Cut throat TT debate (not for the weak of heart!)

I just spent about 15 minutes browsing this thread...and wow...their's been a lot of different opinions thrown around here. But let me tell you what we with the Leopard Gecko Registry are doing...

We are setting standards that individual geckos must meet to be registered under a particular morph. If you want your gecko registered under a particular morph, it must be to the standard. This is to prevent the High Yellows from being labeled Tangerines, the normals labeled as Jungles, etc.

We will not be useing a gradeing system specifically for the LGR, but I do think it is a wonderful idea for each individual breeder to grade their Tangerines dependent upon the "ideal."

We are also planning to hold breeding trials in 2007 for Registered Breeders to participate in to prove out the genetics of Jungle, Stripe, Giant, APTOR and RAPTOR.

This is the new template for the standards page -
http://leopardgeckoregistry.com/UPDATE/standards.html

*We are in the middle of a MASSIVE update; this page is not linked to anything else in the registry

Wow!! Here goes....awesome thread I for one also have a great amount of respect for the idea of certain classifications, or names if you will. Basically what it all boils down to though, is "for every new name there's a dolloar to be made." For every dollar thats made there will be a new name. No matter what we call them, someone out there will be calling their geckos "the itchy and scratchy line" to make a buck. Some one will buy his/her "line", breed the heck out of them, and the offspring will be sold as the itchy and scratchy "line". Personally the way I, and I'm sure many others, see it is, We don't care what they're called unless someone for example, calls a blizzard a patternless, or a LV/RW a bell etc. etc.... The way it goes for myself, if it's a gorgeous specimen and it has to be mine than I shell out the dough. It's just that simple. When it comes to TT,T,CT,SH,SHT,SHTC,SHTCB. No matter what the lineage may be or what percent of carrot tail it has, from the physical expression of the animal, you know that it will improve what ever line it is your working with. People breed for certain traits whether it be more orange, or red, patterning or what ever. Some people will breed English bulldogs to shitzu terriers and call them mixed breeds and there will always be the Joe schmo calling them Bullshitzu's. I myself can only dream of some day having my own ridiculously cool name for my own line or morph of leopard geckos . We should all just be thankful we don't have to call them Eublepharis macularius.

Steph, excellent page! I love it! It's great to have pictures under the descriptions. What a wonderful reference!

Do regular Mack snows have dark eyes though? I thought only the Super Macks have those.

Dan, we all know you have spectacular animals. The only way you could doctor your pics is if you removed the orange! I don't think your oranges can get any... oranger? *laughs*

Brian, I'm sure you mean well and I apologize if I seemed snappy, it's just that I felt like you brushed aside the dissenters a little too easily.

I understand that classifying the color of some leopard geckos is a subjective assessment and comparison, I just don't understand where the "cut throat" thing comes in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed that this thread hasn't erupted into mud-slinging and breeder-bashing, but I don't see marketing schemes and color classifications as being cut throat. I've looked at TUG's website and I don't see anything that suggests cut throat behaviors or attitudes. Actually, I don't see or hear many cut throat remarks about leopard gecko breeders in general, which is part of the reason why I started liking them. It's marketing, it's business, it's competition... but that by itself doesn't make it cut throat (in my opinion).

Originally Posted by snowgyre

Steph, excellent page! I love it! It's great to have pictures under the descriptions. What a wonderful reference!

Do regular Mack snows have dark eyes though? I thought only the Super Macks have those.

I modified other descriptions of some of the morphs to place on the Registry's Standards page...So if in truth Mack Snows do not have the dark eyes, please let me know! I do not have any of the wonderful morph.

Allright Brian, I have to say it was never my intention to say your idea 'sucks', I didnt not say that at all, just pointing out some obvious flaws, offering an opinion, like everyone else did. Also I dont really think we were arguing, I just dont understand why you keep saying that.


Like you said to Dan the Fireman, how can anyone confuse this for yellow?

You answered your own question right there, because they cant. If Dan called them yellow, it will not matter as anyone can plainly see the color/intensity, and know they are not yellow. And no extra letter involved to help create any more confusion. One can clearly see it.

Please just tell me how you can count the amount of orange on an allready orange gecko? It is not like a Carrotail, where you can see the non-carrot part to be able to judge a percentage. The whole gecko is orange, so what are you counting on to come up with a percentage? Will thousands of other people undertstand your method?

Just like Carrottails, one persons 50% is anothers 75%.Then who is to say my 50% orange isnt the same as your 75% orange?

Steph, the Macks eyes are maybe a little bit darker, kind of a gray color. Nothing really out of the ordinary. It is the Super Snows that have the SOLID Black eyes though.

Thank you, GG! It would be nice if someone could get me a head shot for a SS to show an example of the darkened eyes. HINT HINT!

Albey, has got probably the best pic of the eyes, maybe you could ask him.

It will be a little while before I even get a chance to see the eyes in person.

Originally Posted by WindyO

Dan how could anyone think that those are even in the same category as a yellow SHT?

One thing you keep missing over and over is that in SHT the T = Tangerine!! That means, if the gecko is yellow, there is no T unless someone is trying to make a quick buck off of those who don't know better. It would just be SH.

I would like to see these red geckos you keep talking about. Even Dan's example, while being about as good as it gets, is still orange. Red stripes are actually orange stripes. If you wanted to get nit-picky you could say it's red orange...but anyone can see that it's a high quality tang compared to others.