Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello fellow herpers,
I just wanted to get some discussion swirling in this forrum. I have been breeding for a little while now and I'm trying to map out what genes are dominant, co-dominant, or reccesive. As far as color and moph traits go. I was curious what if any opinions you may have. I have noticed that the flame pattern appears to be dominant, As well as the dalmation spotting. What genes are hard to isolate or pass on if any? Well let me know what you think or at least laugh evily and swear you will never devulge such precious secrets.
-Eli T.

The attempt at placing Rhac traits into simplistic categories (co-dom, simple recessive, etc.), doesn’t indicate the requisite knowledge needed to accurately investigate this subject. Rhac traits clearly have a complex inheritability scheme that is probably incompletely understood by even the most experienced breeders (not sure what your experience level is relative to them). But you’re not going to be able to map them like you can with Ball Python morphs. It would take a tremendous number of breeding cycles, good solid record keeping, and a fixed wy of evaluating offspring to definitively “weight” the inheritability of a given trait. Even then only the most expressive traits would reveal themselves readily (as line breeding for “red coloration” has shown).

As I wrote, truly experienced breeders probably have a “six sense” about how a particular crested will turn out as an adult by what indicators they see as a juvenile. They probably have a good idea what characteristics to pair up. Certainly discussing those indicators and observations would be helpful for everyone in the creation of more desirable morphs. Of course if I were their shoes, I don’t think I’d give up that information to the general public (it's not a husbandry issue).

Also - there’s actual science and then there is pseudo-scientific terms used in the pet trade for ease of marketing and broad understanding. Both have their use, but are often not interchangeable – a good thing to remember.
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-Randy May
www.neoscales.com
Email Me

I pay a lot of attention to what pairings produce, but as Randy said, it's not as easy as dominant, co-dominant or recessive. Most morphs (traits) aren't just a simple on/off trait, genetically speaking. For example, I've gotten pure patternless babies out of Tiger x Fire breedings.

I'm really not trying to hide anything, but there's way too much to explain, considering that we're talking about a process that's gauged by probabilities and gut feelings. After a while, you develop that gut feeling about what to pair up and how their genetic predspositions for color and pattern will interact with eachother. That part, to me, is one of the most entertaining aspects of breeding Crested Geckos.

-Anthony

>>Hello fellow herpers,
>>I just wanted to get some discussion swirling in this forrum. I have been breeding for a little while now and I'm trying to map out what genes are dominant, co-dominant, or reccesive. As far as color and moph traits go. I was curious what if any opinions you may have. I have noticed that the flame pattern appears to be dominant, As well as the dalmation spotting. What genes are hard to isolate or pass on if any? Well let me know what you think or at least laugh evily and swear you will never devulge such precious secrets.
>>-Eli T.
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

Thanks to the both of you for at least posting and for some of your personal insights. Regaurdless of odds I do plan on attemting to map out the complex system of ciliatus morph and color genes. I may never accomplish a full map but at very least I will have a gut instinct so exact that it borders precognition. I can't wait to get my site I will be purchasing it in the next day or two. Oh as far as hosting specifically, who is a good site to go through? I don't want to get screwed.
-Eli
ps: sorry for the spelling I'm in a rush