Foundation Genetics Cont... Part 2.2, Trait Interactions Combos and Advanced Morphs
Updated: 10/05/22, v1.1
Table of Contents (click to travel to each section)
- Contributors
- Background on our authors
- History 1998-2001 - Where we came from
- How we derived the morphs
- Correlation vs Causation
- Common Misconceptions
- Current Breeding Practices
- Genetic Lineage
- Stacking
- Advanced Patterns and Morphs
- How we're listing the morphs
- Variants
- How to develop your own line
- Inbreeding/Intercrossing/Line Breeding/Outcrossing practices
- The Morphs
- Base Color Morphs
- Pattern and Color Morphs
- Phenotype Base Color Variances
- Combo Morphs
- Characteristics
- Structural Characteristics
- Polydactyls
- Old Age
- Thank you!
- Comments
Guide Contributors
- Anthony Vasquez & Jessica Vasquez – Lil Monsters Reptiles
- Tom Favazza - Geckological
- Phillippe de Vosjoli
- Allen Repashy
- Matt Parks – Pangea Reptile
- Donald Hendrickson – Reptile City Korea
- Mark Orfus – Northern Gecko
- Hannah Quellhorst – Greeks Gecko
- Amanda Gavel – Wicked Arboreals
- Cindy McDannell – Gecko Haven
Phenotype Base Color Variances
The hobby recognizes the basic base colors, black, yellow and red, but has also included tones and variances to the list. The tones and variances stem from interactions of traits with the initial base color or even from multiple base colors affecting one another. Geckos that appear pink, orange, or lavender, for example, are not displaying a true base color. Using the term "true", along with anything other than a basic base color, is incorrect and misleading. If we look closely at scale coloration, we can see different tones or even spotting of color on top of a base color.
The trait interactions and dominance of each trait cause a range of tones that present in a phenotype spread. This is why we see different nuances in yellow base animals that can range from nearly white to orange. Some appear as a smooth color, while others have red spotting on the scales, which make it appear orange. The spectrum of color produced depends on the animals being paired, either sire or dam will shift the range of your phenotype production. Keep in mind that each trait in an animal may affect or be reactive to any other traits that are present. Understanding and proving your own animals traits will lead to a better assessment of what to pair and ultimately lead to attaining your breeding goals.
Lavender- A Hypomelanistic form
Combo details:
CATEGORY: Combo
GENOTYPE: B/H
PHENOTYPE: Epistatic
Allelic with: none known
Lavender is one of three known traits that affect hypomelanism. It appears as a lavender tone, on a black base, which lends this trait its name.
Lavender is a combo morph that describes a black base animal and the effect of hypo that reduces overall melanin production. This causes the base color to appear lavender, purple, sky blue, and in some cases with a greenish hue. A misconception is that “true lavenders” do not fire up. This is simply a misconception of how the trait works. The less a hypo animal appears to fire is an indication of a greater level of the trait’s stacked dominance or expression in relation to the other traits. This is true with all the known hypomelanistic traits.
Cold Fusion - A Hypomelanistic form (Enhancer)
Combo details:
CATEGORY: Pattern Color
GENOTYPE: Hc
PHENOTYPE: Epistatic
Cold Fusion is one of three known variants that affect melanin. Cold Fusion is a particular type of hypo that has been refined. It produces unique hypos. The most significant aspect, in relation to the other hypo form traits, is the blue tones that are present with a black base and red base animals. When the black base and yellow base Cold Fusion animals are bred to one another, the progeny are either yellow base or the blue tone black base (lavender). There is no blended form. Blue-toned animals have been produced by breeding a pair of yellow based Cold Fusion animals. This shows that black base is still present just like non-Cold Fusion yellows. Cold fusion is also acting as an enhancer trait, providing a new characteristic that provides structure for tonal variations with the base colors. This trait has been producing many different characteristics, which may, or may not be linked to Cold Fusion. Some of these include paper white pattern, non-dalmatian clean-looking animals, and SAF. Another form being produced named Mohawk resembles what is currently being called Sables. Mohawks are interestingly grey animals that are being produced by most of the Cold Fusion groups. We are continuing to learn from this trait and looking into its characteristics, as individual traits, for further development. This trait was founded and continues to be explored by Tom Favazza.
