Crested Gecko Genetics

[cherrykasper]

I'm still reading through all the posts, so bear with me :? From the posts I have read, I do have a question... Are crested gecko morphs/colorations random or is there rhyme and reason to it all?

I understand boa genetics (most snakes for that matter)... There are, for the most part, recessive and dominate genes. If you have an albino and breed it to a normal, you will have normal boas 100% het albino. If you breed a salmon (co-dom) to a normal 1/2 the litter will be salmon and roughly half will be normal... So on and so forth. They work pretty much like your everyday bio-class punnett squares. There are also pastels which are polygenetic traits, controlled by many genes, that seems to work as a co-dom, but isn't its own true morph.

Is crested gecko morphology the same, or comparible to another animal species? How many different morphs are there?

[Sanskrit]

This topic is highly debated among crested gecko breeders. It's been said that crested gecko color and pattern is totally random (I think the term is polymorphic) and then on the other hand some people believe that its very predictable but no one has been keeping track of the genetics in their breeding colonies and that's where the problem is. With the latter theory the geckos would carry genes for so many colors and morphs that you could get any of several morphs that they're "het" for. I'd like to think that with a couple more decades of selective breeding we'll find out that crested gecko genetics is as predictable as ball python genetics. Many people believe that the punnett square needed to calculate crested genes is huge............. Anyway the point is that your guess is as good as mine and anyone elses. Nobody's quite sure yet. Sorry I couldn't give you a more straightforward answer :roll: .

[Silly-atus]

Cresties are polymorphic from what we can tell so far. Whatever any ancestor was, can show up in the offspring, seemingly at random. Over several generations of selective breeding, it's possible to increase the odds of getting the desired trait but it's still not guaranteed at this stage. It will take a fair bit more work to get the genetics figured out. With the variations that can pop up in cresties, it's a nightmare trying to do a Punnett Square.

This picture shows just a few examples of the results I got. Over the years since I made up the chart, there were other traits in the offspring that I never suspected to be in the genes. Originally I intended to keep up with the chart but I sold most of the babies and the chart would have been too big a file.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/511/medium/321polymorphism_in_crested_geckos.jpg

After 6 years, "Grandma" and her offpsring still haven't produced another one like her, even when mated to other red fires and harlequins. :(

The full size clearer picture can be seen HERE (http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/511/321polymorphism_in_crested_geckos.jpg)

[BadAssHerps]

yeah, whoever says it's all random honestlly doesn't know what there talking about. Just because we don't have a GOOD understanding of crested genes doesn't mean there unpredictable and there DNA just does what it want's to. LOL :lol: The problem is there has been so many different morph crossed and so little record keeping. When we do begin to isolate individual genes and understand there links to other traits all the people who say it's completlly random will have to reconsider there opinions to say the least.
-Eli

[infernal_star]

I would have to agree with BadAss here. To claim their genetics have no pattern is just foolish and arrogant honestly. Cresteds are just too much of a "mud-blood" species yet to understand their gene dominances, etc. I'd wager we'll get quite far over the next ten years with understanding the dominance and recessive genes of cresteds.

[lilroach56]

the term is polygenic. Every trait is controlled by more than gene.

However.....
I believe there are some genes in traits that are recessive/dominant which is why you get fire babies that throw tiger offspring and the like.

[DDReptiles]

The reson for what Badass said is just because people look at cresteds as "childish reptiles" and don't give them any respect so they just breed 2 cresteds and hatch out whatever and they quit breeding them and then all that data is lost. What we have to do is keep good records and then all these traits can be kept track of. :wink:

[cherrykasper]

Thanks for all your replies.