I've been keeping cream-backed cresties for only two years, but I am 99% sure that the cream markings (as seen on the sides of the gecko) do not just go away, and small areas of cream dorsal areas do not just go missing.
Yes, the gecko's main body may go from red to brown. Or from olive to black. Or from yellow to tan. But those cream markings are a "stuck" pattern that don't change (or at least, do not disappear) once the gecko reaches adulthood. I have a cream female who has a skull-shaped pattern on her back and it never changes; it doesn't lessen, it doesn't get brighter, bits of it don't disappear, and it doesn't darken, whether the non-cream skin around it is fired up or not.
Cresties may gain more cream as they age from hatch to adulthood, but you more than likely will not see changes in the cream after that, especially over a matter of a couple of months.
To those of you who are still doubtful, if the extreme difference in the side markings are not enough proof, please look again at the photos in the area marked with a blue arrow. There is a notch missing from the area on the top gecko that is not missing from the original photo. In my experience, areas of cream do not just get up and walk away. Short of being scarred off in a fight or something, that notch should be in both pictures.
WingedWolf: That _type_ of pattern, broken pinstriping, is pretty common now that pinstriping is so hot with cresties. Pinstripe parents kick out imperfect pinstripes and they are generally sold for less than a full pinner. It is not terribly unique anymore. They do look similar. Not the same.
I cannot say whether Ed accidentally sent the wrong gecko or did it on purpose, or if the OP is trying to pull something funny. But those pics are not of the same gecko. The male seems to be the same, no question. The female is not.
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