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Being fairly new to the Leopard Gecko world, I've been trying to get my hands on as much info as possible. I'm having a problem with really understanding gene inheritance when breeding them...het, double het, super hypo...etc. Can anyone share any info regarding this please? Thanks.

lol....ah genetics...the everlasting topic...lol Genetics can be very confusing! Anyway, I'll try to explain some of it for you! There's two different "kinds" of morphs (besides normal), linebred, and simple recessives/dominants. In leos the definite linebred traits are tangerine, high yellow, pastel, lavendar, snow, hypo (usually...), carrottail, and carrothead. Linebred traits are caused by multiple genes acting on one trait, leading ot a wide range of possible outcomes and making it difficult to predict exactly what you'll get from a cross. For example when crossing two tangs you could end up with some high yellows, and even rarely a normal! It also means that when you cross a linebred animal with a normal you will likely get a range in between the two. As far as simple recessives/dominants, leos with this type of morph are generally recessive. The one dominant trait that I know of is some hypo lines. The recessive traits in leos are all 3 strains of albino, blizzard, and patternless (let me know if I'm missing something!). The way the recessive traits work is if an animal has 2 copies of the recessive gene they will have the trait, otherwise they will appear normal. With albinos for example...if you breed 2 albinos all of the offspring will be albino, but if you bred an albino and a normal, all of the offspring will appear normal, but will be het for albino...meaning they are carrying the gene for albino (have one copy). I hope all that makes sense...lol If you have any other questions about that or want me to clarify something please let me know!

Jungles and stripes are a matter of great debate at the moment...as far as I can tell it seems some lines they're linebred, and in others they are simple recessive traits.
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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.

Wow...thanks for all that info! I actually think it may have helped! It also raised another question however....

If you bred a Tangerine with a Tangerine, and let's say one of the offspring appeared normal....would it be a "Normal Het Tangerine?"

no it would not...since there is no one gene that makes them tangerine...I'm sure it would be het at many of its individual genes...but that is not how it would be described. However if you bred it back to a tangerine you would probably end up with more tangerines since it has those genes in there. Most people that get specimens on the lower end of the scale when it comes to linebred traits say that they have great genes, and just need to be paired with the right animal to bring them out. Which is how it works...

Glad I could help!
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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.

That was very helpful for us new breeders. I'd like to take it up a notch if I may. Here is my question: It's all well and good when your talking about a single trait, but what happens when you get a whole lot of them? For instance, I have a het stripe, het jungle, nearly paternless male. What do I get when I breed him to my tang stripe? What do I get when I breed him to my paternless? Is this where double hets come in? Help!

I have a het stripe, het jungle, nearly paternless male.
being het stripe and het jungle you can just say het stripe...stripes are technically jungles...just with a stripe instead of just abnormal banding. What do you mean by nearly patternless?...do you mean it just doesn't have many spots or what?...patternless is a simple recessive gene and leos with the trait are normally somewhere between white and dark grey or brown with no spots whatsoever. Hypos are leos that have few to no spots. There is such a thing as a "paradox patternless" which are patternless with a random spot on them.

What do I get when I breed him to my tang stripe?
assuming the stripe lines for both are recessive, you should get half stripes and half het stripes. assuming he is patternless...you would have half het patternless and half "normal" (as far as the patternless gene goes anyway). You would also get a range between tangerine and normal coloration.

What do I get when I breed him to my patternless?
assuming he is a patternless you would get all patternless babies half het for jungle.

Is this where double hets come in?
The first cross with the tang stripe is where you may get double hets. Assuming he is patternless and the stripe lines are recessive, then you will get some double het patternless/stripes in their offspring. Double het just means that they are het for 2 genes.
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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.