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I was just looking at some geckos for sale online and...

restlesswind444 Mar 09, 2004 02:09 AM

I noticed that many of them had "slight kinks" in the tip of the tail which was noted by the vendors. Does anyone know what this means and if it is ok to purchase one of these geckos? I noticed that one of mine even has a slight kink in the tip of her tail...is this natural? Is it due to inbreeding for color?
Thanks for the input,
Chris

Replies (9)

roi3in Mar 09, 2004 05:14 AM

generally, tail kinks are a sign of a genetic defect, now while it does not affect their health and would make a great pet it is normally genetic in nature and is usually passed down to the offspring and because of that, these kinked tailed animals should not be bred. it has been seen alot in the patternless line and with alot of outcrossing it was almost irradicate(maybe not the right word but anywho) but when the patternless albino thing came out, alot of linebreeding took place and not much out crossing, resulting in alot of patternless albinos, patternless het albinos,albino het patternless and geckos from this line having kinked tails. there are few good breeders out there doing extensive outcrossing with these lines and i believe they are going to produce some genetically sound, gorgeous looking geckos.
like i said most of the time it is genetic but before anyone comes on here and says "no it's not" i will say i had one gecko develope a kink in its tail after it was born (at around 3 months of age)..... weird thing is, that the father was a patternless male. coincidence?? i dont know you be the judge
needless to say i would not take the chance it was, so she is now a "pet" only and will not be bred.
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-robin struck
R2 Reptiles

misswindom Mar 09, 2004 07:36 PM

"i will say i had one gecko develope a kink in its tail after it was born (at around 3 months of age)..... weird thing is, that the father was a patternless male. coincidence?? i dont know you be the judge needless to say i would not take the chance it was, so she is now a "pet" only and will not be bred."

OOOH Robin!!! Are you talking about my classes' pet, Kinky?! She's a DARLING!!! LoL And UNbelievably patient with my freshmen (thank GOD). And "doomed" to stay a spinster the rest of her life... (or maybe it's a blessing...???) lol...

Anyhooo....!! Here's her pic!! "Aerial view"

~~Dusty
_

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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

misswindom Mar 09, 2004 07:38 PM

FYI to those who don't know - I say "Kinky" in the subject line because that's her name.. That's what my 6 classes (4 freshmen and 2 junior) voted on naming her... *sigh* they're SO creative...
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

roi3in Mar 09, 2004 09:11 PM

kinky is who i am refering to, i am glad your class like her and she looks great. FAT FAT FAT!!!!! i hope you get years of joy from her... she is such a doll baby
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-robin struck
R2 Reptiles

aliceinwl Mar 09, 2004 10:12 PM

I've also noticed that kinks take time to develop. I've had them show up in a few my Tremper albinos, but not until they were about 3-4 months old. I think that if it was an "incubation error" as some breeders claim, that it would be visible right out of the egg.

-Alice

leoking182 Mar 09, 2004 06:31 PM

Well, a kink in a geckos tail could be genetic, so thats why you ask if the gecko was born like that or not, and if it was not then it's not genetic it's lack of calcium the owner of crested gecko.com I asked about one of his geckos, he said that it didn't have it as a hatchling, so it's not genetic , and he also said he sold one like that and the guy just gave him more dosages of calcium and it straightened, so it's ok you can try to get more calcium for him, and maybe it will work for you. O and it's ok to get one it doesn't affect there health really.Thank you.

From:Brent Allen email leosrule182@YAHOO.COM aim albinoleodotcom

roi3in Mar 09, 2004 09:19 PM

that all of those animals with kicked tails, arent genetic... look at how many he has with kinked tails. and if it is from lack of calcium (which i highly doubt) that makes me question his husbandry practices. The only other time i have heard of a geckos getting a kinked tail after birth,is when they get MBD, now the hatchling i had didnt have MBD but did get the kink... but the only after birth kinks i have heard of was with animals that had sever MBD............ i can see one or two weird unexpliainable kinks but a whole page full?
i know someone who purchased a RW PA from him, bred it and this person had an unusual amount of offspring which hatched out with this defect.. this PA had a slight kink at the tip of its tail, whic was said to have happened after birth....... shoot something dont sounds right to me
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-robin struck
R2 Reptiles

aliceinwl Mar 09, 2004 10:26 PM

I agree with Robin, most of the kinks I've seen have been in morphs. Crested Gecko isn't the only one, I've seen some kinky tails in VMS blizzards as well. My first pat from the goldengecko had a slight "squiggle tail".

I had a few kinks (my first in 7 years of breeding) show up in a couple of the Tremper albinos I hatched out last year. There was nothing different about their husbandry, and I know it wasn't a calcium deficency.

I think that genetics definately play a role.

-Alice

Dedalus Mar 10, 2004 01:59 PM

I have a normal female with a tail kink. She's had it since I got her at about 4 months of age. I can't really say wether or not it's genetic but she's normal and her tail is kinked.
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The universe is vast and we are so small.
There is only one thing we can truly control.
Whether we are good or evil.
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