the prehensile autotomizing tail?

[diablohogs]

ive noticed with alot of my leopard geckos they tend to like to wrap there tail around fingers and things...i find this strange seeing as thier tail is capable of autotomization (breaking off and regrowing).

both my giants and many of my super hypos do this regularly when held.

heres a picture...

 

[Herpcam]

Hey Chad,

I always thought it was pretty neat, but not that awkward. I have never seen them support their weight with their tails. I have never broken a geckos tail off, either. It's usually some sort of trauma that makes a leos tail fall off. In fact, when we were at the Philly show last year, a breeder I was talking with was picking them up by the tail to check sex. No big deal.

What I find really strange to me is cresties do pretty much have a prehensile tail that they can drop, and it has lamellae at the tip. I keep trying to get mine to put all its weight on its tail, but so far it's not cooperating. I've heard they can do it, though.

Beautiful gecko, by the way. Is that a giant? What do you think of the whole Giant thing, or did I miss that thread?

 

[lostkauze]

I never really thought about it either. One of my more heftier girls always wraps it around me-- I'm guessing for extra stability. She's never put her full weight on it, rather wraps it around my finger for extra protection.

Rob-- here's a link to a thread where we talked about Giants.Giants Among Us?

You could also use the search button here, it actually works quite well

I was going to email tremper about it this week, because I was on his site it says he bred moose to his biggest females, and obviously a large x large will give you a large, which is line breeding more so then genetic. Then refining the line bred trait, you can transfer it over to animals not exibiting the large trait. Like how a high yellow influences a normal. I could be way off on this, but thats what I think's going on.

Chad, awesome animal!

Michael

 

[Herpcam]

Thanks, Michael.

I usually have to tell others to use the search function/engine...now give me a couple days to read that whole thread.

Be sure to let us know what he says about the Giants. The few times I emailed him, he was real good at replying to me.

 

[diablohogs]

Beautiful gecko, by the way. Is that a giant? What do you think of the whole Giant thing, or did I miss that thread?

it is a giant and honestly i dont know what to think anymore about the giant cause so called hets seem to be larger animals which leads me to believe they are line bred.

if you cross a giant het with a giant you should produce half giants and half hets making them two different sizes. i have a feeling that wont be the case.... but i should know next year.

thanks for the compliments guys... Shiva is probably my favorite gecko in my collection.... but soon she will have a rival....her new boyfriend a super tangerine carrot tail albino thats het. for giant.

heres another picture...she claims she buys it for the articles.