We got this gorgeous crested gecko 2 weeks ago. The person we got it from did not know anything about parents or possible morph. We ourselves are breeders of high white pinstripe Harlequins and tricolors. So this was something new to us. After some research we think it is xxx line or extreme Harlequin halloween.
Could someone with experience clarify what is the biggest difference between extreme harlequin and xxx line ? As I cannot find much documented info about the xxx line.
What about breeding with other morphs ? How does it inherit ? We are most curious about pinstriping.
All info about xxx line is welcome.
Unfortunately the gecko below will not be for breeding as it has some deformities (not sure if it was mbd or spine deformity due to heat spikes during incubation) So it will be a pet
But it for sure made us interested in this morph so we can maybe buy some others to start breeding in the future!
From the limited knowledge I have on XXX line, I believe it would be classified as an extreme harlequin. While there does seem to be the correct pattern to be classified as an XXX, It doesn’t have the lineage. XXX is a line of extreme harlequin founded by Pangea. As it is a line bred trait, it has to do with lineage and phenotype.
It sucks that you won’t be able to breed them due to the deformity but I really respect that as there are lots of people who would look past and ignore the risks.
Like Logar said, XXX is a line rather than a genetic trait.
XXXs are in themselves a line of typically extreme harlequins where the pinstriping has essentially been bred out, allowing for the pattern to be controlled by the tigering instead, which allows it to saddle onto the dorsal.
So genetically it’s high expression harlequin pattern along with strong tigering, and a lack of pinstriping.
In crested geckos tigering (a fixed trait) aligns the pattern more vertically, whereas pinstriping aligns it horizontally. Pinstriping also seems to act as a sort of border, so where there’s pinstriping it’s impossible for the pattern to cross onto the dorsal.
This means that pairing a gecko like this to a pinstripe would ruin the pattern.
Since it’s a line rather than a gene, it would not be considered an XXX without lineage, but rather an extreme harlequin or a harlequin tiger
I can’t see deformity from pictures, any more clear pics?
Won’t be from heat spikes. Here I let the eggs incubate at room temp in the reptile house, and in summer can have some heat spikes alright! But never been an issue. X