Pink Base
Combo details:
CATEGORY: Pattern Color
GENOTYPE: H/r
PHENOTYPE: Epistatic
Pink is not a single trait base color. It is a combination of a red base and one or more of the hypomelanistic forms.
with-Phantom
The melanin added by phantom can be overcome by stacked hypo, but the effect that phantom has on the pattern is still unaffected.
With different forms of hypo, or a single form of heavily stacked hypo.
The effects of melanin can appear to be non-existent when stacked properly. The Cold Fusion form has shown to have the greatest effect, by greater reducing the brown and gray tones that are still present when these animals fire down. It also appears to give the tone a nice even shade across the body.
The term "True Pink" is inaccurate, as it insinuates that it stands alone as a base color. It is a matter of the dominance play of multiple traits.
Combo Morphs
Combo morphs are descriptions of geckos in the hobby that are comprised of multiple traits. Although nearly all crested geckos visually display multiple trait combo phenotypes over the years we've come up with creative names that describe those phenotypes, this is common in the hobby with other species. Below we share examples of what makes up some of those morphs and if you understood the first section of part two you'll know how to breed for them below.
Blonde - Citrus, Hypo
Blonde animals are light-colored yellow bases with yellow colored dorsal instead of white. They are similar to unicolored animals but are NOT phantom. This usually comes from cream-colored patterned animals that take on a yellow tone that matches the base color. We have several results for this but need further data to outline them better as adding hypo to these causes the yellow colored dorsals to turn white.
Brindle - Pinstripe, Tiger, WP/OP
Brindle originally came from the Rhacodactylus book. It is a Tiger with more reticulated pattern. See the photo from the book and the Tigers in the book below. This is different from hat we call Brindle today and further shows how the history is important as the hobby changes since the definition has been modified over the years to include more phenotypes.
Brindlequin
Combo details: Yellow Base, WP, (Strong Tiger/Brindle Patterning)
A Brindlequin is a combo morph that displays WP Harlequin, with a lower dominance pinning, on a Yellow base animal that displays strong tigering. The tigering breaks up the yellow base coloration that is usually dark in color but can also be red, due to how trait combos affect tigering. With pinning and tiger interacting it causes the brindle look. The term best describes a morph with those characteristics and does not describe a single gene at play, but rather an advanced genetic combination making them difficult to produce from scratch. The strong expression of tiger/brindle is key for the combo.
Buckskin
Buckskin appears to be from multiple combinations, that may or may not include, yellow base, red base, black base, hypomelanism, and phantom, along with influence from wild-type brown melanin. Remember that this morph is very much a wild-type combination that ranged drastically in the natural population. Pattern morphs are also mixed in with the base combination of buckskin. There was also occasional orange/yellow spotting seen in wild crested geckos. We still see it today in the hobby.
Citrus Glow/C2 Citrus Glow - A bright Citrus crossed with Tangerine animals
A bright citrus crossed with tangerine animals. Citrus Glow is an animal that has been crossed to cream on cream or hypo animal producing glowing bright yellow animals. To quote AC directly, “Some specimens are so clean and devoid of dark pigment that they have a hypo melanistic look to them. I've often referred to it as the "C2 glow".
Confetti - Red & Black spotted Dalmatian
Confetti, are animals characterized by red, and black spots, and they may also have white snowflake and ports that look like white spots. The Confetti name comes from Altitude Exotics named after a particular animal. In general, this is considered a line that can be traced back to an original animal.
Creamsicle - WP on a Creamsicle colored base.
The Creamsicle morph has been a difficult and long sought-after phenotype to produce consistently. There are a few ways to create a Creamsicle. Both methods require a Yellow base animal as the basis for the morph. The second is hypo and the third component which contributes to two distinct looks is the orange coloration that may come from tangerine or red base influence. The first noted variant is a soft orange Creamsicle usually a solid coloration and comes in deep to light-colored hues. The second variant is what we like to refer to as Coral, this coloration under close inspection has hues of pink, orange, tangerine, and yellow all distinctly visible under a loupe or macro shot. The complexities of this phenotype are still a WIP and is likely due to allelic interactions of multiple traits and are considered an advanced base color morph.
