Heat affecting Hybrids

Has anybody heard of the temp affecting the Leoopard gecko during the incubation period? I know of the temp affecting the sex. But somewhere I read the fact of raising the temp during the first few weeks actually makes the dark pigment in the skin receed. Any input would be appreciated. I'm new here and my wife and I just started raising Geckos as a hobby. Right now we have 2 gravid females. Thanks for any help....I'm sure we will have more questions later on.
Scott

Hi there,
So the gecko bug bit you too huh. Welcome.... Only the sex is determined within the first two weeks. It's said that the pigmentation is darker when the eggs are incubated under 90 degrees. Be careful though 91-92 degrees can produce females that we like to call "Hot" females. They tend to be really psycho and don't make good breeders if they breed at all. 82 degrees and below is the temp for calm cool females. Some also say incubate at 85 degrees for a split ratio of M/F but I don't find that to be quite accurate.

Ahh yes and just for the record my friend, a hybrid is when offspring are produced by two unrelated species or subspecies. For a quick example check out the "liger" if your not already familiar with it. It's a cross between a lion and a tiger. They get huge.

thanks so far for the info......Yes I have been bit by the bug...Funny started with one gecko and now within a year we have 3 femalea and one male, custom built cage and lots of crickets ad meal worms breeding. I'll sy the bug has bitten.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Dr. Brian Viets, Dr. David Crews, and Dr. W.H. Gutze were doing studies on incubation temperatures vs. gender in Leopard Geckos, and they discovered that the higher the incubation temperature also seemed to produce less dark pigment in the test subjects. Then in 1997, Dr. Viets along with Dr. Adam DiPrima and Dr. C. F. Williams presented their findings at the 77th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Herpetologists, and a short version can be found in the Leopard Gecko Manual.

Essentially, what they found was that genetic contributions from each parent had just as much influence over the amount of dark pigmentation as the incubation temperature. Ron Tremper "borrowed" this theory and began to incubate eggs for 3 weeks at 80-82 degrees to 'set' the female gender, and then at 89-90 degrees for the remainder of the incubation period in order to produce lighter/brighter female albinos. "Chocolate" albinos are basically nothing more than low temperature incubated geckos.

The only problem with all of this as I see it, is that if the incubation temperature was the only determining factor in the level of dark pigmentation in Leopard Geckos, then males would be lighter, brighter, and have less dark pigmentation than females by virtue of their higher incubation temperatures. We know this is not the case at all. Genetics, stress levels, substrate color, environmental temperature, and nutrition all play a key role in the final coloration and pigment of Leopard Geckos.

Originally Posted by Ian S.

Ahh yes and just for the record my friend, a hybrid is when offspring are produced by two unrelated species or subspecies. For a quick example check out the "liger" if your not already familiar with it. It's a cross between a lion and a tiger. They get huge.

I know this is off topic, but here is a picture of the "Liger" Ian mentioned. VERY cool animal:

ligers are bred for skills in magic. its pretty much my favorite animal.

I want to feed our females some of what she's drinkin' !

I want to feed our females some of what she's drinkin' !

believe it or not... thats marcias special leopard gecko slurry.

Originally Posted by diablohogs

believe it or not... thats marcias special leopard gecko slurry.

LOL
Hey look at the dude on the right in that pic. Is that Nicholas Cage??? I knew he had a side job.
"Marcia you are an information Super highway as usual, thanks"