow pigment filling in some to much of the light bands, but I don't know whether or not this is independent of reduced spotting (ever seen a gecko without spots, but with light bands? ) .

Suffice it to say, hybinos ideally have more noticeable yellow due to a lack/absence of dark (in albinos, brown) pigment. Shrunken or filled-in bands are also usually stipulated for hybinos (again, is this characteristic coupled with hypomelanism? ). Both of these characteristics happen with age - dark pigment takes a little while to come in, and bands don't fill with yellow overnight.

The common stipulation for more INTENSE yellow in hybinos seems inappropriate, since you can get brighter yellow in banded albinos, too. As we can see from non-albino hypomelanistic geckos (many of the SHTCHTHTCH-whatevers out there), the amount of spotting seems to be independent of the intensity of the yellow. You can have heavily spotted, very orange geckos, or you can have near-spotless, very pastey geckos.

I answered this same question earlier this month. Scroll down to the end of Sept. early Oct. I hope this helps.