Coral - Creamsicle animal with swirls or red and peach hues in the base color
Coral is a very unique subtle color difference from the Creamsicle. This is characterized by swirls of color and has proven difficult to reproduce as you need just the right amount of several traits combined in a creamsicle to achieve this color. With red phantoms we see a more dense and even tone as patterns are affected and the tone is darkened by the added melanin from phantom.
Drippy
Dorsal pattern the appears as though it is dripping onto the upper laterals. This is caused by snowflake. Although Drippy is a catchy term, it does not capture the full effect snowflake has on the overall phenotype of the animal. This is also found on belly pattern, along the limbs and other white spotted areas.
Phantom Pinstripe - Base color, Pinstripe
Phantom + the pinstripe gene makes a phantom pinstripe. Simply put any phantom with pins that are best seen towards the base of the tail when the white of the pinstripe begins to show through again
Phantom Quadstripe - Same as Phantom Pinstripe, but a greater dominance pinstripe that presents a line down the mid-lateral line.
Same as phantom pinstripe, but a greater dominance pinstripe that presents a line down the mid-lateral line. Phantom Quadstripes are just like the phantom pins but also have a row of unbroken lateral stripe, usually accompanied by raised scales.
Quadstripe
Quadstripe is pretty simple. It is an animal with 4 stripes. Two from the pin on either side of the dorsal, and two on the laterals. in general, if there are breaks in the lateral stripe some hobbyists disqualify the quadstripe label, but breaks do not mean the animal can't produce quadstripes. Genetically the animal is the same but cosmetically doesn't meet the qualification for unbroken stripes.
Reverse Pin
Reverse Pin is something that has been mistakenly attributed to a trait but is in fact a creation of how tiger pattern pushes up against the pinstripe on the dorsal, creating a dark line under the pinstripe, this can be red or black. If you look for it you can see the same reaction in almost every single pinstripe until Snowflake begins to drip down and cover it as it is unaffected by tiger pattern.
Tri-Color - Base color, WP, OP
Tri color animals come in lavender, black, or red bases and are characterized by 3 distinct colors, orange pattern, white pattern, and the base color.
Extreme Tri-Color - Same as tricolor, but with greater expression of pattern.
This is a extreme patterned version of the above, however, we start to lose the aesthetic description of three distinct colors as the base color begins to become a smaller percentage of the three distinct colors.
Characteristics
The characteristics below are not traits but characteristics we've noticed in the hobby. They may be caused by a trait but do not define the trait. The difference is that trait characteristics are caused by genes, while characteristics are a feature or a quality of something. A person being quirky, weird, or devilishly handsome, are characteristic examples.
Blush and Red Throat
Blushing is characterized by a red or rosey-colored cheeks. It has proven to be an indication of being heterozygous for red base and is one of the few markers found in this species.
This is characterized by red coloration under the chin and around the throat. We've seen in lavender animals that they have proven to produce red animals. In other situations, red x red animals have produced lavenders with red throats and blushing cheeks. This interaction is most often found in lavender animals and where the evidence for the recessive red description has stemmed from. The other hypothesis is that it is hypo causing the red pigment to be produced. Phantom hypo yellow base animals also tend to fire down dark but fire up red where there was dark pigment, these are advanced animals with several trait contributions, there is a lot of work that can still be done in this area.
Fringe – (Characteristic)
This description is characterized by cream to white coloration that highlights the edges of the hind legs and usually the kneecaps. It can appear in animals of any color and morph, with or without walling, and even in patternless morphs, so we are defining it as an individual characteristic that appears when the animal has WP present. It can be added in a single generation when an animal that has the characteristic is paired with an animal that does not exhibit fringing. Fringing can change from white to orange or yellow when an animal has tangerine, as tangerine is described as infusing the entire animal. It is closely correlated to WP and Whiteout/Whitewall.
