Hello lovely reptile people!
I’m sure some of y’all are leopard gecko breeders or genetic nerds, I’m trying to learn more and have a couple niche questions, mostly relating to the mack snow and eclipse genes and selective/line traits.
Question 1: The eclipse eye coverage is random right, like the level of white on a piebald ball python or level of wobble on a spider ball? I love snake eyes so much I’d love to selectively breed for them but I get the impression there’s no point since it’s just part of the gene.
Question 2: Anyone know if the high white “pied” are line or selective bred? Or is that just random chance as well? They seem pretty new to the scene and I’m trying to figure out what’s up.
Question 3: Lastly, are spot patterns completely random? Would it be possible to select for a specific spot type? I have a leo with a heart on her nose and I’d love the world to have more heart-nosed leopard geckos.
Thanks for reading all my weirdly specific questions! Feel free to tell me if I’ve gotten any information wrong, I’m still very much learning.
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Hello and welcome to the community! Feel free to make an introduction thread about yourself.
- Eclipse is a recessive gene but it causes the eyes to have color (sometimes only one eye). If you don’t want eclipse eyes you just wouldn’t breed geckos that have it. There’s no way to breed it out.
- Pied leopard geckos are super snow eclipse. I’ve never heard of high white pieds (but I’d be very interested if they existed). All super snow eclipses will have the white feet and white tail tip.
- Spot patterns are mostly random and I don’t know of any way to breed for them, only for more/less of them.
If you want you can add a picture of the gecko, a heart-nosed leo sounds super cute.
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From what I’ve learned, linebreeding can be both effective and tedious, and can also create some unexpected juvies. Most people that are aiming for specific traits through line breeding have to play the trial and error game. Since a specific heart-shaped spot morph has not been created and recreated there is no way of knowing if it is possible to do so, or what type of trait that would be (recessive, dominant, etc.) at least to my knowledge. I’m not a genetics expert by any means, and in fact I’m far from it, but I believe you’d have to play around with genetics for many generations to see if you could replicate what your wanting.
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A heart-shaped spot would be polymorphic, which is made of multiple genes. It is not controlled by a single gene and can’t be recessive or dominant. Other than this I agree with everything you said.
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Here is my little heart nose! She has an almost heart shaped blob marking towards her tail too but I suspect it’ll break apart as she finishes growing and developing her spots. I’m really hoping her heart nose is here to stay though, she’s had it since she was a hatchling!
As for the total eclipse high white/pied Gecko Domino from Indonesia seems to have quite an impressive project going. They don’t have a ton of information on the project, but based on how extreme the white has become I suspect there’s more than random chance going on and a lot of hard work. Here’s their insta page. https://instagram.com/gecko.domino?utm_medium=copy_link
I’m interested in a lot of polygenic morphs because my primary focus thus far has been cresties, and a lot of things in that world are polygenic or just unproven. I’d love to get into the black night or tangerine (or similar) sort of world of leos eventually as those are primarily, if not completely, polygenic as far as I understand. There’s a lot less predictability I’m sure but I think that may be part of the fun!
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Ah I see. That makes more sense. Thank you erie-herps! I like responding to these to test my knowledge in the hopes that someone will educate me too lol 
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SO cute The heart is very pronounced. That high white pied is impressive on the link. I would love to have to one for my collection. Genetics is a crazy adventure I think all of us love to explore. Thank you for posting!
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Your gecko is very cute, I love the heart shape!
I also am planning to work with mainly black nights and tangerines. They are both polygenic and there would likely be a very interesting variety in the offspring.
@jijimorphkitty Nearly all of us started on forums by testing our knowledge. I still sometimes do that on hard identification threads.
The high white pied looks very cool and I think it likely is line-breeding. Especially since most of the white is on the legs/shoulders/hips, tail, and nose. Which are all of the spots that white normally appears.
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Thanks for all the info everyone!
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I’m glad to help! If you have any more questions feel free to ask.
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