MORPHS  There are various Leopard gecko mutations also known as 'morphs', each morph having its own specific genetics and traits. Multiple morphs can be 'mixed' or 'bred' together to make combination morphs and on occasion, a whole new morph will develop.

Note: This is an explanation of the basic Leopard gecko morphs. Some traits are controversial due to their variability and subjective nature. The descriptions listed here, especially for polygenic traits, are simply an interpretation based on experience in addition to a perceived "majority opinion".

 

•Wild Type (WT) / Normal

- The typical form of an organism, strain, gene, or characteristic as it occurs in nature, as distinguished from mutant forms that may result from selective breeding. Typical colouration, tan to medium yellow with stripes or bands of grayish lavender, black spots. 

•High Yellow

- an animal with mostly yellow pigmentation.

•Lavender

- Like a normal or high yellow, but with purple bands on back.

•Tangerine "Carrot Tail" & "Carrot Head" (polygenic)

 - These describe varying degrees and locations of orange coloration on a Leopard Gecko. Animals labeled as Tangerine (or "Tang" for short) will have orange as a background color as opposed to the typical light yellow color seen on normal leopard geckos. The intensity of the orange color may vary from a yellow-orange to nearly red on some specimens. "Carrot Tail" is a term used to describe a Leopard Gecko that has an area of orange that starts at the base of their tail and continues toward the tail's end. The amount of "carrot" varies from just a small band at the base of the tail to a solid orange tail. The usage of the term "Carrot Tail" is usually reserved for animals with at least 1/4 of their tail being orange. "Carrot Head" is a trait characterized by orangey spots on the top of a gecko's head and is usually exclusive to Tremper Albinos.

Albinos: There are three known strains of albinos. They are incompatible with each other.  Albinos are generally recognized by their lack of black pigment.  Having red eyes is not a requirement in Leopard Geckos to be considered an albino.  All three strains of albino are simple recessive traits.

•Tremper Albino "Texas" (Simple Recessive)

 - Tremper Albinos are usually characterized by their light-colored eyes and tendency to have brownish markings on them. They were the first strain of albino Leopard Gecko discovered, and are also the most common of the albinos. Some variations of Tremper Albinos have pink eyes, but they may fade to a light silver color with maturity.

•Rainwater Albino "Las Vegas" (Simple Recessive)

 - Rainwaters tend to be the smallest of the albinos, and also have the darkest eyes.  Many Rainwater albinos are lighter in color than the other albinos, but more color is being bred into them so it is not a definitive characteristic. 

•Bell Albino "Florida" (Simple Recessive)

- Bell Albinos are well-known for their light pink-colored eyes visible from birth through adulthood. Some of them tend to have a greater amount of small brownish spots, and some also have greater amounts of lavender coloring. Bell Albinos are the "newest" strain of albinism discovered.

•Patternless "Murphy's Patternless" (Simple Recessive)

- Occasionally referred to as a Leucistic. They are known for their lack of pattern as adults, and as babies they have a unique spotted appearance, especially around the shoulder and head area. The color of a Patternless can range from gray to a greenish color over the whole body. They may have orange coloring at the base of the tail ("carrot tail"). 

•Patternless Albino (Simple Recessive X2)

- Patternless X Albino. Exhibit both the Patternless trait as well as one of the three strains of Albino. They look very similar to Patternless, although their bodies are a shade of yellow instead of grey or green and their eyes are the color of the Albinos. They are a double recessive mutation, and can exist for all three strains of albino. Rainwater Patternless and Tremper Patternless Albinos are commonly available.

•Blizzard (Simple Recessive)

- Patternless and pure white to grey in colour Blizzards are similar to Patternless specimens in appearance. They may be occasionally marked by varying degrees of a yellow on their bodies.  Blizzards do not have any visible pattern at any stage of maturity, and do not exhibit a noticeable amount of "carrot tail" like some Patternless Leopard Geckos. Blizzards can also fluctuate slightly in their darkness or lightness. 

•Blazing Blizzard (Simple Recessive X2)

- Blazing Blizzards exhibit both an Albino trait as well as the Blizzard trait. They look just like Blizzards except they lack any shades of grey. They are usually solid white geckos, but like the Blizzards, they can have varying degrees of yellow on their bodies and are also known for red "blazing" eyes.  Both the Tremper Blazings Blizzard and Rainwater Blazings Blizzard are commonly available.

•Line-Bred Snow (polygenic)

- Line-Bred Snows are Leopard Geckos that have been selectively bred to reduce the background color to a white or near-white color. An exceptional Line-Bred Snow would be black and white, with no noticeable yellow coloring on them.

•Mack Snow (co-dominate)

- Mack Snows exhibit reduced or eliminated yellow and orange color with reduced banding. Mack Snows can be black and white, although some specimens show varying degrees of yellow after having been out-crossed.