Lateral Stripe – (Characteristic)
This characteristic is described as an unbroken stripe of WP through the center of the lateral. This pattern's formation is controlled by pinstriping at the mid-lateral line. The more pattern that develops on the lateral the better chance it will form an unbroken stripe. The pattern is likely due to whiteout... the lower expression of whitewall.
Porthole – (Characteristic)
Portholes are simply white pattern spots coming through along the mid-lateral line. This line has a relationship with the pinstripe line as it causes raised scales and white pattern that can run across the lateral. We can, more recently, see how white pattern is easily combined with pinstripe and the mid-lateral line as it forms quad stripes. The portholes are just an early stage representation of what we now refer to as white spots, usually on a phantom. The reason that portholes are somewhat evenly spaced apart is that pattern expressions are separated by tiger. If you look at harlequins, it is not uncommon to see the portholes fixed into the centers of the OP and WP along the mid-lateral line. On a phantom, with greater white pattern expression, or dominance of white pattern, we see more of the white spotting come through. It simply overcomes the pattern effect of phantom to a greater degree. This phenotype is sometimes referred to as white spot.
Tipped Crests
Orange Tip
This is characterized by orange tipped crest spike, not sure what causes it exactly. Pinstripe and tangerine animals tend to display this. However, white patterned emptyback animals without tangerine have caused the same or similar reaction.
White Tip
White tipped crests that are usually a result of pinstriped aniamls.
Structural Characteristics
Structure in the last 10 years has been almost a second thought and first has been pattern and often only examined by comparing just the head of the animal. Good or excellent structured animals should evaluate the whole of the animal's body. The small starting population concerns of the community should lead us to begin to examine the whole of the animal. The areas we examine are nose structure, jaw alignment, eye distance related to head width, crest structure, necks structure, dorsum thickness (too thick or too thin), hips and body size, not just hitting 40 Gram weight. Below we show animals that have variations, unfortunatly we don't have poor structured animals to photograph but the ones depicted show the upper and lower limits of animals still displaying good structure, animals outside this range begin to get into poor structure and need to be carefully evaluated for breeding to offset any negative effects.
Neck Structure – (Physical)
There are different types of neck structures in animals that can be noticed. This seems to come from related lines. The two we have seen are concave necks and broad necks. Concave necks cause the spike structure to tip upwards rather than lay flat like a broad-necked animal.
CONCAVE
Some animals have neck structure that has a concave divot, causing the crest spike to tip upward.
BROAD
The animal below shows the recommended uppermost limit, more than this may indicate shallowing the gene pool.
Snout Structure – (Physical)
Wild-Type Snout Structure
Long and average snouts are found in wild populations. The short round ones are due to selective breeding practices. People really like the short stubby faces on animals like the pug, bulldog, or the british shorthair if you like cats.
LONG
Long snouts are distinct from the norm but there are no negative aspects of these animals as this structure has been observed in the wild.
SHORT
Arguably the most physically appealing of the nose structures. These animals are quite pleasing to look at. Care does need to be taken here as there have been some animals with extremely short noses and broader heads, those noses can be convex instead of the concave shovel-like nose that the species is described with. Too short of a nose can indicate shallowing the gene pool and possibly the result of breeding animals that are too closely related. Although this has been appealing to some breeders, we should try to maintain proper structure.
UNDERBITE and OVERBITE
This has proven to be genetic. It should not be bred and will pass on to offspring 50% of the time. This is likely due to improper breeding practices without enough genetic diversity in the pool of animals exhibiting this condition. Other causes of underbite and overbite are due to poor nutrition, and poor or improper calcium intake, this can be solved with proper nutrition being reintroduced into the animal's diet.
Body and Size
The first imported animals recorded and subsequent generations reported adult males to be 26-38 grams and females 32-45, with the largest reaching 52 grams. In the last 10 years, selective breeding has begun to produce animals that are on average 38-56 grams and some animals reach 60+. This is likely related to diet, an abundance of food, and greater sources of protein. Although not yet clear some breeders are starting to feel that this could be negatively impacting how long cresteds may live.
