I need your opinions! I’ve introduced myself before here but I’m a very small breeder who is also a graduate student with limited space, time, and money. I bred a pair last year intending to get a red harlequin holdback, and as much as I’d like to hang on to all of these until they’re much bigger, I just can’t, so I’m trying to start deciding what my holdback will be! I took some new pictures and want y’all to help me out. All three are red harlequins (which are of course difficult because they develop so much over time) and I don’t see any dal spots on any. The three contenders:
05 (6g, currently NPV, really nice cream pattern and cool bubble pinstriping)
As someone who has very little idea of what makes a ‘good’ holdback crestie, 06 is my favorite of the three. I think that one has the best color. 03 would be my second choice because of the higher amount of contrast and the busy pattern.
Number 6 is my vote and like @solarserpents, I don’t know anything about the criteria for crestie holdback coloring either. Hope you are able to pick out the right one!
I like 03 the best, but if you want a pos female then i’d go with 05 since it seems to have more white pattern - but it really all depends on what your plans are
I personally like 05. They are all nice but I just really like the color and pattern better than the others. All are really nice though and will all make great breeders.
I don’t mind the spots, so ultimately if any end up developing spots that likely won’t change which one I decide to hold back. But I haven’t seen dal spots on any of them - and the only sibling that has developed spots developed pretty large black ones early on.
Ultimately I’m wanting to do tri-color, quadstripe, and red harlequins. And I’m a very small breeder, so I don’t have pairing plans in mind right now, just an idea of general morph but no specific animals. Don’t have the current space until I retire or upgrade my current breeders. My plan was just to create a nice red harlequin (ideally female) to hold back.
Lol yes… crestie phenotype preference is much more of an individual thing than some other species. Some people prefer high pattern over all else, some prefer no spots, some don’t mind spots, some prefer the color quality over pattern coverage…
As you’ve said you want to work towards tricolour red and quadstripe. I’d suggest to keep 5 or 3.
3 appears to have better head structure, but not as much red colouring. 5 appears to have less coverage but decent red and has good tricolour coverage.
6 has beautiful colouring however doesn’t appear to have the best head structure and is a harlequin not a tricolour so would mean keeping more geckos the tricolour. So I would rule 6 out.
I see a black in the middle on 06 and a red spot on 03 back left leg.
If you don’t mind spots at all, then colour wise atm 06 is the best. But 03 has great coverage. And 05 has the white!
If it was me and I was only picking one, I would choose 05 due to the white he/she has! My fav is 03 as an extreme BUT coverage is easy to work on, and better red colour is also easy to work on, but defo keep that white as that’s something you don’t want to loose!!
I think definitely deciding between 05 and 06 at this point. I like the deeper red that 06 has and am trying to let these babies grow a little more.
In addition to color and pattern, I do believe behavior and growth can be genetic traits, and I try to promote the best. I’m tempted to keep 06 over 05 for no reason other than 06 has been a GREAT eater for me and has grown twice as fast as 05.
I don’t think I see the spots you’re talking about, but I’m keeping an eye! I don’t mind spots overall when it compares to color and pattern.
Deciding holdbacks is so hard. I still can’t decide which Gecko to keep from my group last year I didn’t get what I was hoping for, but I love them all so much
They’re both showing NPV still, but I’m really liking the color and pattern developing on 06 (and the fact that it eats SO well) so probably leaning toward that one. Hoping to grow them a little more though.
I didn’t get what I was hoping for, but I love them all so much