•Mack Super Snow (co-dominate)

- Super Snows are characterized by their unique, high contrast black and white pattern and their solid black eyes.  This pattern does not present itself on a hatchling Leopard Gecko, but usually develops within a month or so.  Hatchling Super Snows are similar in appearance to blizzards.  The Super form can be thought of as a recessive trait, since both parents must contribute a Mack Snow gene to produce Mack Super Snow offspring.

•Mack Snow Albino (co-dominate + Simple Recessive)

- Mack Snow Albino is the result of combining one of the three types of Albino with the Mack Snow gene. As hatchlings, the yellow color of the albino is replaced with white, but as the gecko matures some yellow starts to appear, resulting in a pastel colored Albino.

•Mack Snow Patternless (co-dominate + Simple Recessive)

 - Mack Snow Patternless are Leopard Geckos that exhibit both the recessive Patternless trait as well as the reduction in yellow, orange & red pigment from the Mack Snows.  As hatchlings and juveniles, they show the slightly spotted pattern seen on young Patternless, but this fades away as the geckos mature. 

•Mack Super Snow Albino (co-dominate + Simple Recessive)

- Mack Super Snow Albino is basically the Mack Super Snow version of the Mack Snow Albinos mentioned above. Like the Mack Snow Albinos, these can be created for any of the three types of Albino. They exhibit the same pattern as a Mack Super Snow, but the black is replaced by shades of beige or tan. Mack Super Snow Albinos have solid colored eyes which are very dark on Tremper and Rainwater specimens, and solid bright red on Bell Albino specimens.

•Jungle (polygenic)

- Jungles are characterized by their broken bands of pattern and no two are identical. A Leopard Gecko is only a true Jungle if the rings around the tail are broken.

•Bold Stripe (polygenic)  

- Bold Stripes appear similar to Jungles, although the dark pigment runs only along the outside ventral surface of the animal's body and tail.  The amount of striping can vary, and some geckos will have a striped body without a striped tail and vice versa.

•Reverse Stripe (polygenic)

- Reverse Stripe appear similar to Bold Stripe although the darker pigment runs down the spine.

•Red Strip (polygenic)

- Red Stripes have been selectively bred to produce a mostly yellow or orange gecko with two reddish stripes down the dorsal surface of the Leopard Gecko.  These stripes can vary in intensity, and frequently don't show up until the gecko is six months old.  Baby Red Stripes usually have a dark brownish color where the stripes will later come in, and adults' stripes may fade back to a brownish color once they have reached maturity.  The Red Stripe either has been, or is currently being introduced into the Albinos to produce albinos with the red stripes down their backs. 

•Raining Red Stripe

- Raining Red Stripes are a relatively new morph that resulted from combining a Rainwater Albino with a Red Stripe. Exceptional specimens have two unbroken orange-red stripes running down the back of the gecko and a fully-striped tail.

Hypo: Hypo traits usually don't show up until the animal is maturing. Babies that exhibit spots or bands after hatching will loose those markings if they are a Hypo, Super-Hypo or "Baldy".

•Hypomelanistic "Hypo" (polygenic)

- Hypomelanistic, are terms used to describe the lack of dark pigment on non-albino Leopard Geckos. A Hypomelanistic Leopard Gecko displays a greatly reduced amount of dark pigment over its body, although some spots may be present. Hypomelanistic, usually regarded as with 15 spots or less.

•Super-Hypo (polygenic)  

- A Super-Hypo is essentially a Hypomelanistic that completely lacks any spots on its body.

•Baldy (polygenic)

- "Baldy" is a term used to describe Leopard Geckos that also lack the pigment spots on their heads, although most if not all "Baldies" are also Super-Hypos. 

•Hypo Tangerine (polygenic + Simple Recessive)

- An animal with strong presence of orange in its coloration, and reduction of spots.

•Hybino "Sunglows" (polygenic )

- Hybino Leopard Geckos are essentially the result of combining the recessive albino traits with the polygenic Hypo and Super-Hypo characteristics to produce Albinos with a solid or almost solid yellow to orange body color with varying amounts of carrot-tail and tangerine. Hybinos can be created for each of the three strains of Albino, and can vary just as much as the Hypos and Super-Hypos.

•Abyssinian

- A paradox Leopard gecko that has red vein lines in the eyes and that can express every color on the body except for black pigment. Adults have a speckled tail and often a very faded look. Some people might classify this morph as a type of albino.

•Enigma (dominant)

- It is an all-or-nothing situation when one breeds an ENIGMA to a non-ENIGMA gecko with the result being that 50% of the young will be an ENIGMA that carries the trait of the non-ENIGMA parent. You CAN NOT have a gecko that is "het for Enigma" - either it is an Enigma or it is not. The Enigma is a "morph enhancer", as it increases the color intensity and affects pattern.