Breeding
"Breeding should not be done until 45gram." We read this all the time but crested geckos have not always been the 45-gram monsters they are now. Quoting from the original breeders of the species, F1/F2/F3/F4 animals only reached high 30gram numbers with some breeding adults only reaching 28Grams. We know these animals live to 16-22 years of age and females have been known to continue producing eggs up to 18 years of age. The fecundity of these animals with a smaller size cannot be overlooked as we are starting to see large animals suffer from less productivity. We are not yet at the point of seeing shorter lifespans as we won't know until at least 2032 if the lifespan of these animals is changing due to breeding for larger size.
Tails - FTS
FTS has long been suspected to be due to how the animal uses its tail and or its position when relaxed or sleeping. Glass enclosures are often blamed for FTS. Over the years we have noticed it can be caused by how they rest on their tails, not just the tail flopping over their head when they are facing downward on glass. It can even be caused by long-term dietary habits or poor nutrition. Some animals can even be prone to weaker tails as they tend to use the tail less than some siblings, causing weaker muscles that would normally support the tail’s weight when they are large and have a heavy set weight. It has not been proven to be a defined genetic characteristic.
Eye Color
Several eye colors exist, see below.
Normal
Normal colored eyes are light tan.
Black/Phantom Eye
Characterized by a dark ring around the outer edge of the eye.
Silver
This color is very similar to the blue but often also comes with a dark ring and is usually found in, but not limited to, Super Softscale animals.
Blue
These are bright lightly colored eyes with a blue-ish hue that do not always stay to adulthood, and are often found in light-colored pale animals likely hypo.
Red
Red-eye reticulation usually comes in the hatchling to juvenile stage. In most all cases the red color subsides to the normal dark brown coloration, however, the Cold Fusion form of Hypo animals tend to hold the red reticulation.
Rings
Characterized by a dark ring around the outer edge of the eye.
Polydactyls
What is a Polydactyl?
In simple terms a Polydactyl or poly is an animal with an extra toe, they can come in various forms and are often attached to an existing normal toe.
What causes it?
There are a few possible causes. In general, most animals have several genes in their DNA that are ancestral and no longer deemed necessary. The term for these genes being activated is atavism, which is a recurrence of ancient ancestral traits in the subsequent generations. This is also something that happens in humans with tail-like appendages or excessive hair on areas of the body that aren't normal like the face arms or back. These genes can be activated in several ways; one of which is when genes for previously existing phenotypic features are preserved in DNA, and these become expressed through a mutation that either knocks out the overriding genes for the new traits or makes the old traits override the new ones. {Brian K. Hall (1984), "Developmental mechanisms underlying the atavisms", Biological Reviews, 59 (1): 89–124, doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.1984.tb00402.x, PMID 6367843}.
Since 2006 we have only observed a few polydactyl animals appear from unrelated pairings. Those pairings have been together for over four seasons and we have not observed other polydactyls since. Some ideas as to the cause of this are atavism, high-temperature fluctuations, or shallowing of the gene pool. Some breeders have also tied poly's to some lines that have a high propensity to produce them. This is why it is discouraged to breed them as it can be an example of the shallowing of the gene pool. What is clear for some cases though is that repeat breedings and proper incubation for those produced through incubation issues have not produced additional polys.
There is a lot of work to be done here in this particular area of research to find out what is causing this to occur in the hobby in order to learn how to avoid it. This is a difficult endeavor due to the stigma and the issue of making so many Poly animals in search of those answers. So for now it seems two main possible causes are lines that produce them and incubation issues.
What does it mean for the gecko?
Nothing, they live happy healthy lives.
Should poly animals be bred?
This has been a heated and debated question for a while. In general, most breeders stay away from breeding polydactyl animals, as some stand firm on it being a trait that is passed on. Regardless, avoid breeding them until we find evidence that better explains what could be the issue. It may just be a benign growth or an indication that the gene pool is not being outcrossed enough. So if you ever receive an animal from a breeder with an extra something reach out to the breeder it’s something that has been missed by experienced and inexperienced alike. Do not shame, do not blacklist, teach and use this article to help.
