Hi y’all! So this is my first year producing dalmatians (and probably my last year as well, I’m just more interested in other projects). I have seen some dalmatians sold in the 4-7g range, but I feel like a lot of the ones I see are not even listed until they’re 18g+. I was originally planning to grow mine out to about 15-16g before selling, but I am a very small breeder with little space and I don’t think I have enough grow-out enclosures to grow out all 10 geckos from my dal pairing this year, so I’m looking to potentially let a few go around the 5-6g range.
So basically… I’m curious to see dalmatian progression pictures if anyone has them, but I’m also just wondering if anyone has advice for how long to grow them out or how to spot the ones I might want to keep around a bit longer.
These are all of the babies I have good pictures of so far this year! As well as the parents down at the bottom.
I think it’s really difficult to tell, had a super dal at one point that hatched out with all of her spots, she only gained maybe a small handfull more. Ive also had babies hatch out with no spots, and then suddenly gain a ton. Im not sure there really is a way to know unless you’ve worked with a particular pairing for a while, and noticed a pattern in how they progress unfortunately
If you sell locally and the people buying are knowledgeable with cresties, you should be okay with letting a couple go at the smaller size. If they’re first time owners or you’re shipping I would definitely want them to be a bit more chonky. And well hydrated regardless of when they go.
I’ve seen a couple that just went downhill fast when shipped small…just settling into a new habitat can be weird enough, but when routines and things change it’s tough. But that was also when I worked a big box shop…So who can really say what happened at the ranch. >_>;;
Yeah, I disagree on the shipping side of things but I’m in UK and shipping is much better as we use couriers.
I’ve had majority of my Geckos couriered and the younger ones bounced back so well, the adults were the ones that struggled. So I guess it depends on the gecko.
However if not using a courier then I’d wait a bit more.
Back on track…I haven’t bred spots as it’s never been my thing and being a small time breeder also.
I know they can take time, so I’d suggest holding on to them a little longer if you can, however if you need space, maybe let 1 go at a time and try not to regret it
I am interested in added a Dal to my collection (once I get more enclosures set up) as I love the way they look, but I’m super fussy and won’t compromise on head structure and believe this isn’t just me so if you think you’ve got 1 with good head structure, hold on to it for as long as you can.
I’m definitely not going to let them go before they’re pretty robust, 6-7g for local sales and 8-9 at least for shipping generally. I have a few in the 5-7g range that are growing well but not particularly impressive right now so I am considering taking them to my next show (this coming Saturday, Nov. 4) and if they sell, great, if not, I can keep them through the winter. And I always keep in touch and provide contact info to anyone who buys from me so I’m always happy to help them troubleshoot (if there are any issues, which I didn’t have last year)!
Mostly I’m just curious about how to choose which ones to let go of earlier vs which ones to definitely hold onto longer. Pattern wise, color wise, spots wise, structure wise… this is only my 2nd year, so I am still pretty new to judging how they progress.
Thank you!! He is really nice. Beautiful yellow and fantastic spots in my opinion.
One of the things I’m having trouble judging is how to guess how they will progress. I found the picture of dad from his original listing and he progressed A LOT, his spots got a lot bigger and he gained a lot more.
This was dad at 7g (photo credit to Sevachko Exotics):
Knowledge about the genetics will help a ton, but some of it also comes with experience, both in general and with a certain gecko/pairing. Just because one gecko that looked a certain way as a baby developed a certain way doesn’t mean that another that looks similar will too - if you haven’t read the foundation genetics guide i definitely would recommend it! Some traits tend to develop a lot as they grow such as basecolour, dalmatian, snowflake, and hypo, whereas traits such as normal harlequin pattern and pinstripe doesn’t.
Structure comes down to genetics and incubation, and can be really hard to tell as well as. Ive had some that looked impressive as babies end up with decent but not amazing structure and others that looked like they had no structure end up with super impressive structure. It doesn’t really start to come in until they’re 15-20g.
In the end what is worth holding back is entirely individual. I always recommend picking a few projects and then basing what you hold back on that. Like if you want to work with tigers, hold back the ones that show the most tigering, if you dont wanna work with dalmatians let go of the ones with spots etc.You will inevitably let go of some babies that you end up regretting but that’s what happens when breeding reptiles
I guess I’ll just have to take a stab at which ones look the “least promising” and hope that I don’t end up regretting it
I’m fairly certain I’m getting out of dals anyway, so I won’t be holding any back for my sake. But I do want to hold on to them for a while to get a better idea for pricing as they develop. I just don’t have space for all 10.
Figured I would update this thread! I got some updated pictures yesterday of some of the older babies. They’re mostly between 6-10g. Unfortunately I had one pass (ftt) but the others are all doing really well and I’ve been really interested seeing how they’ve progressed. Y’all have any favorites?
Thank you! All of these will be available in the coming months! I’ve made the decision to get out of my dal projects so I’m not keeping any of them just trying to grow them out long enough that I can get a better idea of how they’ll age.
Ohhhhhh, they might fit well into what I’ve been working on… Especially 2 since it seems to be a very stripy little thing.
Lol, I went to check out your shop and realized that I’ve had one of your geckos in my saved for a long time
Y’all are sweet! Which one(s)? Let me know if you want something
Yeah, the first two especially are showing a lot of brindle/tiger patterning and a couple of later babies that are still pretty small seem to have started off with some of that as well. And the third pic in my most recent update is the one (I believe) that you pointed out in your first reply months ago, @indiflare. It’s still such a gorgeous, light, almost hypo-looking yellow.
In the next couple weeks I’m going to try to get possible sexes on them and at least add them to MM as NFS animals if not for sale yet.
just trying to grow them out long enough that I can get a better idea of how they’ll age.
