Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question...

If I want to breed an all black leopard gecko, I would just keep breeding the darkest leopards geckos right down from generation to generation trying to create an all black hyper-melanistic gecko.

What if I breed a dark or hyper-melanistic leo to a patternless leo? Would I end up with normal looking geckos?

Just curious, anybody with experience or opinions?
Thanks
Brandon

A think a hyper melanistic would be a rare genetic trait rather than a line bred trait. Although I too would like to know if you could line breed leopard geckos to be hyper melanistic. This would make a fun project.

As of now I'm pretty sure all of the dark (hyper-melanistic) leos out there are pretty much "line bred" and not simple recessives. I think the way he wants to go about it would get you there...just breed the darkest ones you can to each other. Breeding to a patternless would give you normals het for patternless...although you could breed the darkest hets you could find together and you could end up with solid dark patternless if you linebred them.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

So in your opinion it would be possible to line-breed for a patternless all black leo by breeding the darkest hets?

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible...although I don't know how likely it would be to get them to being actually black...i'm sure they could at least be gotten to a very dark grey
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

oops...I would start with the darkest hets...or the darkest patternless leos you can find...and then line breed the darkest ones...probably occasionally outcrossing to some really dark normals to bring in some other dark genes and some genetic variety.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

Thanks, for your help! Think you could give your opinion on the message above, "Help with choosing breeding projects..."?

Thanks

On vmsherp.com they had some really dark leucistics or patternless geckos. They have sold them all, but they were pretty dark. I"m sure if you just found a couple of dark patternless geckos and bred them, you could eventually get darker and darker. I've also seen some really dark blizzards. You might be able to line breed those also.

The only problem with dark patternless (and probably bliz too) leos is that they tend to lighten up a lot as they grow...If you do start this project, try to get adults that are dark, and not juveniles or hatchlings.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.