No Blue Albinos!

Oh well so much for that one. LOL

We got this from RT last night, guess there is some medical reason for the blue spots. Message follows:

Update 12/03/05 - After three years of test breeding the "blue spot" female (pictured in my new book), the results of which have proved fruitless as to being able to duplicate a hopeful new mutation, the mystery has been solved by José V. Torres, Ph.D., Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of California - Davis.
In his words,"........On page 169 you have pictures of a female albino with blue on her tail and suggest that it could be the foundation for a new morph. However, it looks to me that this animal has a blue hemangioma. This condition is fairly common in humans and sometimes appears as a poorly-defined, slightly raised, blue subcutaneous nodule with normal overlying skin. The blue color is due to the accumulation of de-oxygenated blood. Most of the time it is a benign vascular malformation. Grossly, cavernous hemangiomas are blue, soft and spongy. I suspect this is the case since the three sections of the tail involved are larger than the normal surrounding ones."
To put it simply, the blue spot is a leopard gecko birth mark of sorts. So the quest for a blue leopard still eludes us.

Huh??? I guess I would need to see the pic he is talking about.

lol, and everyone was all pumped about it too.Oh well.

The way I am reading this, he basically stumbled upon a gene for varicose veins... um, yeah, now theres a trait I want in my colonies!

Hehe, actually it means its probably not genetic, and wasnt reproducable because it is something entirely different.

Gene didnt you get the new book? I did not but its in there(?) it says here pg. 169 here.

I saw the pic almost two years ago when I asked about that project, and it was odd, picture an Albinos tail w/ a big blue/purple 'blotch'. Almost looked like a bruise.

Heck no! I am not about to spend $40 on a book just for the pics!

its a good book

I hope I am allowed to do this as long as I give proper references: "The Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos" by Ron Tremper; page 169. I took a photo of it so everyone can see the example. It's not the best, but I don't have a scanner so it's the best I could do! Hope this helps.

-Jackie

wow,
so all this time, its been a simple deformity.

I always thought you need to get green before you can get blue. How about those tangs with the semi green blotches?

Originally Posted by wahberee

How about those tangs with the semi green blotches?

Are you talking about the green between the eyes?