Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I mean I see allot of baby leo's on the classifieds and some are posted as tangs some hypo tangs and some superhypotangs. Besides looking at what the parents are like, are there any characterisitcs that separate them to look for??? Are there any good indicators of how much spotting will be left as adult or how much tang???

What do YOU look for in a leo???

All opinions welcome

Thanks
Jack

Jack:

I am probably going to get beaten up a bit for this but who knows. In my opinion it is very difficult to tell what a very young leopard gecko will look like when it reaches maturity. We produce quite a few leopards and I get an idea of what they will look like as far as spotting goes when they are a few months old, but still can not be sure on most if they will be hypo, super hypo, have a little carrot tail or a lot of carrot tail.

I see people advertise all the time in the classifieds with what they call tangerine and it definitely does not look tangerine to me. As the leopard gets older some increase in color, but some that have incredible color as babies end up with not much color as adults. This has happened to every breeder that I have ever had a discussion with about this subject and most of them were big name breeders. It is just a fact of life.

I do not see anything wrong with selling or buying geckos at a young age. You the buyer has to know that there is a possibility of getting a so called screamer or possibly just a very nice gecko. That is why some breeders do not sell their geckos until they are larger. In saying that though you will pay more for that screamer at 30+ grams then you will in taking a chance on him/her at 10 or 12 grams.

I hope that I did not offend anyone because it was not my intention because there are a lot of very nice geckos out there for sale. It really depends on your wants for the gecko.
Hope that helps,
Bruce
GeckosbyDesign

I know that basically any leo can turn from a screamer to normalor vice-versa. But there must be some things you could look at that make you think one way or another, Im just wondering what breeders like you consider them to be???

Also about those being sold on the classified as hypo/superhypos etc.. what would you say makes people label them as hypos, supers besides advertising for profit??? do they have any foundation???

Thanks
Jack

Most of the really young ones that are being described as Super Hypo, etc... are likely being described based on the parents. IMHO, based on my own experience, it's a crap shoot. As Bruce said, you take a chance hoping it will turn out a screamer, I personally wouldn't pay some of the prices until I saw them a bit larger when their color really starts to show. There are always exceptions. Most Carrot tails dont really start showing their Carrot for up to a month after hatching. however, I have had some that you can see the Carrot after first shed. Also, take into account the bloodline of the breeder. If you talk to Albey he will tell you that he gets very few geckos that don't turn out as beautiful adults. This is because he has refined his line of breeders. That goes as well for Ray Hine, rarely do you see any of his juvies with spots at young ages. And we have all seen some of the beauties that Kelli H. produces I'll attach an example of how you just cant tell. The two geckos are from the same parents, one clutch seperates them, but you can see the drastic difference. I have had almost exact opposites hatch out that were clutchmates. I actually like the fact that you never know what you are going to get and usually hold on to mine until they hit 30 grams just to see how they turn out.

Gecko 1:

Same Parents different clutch:

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Sam
Gecko Den
Email Me

Sam makes an excellent point about the young ones. People are just going on the parents. I have been to Albey's several times and the majority of what he produces is very nice, but he also produces some like the bottom picture on Sam's post. His are just few and far between. My results are more like Sam's. I often get one great gecko and one not so great out of the same clutch. ( When I say not so great I am talking about color and Carrot not health or beauty). That is really the fun of all of this. I will attach a pic of one of my crosses that I posted the other day. She (I think) is well on her way to being incredible. Her carrot is just starting to come in, so I still do not know how much she will have. I have another female that does not have the color and was quite plain until a couple of sheds ago. If her carrot connects in her tail, she should be super hypo with 65-75% carrot. I would not have been able to tell that a few weeks ago. I like sam grow mine up to normally 30+ grams before I sell them. Even though I am going to put up some of the less expensive ones that are in the 20-26 gram range pretty soon. I really enjoy this topic because there is a lot of mis-representation out now.
Thanks
Bruce

GeckosbyDesign