Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Could someone tell me the difference between a patternless gecko and a Las Vegas patternless gecko?

Are Las Vegas patternless geckos albino's too?

Also, are patternless geckos the same as leusistic geckos?

Thanks to anyone who can give me some info.

A Las Vegas Patternless is actually usually referred to Las Vegas Patternless Albino. It is actually a combination of two traits, Las Vegas Albino and Patternless. A regular patternless with generally be darker and may have some pattern (but no black). A LVPA will usually be a really bright yellow with little to no pattern (except as a baby).

http://www.freewebs.com/stinauiuc/morphdescriptions.htm
Has some good info on the morphs.
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Brian Skibinski
Milwaukee Reptiles

Thanks for your info, and that link was very helpful. However, that site did not mention leusistic geckos...what's the diff between those and LVPA?

Thanks.

Now don't quote me on this since I'm not exactly 100% positive on my answer. A lusistic in this industry is generally the same thing as a patternless leo. However, I think techically they are different genetically. I think with leos it's safe to say that lusistics are likely patternlessm but it's possible that they are not. A lusistic would generally be lacking pattern as well (which is why some people beleive that blizzards are lusistics, some people say it's an entirely different morph). I know this probably didn't clear anything up, but someone here is bound to have a better answer for you.
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Brian Skibinski
Milwaukee Reptiles

Thanks for your interpretation. I'm sure I will hear something different from someone else, not because you don't know what you're talking about of course (), but because there is such a wide range of information. It's amazing at how much can vary from person to person, or place to place! In a nutshell for me, it's all very confusing, with a lot of "grey" areas. I wonder sometimes if even the information I read in books should be considered solid.
Thanks again.

Leucistic is a misnomer for patternless, but they are the same morph. It's because when people first started producing patternless leos, they thought these leos were going to be white so they were marketed as such. By definition, a blizzard is leucistic, but they don't go by that name. It's kind of like how we refer to Native-Americans as Indians. Anyway, be cautious about some of the books out there. There aren't that many leopard gecko books out there, but the only one I recommend is the Leopard Gecko Manual. It's a little outdated, but it's a good place to start and even introduces the different morphs.
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5.6 leopard geckos

chickabowwow

Ok, so that was pretty consistent with what Milwaukee posted. The example of Native-Americans to Indians helped...thank you. And thanks for the recommendation on the book.

Hi,
You may or may not have had many people ask you this question before, so I apologize if I'm one of the many, but....
What IS that in your signature picture?? Everytime I see it, I can't help but crack up...it looks like a cross between a dog and a bat!
Is that a mini dobie?

It's a dog! I took the picture when she was a puppy. We found her in the park, and it looks like she'd been dumped because I couldn't locate any owners. So I'm not sure what she is. Our vet speculated she's a boxer-sharpei mix, but someone else said she is a (I'm probably misspelling this) pretzer which is a rare pointer mix (?).
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5.6 leopard geckos

chickabowwow

Aww, she was dumped? She's lucky you took her in.
That picture would probably win a contest for funniest animal pictures though (and I hope you don't take that the wrong way, it's a cute/funny, not an ugly/funny)
And is that her name? Chickabowow? Cause the name alone makes me crack up too!

Actually, no. Her name is Chelsea.
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5.6 leopard geckos

chickabowwow

Leucism in reptiles causes the animal to be totally white with dark blue eyes. This is caused by an ultra-rare (1:100,000 animals) genetic mutation that removes all pigment from the animals skin, but leaves the eyes dark blue or black. Blizzard eyes are not blue or black and many of them retain some of the yellow pigment found in most normal leopard geckos. So, many people will argue that Blizzard Lizards are not true leucistic leopard geckos.

To further illustrate leucism in reptiles, I found these pictures -

Leucistic Texas Rat Snake

Leucistic Tokay Gecko

Leucistic Ball Python. The hets are $40-60k!

I'm not sure if Blizzard are or aren't true leucistics(does anyone know for sure?). Some of the original pictures of Blizzards looked pure white, but most as we know are not that white. In other animals, they can have smudges or other colors, but in all the true leucistic reptiles I've seen or seen pictures of, they've been pure white.

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Rob Jenkins
Have you seen the GeckoCam?
Herptopia Reptiles
Email Me

Thanks for the clarification. I was under the impression that the original blizzards were pure white. Marcia has one as one of her breeders.
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5.6 leopard geckos

chickabowwow

I think all the pictures that Prehistoric Pets had in the beginning were pure white. I don't know if the animals were actually that white, or if it was creative photography/photoshopography. I've never seen one that white, but I'm sure they do exist. I don't know if a true leucistic animal can be 'dirty' like that, so don't take what I said as gospel.

I just found a site that had a 'type 2' leucistic ball python that had a tail w/some dark coloring on it. Here's a link to it Type 2 Leucistic Ball Python

I don't know what that means. Perhaps the Blizzard is a type of true leucistic and there may be more type(s) of leucism in leopard geckos. We'll never know for sure until we see one, I guess.
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Rob Jenkins
Have you seen the GeckoCam?
Herptopia Reptiles
Email Me