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Mixed Up Morph Names

diablohogs

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someone in a recent thread mentioned that there are too many morph names being incorrectly tagged to aniamls. lets take a look.

snow: this is a combination of type A anery and amelanism (both reccesive traits). they are typically various shades of pink and white. what we call snow in leopard geckos should have been named anery or linebred anery since until recently all grayscale (anery looking) leopard geckos have been linebred from plain WT leopard geckos. there is currently a codominant variant of the snow (linebred anery) called a mac super snow. if this is combined with albino it would possibly produce what the rest of the reptile world refers to as snow.
these have red/pink eyes.

blizzard: a blizzard is a variation of a snow where type B anery (axanthic) replaces the type A anery (true anery). these are typically all white and have been line bred that way. basically they are a super snow.
these have red/pink eyes.

ghost: this is a combination of the anery (type a) and hypomelanistic morphs. strangely enough these animals are typically grayscale and in cornsnakes tend to have lavender and yellow pigment present. a ghost boa (red tail) or ghost honduran milk snake is a beautiful site indeed looking like the new mascot for the oakland raiders decked out in silver and black. in leopard geckos most muted (in color) hypo CTs are labeled this. here i thought a nice hypo carrottail was orange...lol.
these do not have red eyes.

leucistic: a nonpigmented and nonpatterned animal. typically pure white with black or blue eyes. i never understood why we call our patternless leos leucistic. it musta been like the first gold miner who found pyrite...lol.

albino: a complete absence in the production of melanin. lucky us we have 3 variants of albinism in leos. all considered t+ albinos. this is doubtful.
these have red eyes.

hypomelanistic: animals with a retardation in the production of melanin. this is a hard one in most species. often mistaken for t+ albinos or vice versa. there are multiple strains of hypomelanism in many species of reptile including red tail boas, hondurans, ball pythons, hognose and bearded dragons.

hybino/sunglow: this is a combination of amelanism (albinism) and hypomelanism. typically very orange with no black and red eyes. i.m.o. the nicest combination of morphs available in red tails, corn snakes and yes... leopard geckos (a.k.a. hyglo, super tangerine, aptor ect..).

patternless: this is when an animal is lacking any identifyable pattern (i.g. banded, striped, jungle ect..). ive only seen this morph in gopher snakes and leopard geckos.

i better stop for now, this is taking alot longer than i had guessed. well theres some food for thought. it really seems to me that if we, as gecko breeders, stuck to the formula and kept it simple things would be alot less confusing. maybe its not too late.
 
First, what is doubtful about the albinos?

diablohogs said:
albino: a complete absence in the production of melanin. lucky us we have 3 variants of albinism in leos. all considered t+ albinos. this is doubtful.
these have red eyes.

Second, the names of a morph can be anything someone would wish them. There are no guides, nor rules naming them unless you would like to apply scientific terms such as hypomelanistic, amelanistic, melanistic, leucistic, etc. If we want "snow" leos to be what many would call axanthic, we can call them that. That's my view on it.
 
Just a note about the use of the term "snow" in this case. Snow Leopard Geckos weren't named after "snow" the white stuff that falls from the sky, nor were they named for the technical genetic term "snow". Guys, they are not "Snow" Leopard Geckos. They are "Snow Leopard" Geckos, (poetically) named after the snow leopard, the Big Cat (white with black spots). Just like the common name of "Leopard Gecko" came from our geckos' resemblance to the leopard (Big Cat yellow with black spots).
 
Will all albinos have red eyes? The only reason that I am asking is because everyone is telling me that my male leo is and albino and not a hypo tang which is what it was sold to me as. It has the coloration of an albino but it is as bright as a tang.
 
uhhhh...

blizzard: a blizzard is a variation of a snow where type B anery (axanthic) replaces the type A anery (true anery). these are typically all white and have been line bred that way. basically they are a super snow.
these have red/pink eyes.
My blizzards either have solid black eyes, or black marbling... I have never seen a blizzard or super snow with red/pink eyes, but I would love to! I know that Ron Tremper's ruby-eyed albinos have almost the same genetics as his Eclipses... the designers with solid black eyes.
 
Phil LaCroix said:
Will all albinos have red eyes? The only reason that I am asking is because everyone is telling me that my male leo is and albino and not a hypo tang which is what it was sold to me as. It has the coloration of an albino but it is as bright as a tang.
Phil, what color are his eyes? I looked at your pics and he looks like an albino to me too, probably a tang albino, as you say the pic doesnt do his color justice.
 
His eyes are gold. My friend Jason is the one that sold him to me and he also said that he had the coloration of an albino, but he didnt have the eyes of one. He actually said he hadn't seen those kind of eyes before.
 
Intense Herpetoculture said:
Second, the names of a morph can be anything someone would wish them. There are no guides, That's my view on it.

Hence, some of the problems. At least in my opinion.
Like BD, seems people naming animals with the least little bit of change in the color is given a new morph name. Guidelines help keep things from being to confusing. Having standards, then when I buy a "superglow pink" whatever, from one breeder I know it is the same animal. Without standards you could end up buying 10 different animals from 10 different breeders because they all gave "their" morphs a different name, little does the collector know, is that he has 10 animals of the same "technical" morph.
Then again, I guess that is the whole idea, buy "my" animals. Nothing wrong with entrepreneurialism, or capitalism.
 
Second, the names of a morph can be anything someone would wish them. There are no guides, nor rules naming them unless you would like to apply scientific terms such as hypomelanistic, amelanistic, melanistic, leucistic, etc. If we want "snow" leos to be what many would call axanthic, we can call them that. That's my view on it.

cornsnakes were the first so they got to choose the names. it should be universal based on the original name. otherwise it is a "line". i.g. "justyn line" Bell albino leopard gecko. but still just the bell strain of albinism in leopard geckos represented in your line. like you said about H. Bernard Bechtel, he created the first albino reptile hence he could have called it a "fire engine corn snake" if he wanted because he was the originator of that morph.

as far as the "snow" leopard gecko vs. the "snow leopard" gecko. they would have to, at the very least, be two subspecies of gecko for that to be true. otherwise it would be a "snow leopard" leopard gecko.

marcia, i was refering to the definition of the blizzard morph in everything BUT leopard geckos (once again a term that originated in cornsnakes).
 
If we want "snow" leos to be what many would call axanthic

actually it would be anery. the yellow is line bred out of the snows (leopard gecko term). its red pigment they lack.

as far as the mac snows... they maybe axanthic... or anery or even both...i dunno. is anyone actually selling mac super snows? i thought albey and urban gecko were but i havnt seen them on thier available page for a while. matter of fact i dont think ive ever seen them on albeys available page.
 
opps i almost forgot.

First, what is doubtful about the albinos?

its doubtful to me any of the 3 strains of albino are t+. all three have red eyes that are photosensitive. where is this so called tyrosine evident?
 
Chad,Yes all 3 strains of albino leopard geckos are T+.Tony G and my self did the test on all 3 strains.If you wish to see the work we did there will be a great paper on it in the next issue of GEKKO so join the GGA and see the work for your self.
 
leucistic: a nonpigmented and nonpatterned animal. typically pure white with black or blue eyes. i never understood why we call our patternless leos leucistic. it musta been like the first gold miner who found pyrite...lol.

patternless: this is when an animal is lacking any identifyable pattern (i.g. banded, striped, jungle ect..). ive only seen this morph in gopher snakes and leopard geckos

wish i could see the differnce.
 
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