Leachies labeled obviously wrong color

[pakinjak]

I know this may seem kind of petty to you non leachie types, but it annoys the heck out of me.

I see pretty often someone posting a pic of their "high pink Moro leachie" or something like that, and then when you look at the pic the animal doesn't have one pink spot on it's entire body.

My guess is that they bought the animal young, before any color would have been apparent and that was the tag it was given. But good grief, who cares what the label said when you bought it?

This is a gripe as well as a plea for common sense. If the animal has white blotches as an adult, it is not high pink. Please call your leachie what it is.

 

[radera5]

Kevin I do agree with you here....
The only other thing I think is that they might be referring to when the gecko is specifically fired up or down. I think people are claiming what their gecko CAN look like and maybe not what it actually looks like much of the time, let alone what their pictures are showing

I know when an ad has the words "high pink" in the title, I am expecting to at least see a picture of it fired somewhere in that ad.

This may not always be the case but after inquiring on many ads this seemed to be what I kept running into.

 

[pakinjak]

That's a very good thought. I don't think it works though.

If the animal is entirely white when fired down then a little pink when fired up, it's not high pink. If the animal is white when fired down then it will not be truly high pink when fired up. At least to my knowledge, leachies don't work like that.

I think these animals are for the most part coming from one of the biggest leachie breeders, who sells animals using this terminology. However, if he's selling hatchlings, the term doesn't apply to the actual color or pattern of the animal, but instead indicates that they came from his "high white" or "high pink" line. It's not what I would do, but it's his line so he can do what he wants. I'd prefer to see terms that indicate what the animal looks like kept out of line names until the traits can be a little more predictable and actually show up in most of the offspring. There is another breeder that a line of animals called "pinky". This is different, since it's obvious that the term refers to a specific line of leachies.

However, the term should stop being used when the animal matures and does not at all show the color or pattern.

Here are a couple of examples of what most people would term "high pink" and probably would label "snowflake". Even though it's probably valid to do so I will never use these terms for them, but that's just me. But it will always bug the heck out of me to see a white leachie called pink, or a normally blotched animal called high pattern. Why? Because I have NO IDEA if the animals they produce will be high pink, high white, high pattern or the ugliest leachie you've ever seen.

Notice how this animal has pink blotching even when fired down. It's less pink, but it doesn't just go away.

Fired down

Fired up

This one has been called a "snowflake" by others.

So what should I sell their offspring as? "High pink snowflake"? What if they look like normal, run of the mill leachianus? Nah, they'll be sold by locale and there will be a pic of both parents in the ad.

 

[radera5]

I couldn't agree more with the examples you are using.
I guess I was just referring to inquires I have made where I run into similar problems. I think most of what I see is in adults. People selling an adult that says "high pink" yet none of their pictures show it.

As I said, I fully agree with you on this one. To label a hatchling as "what you think it will turn out like" just seems silly. Maybe these tactics are aimed towards the newbies? Or maybe breeders have grown so accustomed to mis-representing their own animals.....I hope not

 

[dinodaddy]

call them what they are!?! If folks were more clear about their animals in the 1st place, the leachie world wouldn't be the mess it is today...

I work with colored blotched GGs exclusively...I study their ontogeny like a wall street broker studies the markets, & the 1st thing I can say is that these animals are living works of art, IN PROGRESS!!! we are talking about colors produced by the accumulation of pigments in specialized xanthaphore vesicles, & just as in flamingos, these colors are slowly accumulated over years! not only that, but there are multiple layers of skin floating above those vesicles, so as the animal ages & its skin thickens, the diffracted light can cause considerable color shift. Not to mention the pigment shift that comes with the hormonal shift when the animals are eventually bred. So a leachie that shows very little pink/red at 1-2 yrs old can end up blood red at 10 yrs old, at least, that has been my experience thus far. & vice versa, some of the most colorful juvies are so hyper saturated that they eventually mute out to a dark blotching that looks black/blackish, and/or mutes out into speckling. The only guarantee with leachianus is that they will change as long as they live. Frankly, I think a lot of folks are taking advantage of all the misinformation out there and it makes me very angry...if you don't know, don't make crap up!!! Time makes fools of all who BS...

 

[dinodaddy]

On the offspring of your Brosse pair, I would call them Brosse leachianus, from a pink 'bold' blotched & white 'flake' (or 'fine') blotched, & post pics of the parents. The terminology/vernacular has just gotten out of hand...maybe we need to just post pics of the parents & the offspring & say nothing else...