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Hypo, xantic, SHTCT, het for this or that...

humpbacks1962

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Is there a guide (with simplicity in mind) to turn to, to clear up these terms?
Seems like even among breeders the terminology is used indiscriminately sometimes.


Wanda
 
Yeah, sometimes these are used incorrectly!

you also forgot leucistic, albino, ch, jungle, abberent and supercalifragilisticexpalidosous (which I KNOW I misspelled!)...I know there are some websites that have pictures to go with the name, but I don't remember them. Someone who knows will be along shortly!
 
Lets see……

Hypo: Less than 10 spots on the body
Super Hypo: No spots on the body
SHTCT: Super Hypo Tangerine Carrot Tail
SHCT: Super Hypo Carrot Tail
SHTCTB: Super Hypo Tangerine Carrot Tail Baldy
CT: Carrot Tail
HT: Hypo Tangerine
SHT: Super Hypo Tangerine
Het: Normal looking gecko that carries the gene of a recessive trait.

I don’t know of a guide but hopefully this gives you a jump start. If I think of more I’ll post them.
 
Hill, Cody, you are so kind and resourceful!

So, do these terms apply only to tangerines and yellows? I mean, snows and lavenders don't have their own lingos, do they? And do they also apply to say, pictus, days and other geckos that show variations in color?

And what does a normal leo look like? Is it defined by the average number of spots? One of my leos is yellow with dark bands and has some specks of orange on the tail.. Are those normals?

When does a breeder call a het, "het"?

Wanda
 
Terms and abbreviations

Hey Webslave! You following this?? This is what I was talking about in my suggestion for a definitions page on the site. I don't know who would be the source of definitions, but it's hard for new people, or those of us returning to the fancy from many years gone raising families and building businesses to keep up with!

Further... I see many arguments on the site over descriptions and classifications. People buying things that aren't what they seem, and some of it seems to be over differences in terminology (and some just crooks, of course).

Val Campbell
 
A term such as SHT is a short way to say Super Hypo Tangerine and people don’t want to type the entire morph name so they just use the abbreviated term SHT. Most of the terms I listed above just apply to leos but some apply to all reptiles. An example would be het. Any other specie can be het for something as long as receive genes are present. There can also be super hypos, hypo, etc. in other species. I’m sure other species have their own little quirks but most of these apply to just leos.

If you breed a normal and an albino you know the offspring will het for albino, meaning they carry the albino gene. This is what’s been done if you see something that’s a het for albino. Hopefully all this makes sense.
 
Terms

Yeh, I like the ads that state something is 100% het for albino (or what ever). A few decades ago I was pretty strong on biology but I haven't figured that one out : - (

Val Campbell
 
Cody, you have a way to put those terms in lay language!
Now the kick is to figure out what is dominant and what is recesive, huh? So that is how you label them hets...

riverjop, you've done a beautiful job in that page! Not only pictures but a text on the genetics involved... Hope you can get more pictures to fill it all in! Beautiful job.

This is what I was talking about in my suggestion for a definitions page on the site.
Second!

So, *how do you* figure out what is dominant and recesive, breeding them several times?
 
Here’s another site with pictures of leo morphs.
Leopard gecko morphs

Recessive traits: tremper albinos, rainwater albinos, bell albinos, blizzard, patternless, and think there are a few more but I’m not sure on them.

Morphs such as tangerine, carrot-tail, snow etc. are all line bred traits.

riverjop, you've done a beautiful job in that page! Not only pictures but a text on the genetics involved... Hope you can get more pictures to fill it all in! Beautiful job.
It’s not Overtons’ page. :)
 
it is a nice page though

but there are combinations of multiple line bred and reccessive traits ! heres an abreviation lol ( CHCTTJGA) long one ! :) Carrot Head Carrot Tail Tangerine Jungle Giant Albino ..... strains my fingers typing lol and it can be a tongue-twister :confused:
 
Cody, that one is quite nice as well!

and rjop, you knew you needed a chuckle! Thanks for the intention...

Gawd, some people seem to see no spots where they stand out to others, and some seem to be color blind. It is an outlandish situation and definitely in need of a guide and standard!

Another one of my interests is to spin my own yarn from alpaca fibers. There is a chart, a scale, that breeders have and compare the colors of their animals against to call their fiber colors chocolate, gray, charcoal, etc. In spite, of course, of color and hue variations among each breeder's stock! Maybe someone should come up with something like that. An actual, physical card to put against the animal and settle the freaking color for once and all according to the defined standard. Monitor resolutions will only keep people bouncing back and forth between definitions.

Call it a beginner's, outsider's suggestion or brain fart but I think anyone taking that initiative could immortalize him/herself in the business alright!

...And don't forget my profit share :lick:

Wanda

PS: SERIOUS WARNING ( to those younger readers or others concerned with the issue) Cody, that site's genetic calculator tab links to a porno site :eek2: Human, not leo genes!
...Seriously:look:
 
lol

oops ...yea i know theyre genetics calc. page expired ! theres one called genetics wizard (g-wiz)
 
Again...

How do you know which characteristics are dominant and which recessive? How do breeders define them? How many animals must the parents produce in order to call something dominant, het, etc. ?

Wanda
 
You find out what a morph is by proving it out via breeding. If you breed an albino to a normal all the offspring will look normal but will carry the albino gene. You would call the offspring het for albino. Because no albinos were produced you know the albino gene is recessive.

Now if you breed a tangerine to a normal you will get a varying mix of both. You could get some real nice tangerines down to normals. The tangerine gene is not recessive nor dominate but a line bred or selectively bred trait. The majority of the morphs are selectively bred.
 
So, are recessive animals bred more often than dominant ones to ensure the characteristics show through? Meaning, if you have a pair with recesive traits showing do you have to breed them more times to avoid ending up with more normals or otherwise dominating patterns?

Has "DNA sequencing" gone to the leos yet? Seems that "AA x aa" table I read about in Cody's or river's link makes sense only if you are certain you have AA or aa... Get my question?:crap:
I don't think you could safely say what is recessive by producing 3 or 4 animals alone. Sounds like you'd need to produce over ten, by the same pair, to ensure what is called recessive is indeed that...

Maybe I am brain farting but just trying to understand the whole concept, and make sense of all I read around:unhappy:

Wanda
 
in animals that have shown recessives(mostly leos ,cresteds, and some snakes)

the "normal phase" is dominant over all recessives , (and has alot of influence over the line-bred(colors,etc.) thats why they produce normal appearing ..babies that are "het" for whatever recessive trait .. or they look more normal than say ...the "tang" mom or dad if bred to a "normal" ! as for a dominant reccessive ..."stripe" is dominant over " jungle " or vise versa lol:) also "reverse-stripe" and "zig-zag" can be "masked" by one or the other ( confuses me ... but im going to be test breeding some combinations ...to figure out for sure which is what ) ............ i know i have right now in front of me a "red-stripe" X "bold jungle " and she is a true completely- "striped " gecko (weird) .. per tremper put it the leopard g. -manual that jungles were selectively bred to achieve "striped" and that jungle is dom. over striped ,,,,so which is it ? any body ? possible this girls parents or one of them are het for one and showing the other ?
 
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