Old Age
Older animals can make phenotype identification very difficult in some cases. With old age, there is a significant color change that can take place. Here are a few color change milestones found in the majority of phenotypes. Hatchling to 1
week, many hatch a reddish color and will be difficult to discern when an animal has a lot of hypo. 2-3 Month pattern and color begin to develop, an additional change happens at the juvenile stage from 6-10 months. Adult color change happens between 12-16 months and a final maturity stage of around 1-2 years of age. Color can then change between 2-5 and 5-10 years of age where fading, and browning, can occur. Side note, some traits may cause an earlier change. Color changes as seen in Achillies are a good examples of what can happen with animals in old age and why some mislabeled animals as lavender. This is why it is import to know your lines, and breed what you develop instead of old adults with interesting colors. The traits that yield strong color changes throughout life are Phantom, Tangerines, Lavender, Sable, Cappucino, and Lilly.
This is Fury. You can see him here when he was 2 years old in 2009 and the second pic of him is when he is in 2009 only 10 years later. This is where in our discussion in the community we have found breeders reporting to produce yellows from lavenders. Yellows not only turn a slight lavender color but also turn peachy colored or faint red, this is due to the lack of melanin in the morph. The description for which is defined better if you understand the chromatophore, how geckos produce their color, and where that color comes from.
These phantom offspring examples show that identifying phantoms can be difficult. This animal is high-color but without tangerine, phantom will suppress the coloration in the xanthophore layer of the chromatophore as it ages. Orange tends to brown out like the original phantoms from F1-F6.
Orange and yellow color in early animals has been known to fade with age. This still happens today in the majority of animals. It is important in your early career of breeding animals to raise them for the first few years to begin to develop the knowledge as to how the pattern progresses, develops, and fades over time. Here you can see Blair, which we received from Northern Gecko as she faded to black and white, which is common for less developed orange patterned animals like in early Tris.
THANK YOU!
From Anthony:
The history of this hobby is important and we can't forget the people who came before us. They build the foundation for the animals we breed and where the traits and morphs come from. A huge thanks to the contributors mentioned at the top of the guide and hours of mulling over the data. You have been a pleasure to work with and I'm stoked to keep updating all the data as we continue to discover new information. Anthony, Allen, and Phillippe thank you for everything you've done to help Jessica and me in our pursuit and for pushing us to chase this endeavor and publish our results. You three have been mentors for decades to us. Allen, we got our first crested geckos from you and Philippe we got our first gargs and leachianus. AC thanks for all the help and advice over the years, the collabs with animals, and always being competitive with the animals we each produce.
I also want to thank everyone for their contributions. Reaching out to share your thoughts, agreeing and disagreeing with our findings. Your feedback positive and negative has helped us to develop better analogies for how to explain our findings and we're happy to see the vast majority of you corroborating what we have discussed by analyzing your own personal breeding results together. A special huge thanks to our new friendships formed in the last 2 years and the long conversations we've had. If you think for a moment, I wonder if he's talking about me? Yeah, I am. Don't be a stranger, message me when you get to this part of the guide 🙂 !.
A special thanks to you Tom! I can't believe we got here and how far we've come with this. Combining our data has changed several of our models and we've grown from collaborating on everything, and I really enjoyed every chat. Matt, thanks for all the help and support along the way and your friendship. Most of all thank you Jessica, my partner in all this and for your patience with how many years we've both poured into this, I love you.
From Tom:
I would like to thank my family, for weathering my gecko obsession, for being supportive in my dreams and for allowing me the time to work on this endeavor. I must also show my appreciation to Anthony and Jessica, for their abilities in this undertaking as well as their friendship along the way. The late-night brainstorming sessions and comradery have been amazing! To Matthew Parks and Frank Fast, I thank you for your friendships, your contributions, your inspiration, and your support in life and with this undertaking. For the most brutal honesty and genetic mentoring... Thank you, Travis Wyman! You and the rest of our BLBC family have always been there to support one another. To Josh and Danielle, of The Exotic Empire, I value the experiences you have shared with me and for your amazing friendship over the years.
For everyone that has supported our efforts and has taken the time to reach out, stop by at shows and/or ask for clarifications on our work... I appreciate you all! You have proven to be a major part of helping get this information out to others.