•Blanco

- The Blanco is a genetically patternless gecko with normal colored albino eyes. The preferred head, body and tail color is white. Some indivduals may have yellowish color on the body.

•Diablo Blanco

- The Diablo Blanco is a genetically patternless gecko with partial or complete red colored eyes. Some indivduals may have yellowish color on the body.

•Emerald/Emerine

- This is a green color mutation. The gene for green acts like the genetics for tangerine.

•APTOR

- This is a acronym that stands for Albino Patternless Tremper ORange.

•RAPTOR

- This is a acronym that stands for Red eye Albino Patternless Tremper ORange.

•Nova

- A Nova is a combination morph of the Enigma trait and the RAPTOR morph.

•Snake Eyes

- Snake Eyes, have solid black areas in their eyes. Many will have one or both eyes half black, others will show anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of their eyes black. It does seem to occur the most often with Blizzard and R.A.P.T.O.R morphs. Some breeders have also produced albino animals with "Snake Eyes". 

•Eclipse

- Solid jet black eyes.

Giants & Super Giants: There is also a larger form of a Leopard Gecko. These are determined by size and weight, classfied at sub-adult/adult age and can be any morph.

•Giant (co-dominate) - Heterozygous form of the Super Giant. Can be any morph. Affects the size of Leopard Geckos. This trait originated in Tremper Albinos and is usually not used for the other strains of albino even if the animal falls within the weight range depicted by the "standards" established for Giants.

•Super Giant (co-dominate) - Homozygous form of the Giant. Can be any morph. Affects the size of Leopard Geckos. This trait originated in Tremper Albinos and is usually not used for the other strains of albino even if the animal falls within the weight range depicted by the "standards" established for Super-Giants. The Super-Giants are the largest Leopard Geckos, with a record weight of 156 grams and length of nearly 12 inches.

Definitions

Phenotype: The actual, visible appearance of an animal. Describes the way a hatchling looks, for example if the hatchling is a Normal, the Phenotype would be Normal as this is the only visible genetic trait that is outwardly displayed.

Genotype: The genetic composition of an animal, regardless of appearance. Describes the genetic make up of a hatchling whether it is seen or not, for example an animal that is Normal Het Albino, Normal Het Albino would be the Genotype, the Phenotype would be Normal as this is the only visible genetic trait that is outwardly displayed.

Dominant: A genetic feature that hides the recessive trait. A dominant trait causes a phenotype that is seen in a heterozygous genotype. Many traits are determined by pairs of complementary genes, each inherited from a single parent. Often when these are paired and compared, one gene (the dominant) will be found to effectively shut out the instructions from the other, recessive gene. For example, if a person has one gene for blue eyes and one for brown, that person will always have brown eyes because they are the dominant trait.

Co-Dominant: The result of 2 types of alleles that are equally dominant. A trait that can be passed on by either one or both parents and be visible in the first generation of offspring. Co-Dominant traits can also yield a "Super" form if inherited from both parents. When an organism is heterozygous for such traits, the resulting phenotype or expression of these two traits is a blending, because both traits are expressed equally.

Simple Recessive: an allele that causes a phenotype (visible or detectable characteristic) that is only seen in a homozygous genotype (an organism that has two copies of the same allele) and never in a heterozygous genotype. This is a trait that must be passed on by both parents for it to show up in the offspring. Animals that carry recessive traits but do not express them are referred to as being "het" (heterozygous) for that trait.

Polygenic: also known as "line bred" traits or "selective breeding". Animals expressing certain desirable characteristics are selectively bred to each other in hopes of reproducing and improving those characteristics.

Line-Breeding: Traits that were produced through selective breeding to intensify desired traits.. Breeders selected the best examples of these traits in their collections and bred them together. Traits such as Tangerine, Hypo and Carrot Tail are all line-bred traits. These traits are not controlled by a pair of genes, but a selection of increase / decrease alleles. For example if you had a great specimen of a Leopard Gecko who had a 90% carrot tail and you bred it to a normal morph of Leopard Gecko, you would get a diverse range of hatchlings showing varying amounts of Carrot Tail; while some may show no Carrot color at all.

Heterozygous: An animal that carries a recessive trait but does not express it. The animal has different alleles occupying the gene's position in each of the homologous chromosomes. The two different alleles were inherited from two parents. Having two paired alleles of a different case (Aa). Commonly referred to as, “Het”.

Homozygous: an animal expressing a recessive trait, that carries two identical copies of the gene affecting a given trait on the two corresponding homologous chromosomes) same case (AA or aa). Pure-bred or true breeding organisms are homozygous.

Out-Crossing: breeding unrelated animals to introduce new traits or to increase genetic diversity and prevent genetic defects.