Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im just confused as to what extent genetics play in determination of the color of a crestie. I keep hearing that color is not geneticaly inherited in cresties, so lets say two reds could produce a tan crestie. But there must be more to this. Can two tan cresties produce a red one???
Isnt there more of a chance of getting a red crestie from mating two reds than there is from mating a red and a tan or a tan with a tan???
Or is color just a line bred trait???

Also has temperature been determined to affect sex like in leos or is sexing random????
Im guessing random, if not females wouldnt command that much higher a price.
But Im wondering if its totaly random or if temps do play a role and nobody has figured it out yet???

Thanks
Jack

Definitely temperature sex determination for the ciliatus.

Colour is variable, polymorphism at it's finest.

Check this example:
Polymorphism in ciliatus

Do you have any links to articles or whatnot saying sex is temperature dependent??
I dont understand then why females are so much more expensive, or why people dont temp sex for females to make more money, etc..

And about the color I had actually seen that link but then breeding wise whats the point of buying higher end morphs, arent youre chances better of producing cresties of a high end morph by getting parents of the same high qualit morph than getting two parents of different than the desired quality morph. Making color pricing only important for people keeping them as pets and irrelevant for breeder.
Are there any links explaining to what degree cresties color are dependent on their parents color, or anything of the sort.

Thanks
Jack

The only published info I have seen on temp sexing was in the Rach book by Seipp and Henkel. Hopefully Allen R. will release a little info when the AVS Rhac book is released.

Galen
Link

Can you tell me what the incubation temps are supposed to be for males and females?
Also do you know when the new crested gecko manual is coming out??

Thanks
Jack

I too have the Rhacodactylus book by Henkel et al. I understood that the incubation temperature sex determination wasn't yet conclusive in R. Ciliatus but it was in other Rhacodactylus species. Anyway maybe I read it wrong.

I too am interested in finding out the incubation temperatures for males/females. If anyone can give me any advice it would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Jackie

Like Silly-atus fan said crested geckos are polymorphic. It means that color is based on a number of different alleles; any combination of which will yield a different color and pattern. It is not like breeding two albinos together, which will always have albino offspring (only based on one allele). Polymorphism is more complicated and much harder to predict (although years of selective breeding can make the trait breed more true). With cresties breeding say two fires will increase your chance of having fire hatchlings, but not all of them will. It also mean you can get fire hatchlings from non-fire parents on occasion. It all depends on how the different alleles pair up. That’s why high- end morphs cost more; they increase your chances of the traits being carried to the offspring. Hope it makes a little more sense now.

As for as the temp sexing; never tried it. I usually get a good ratio of males and females so never really bothered experimenting with it, so I can’t say for sure if it works. But I trust Silly-atus fan =).
-Mike

Do you have any links that explain that and the alleles thing?
Id like to learn more about that.

Jack

I did a really quick search and found the link below. If you need more just search for basic genetics.
-Mike
Basic Genetics