Enigma's/ES

Hey Guys,

So this is the first season I have worked with the Enigma gene, and I just hatched out a Dreamsickle. Its parents are a Tremper Enigma het raptor X Mack Raptor. The Tremper Enigma has some mild ES, but this hatching is showing signs of having it also, and to a greater extent than its parent. I was just wondering, is ES hereditary, or is it an unfortunate "luck of the draw" if you will.

Thanks,

You will find tons of info on this site on ES. Use the search function, you will get a ton of info.


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It is hereditary. Since it is linked with enigmas, it is linked with that specific gene.

Enigmas are a bit controversial. I personally won't breed them and I definitely think that any geckos displaying even the slightest symptoms should never be bred. It seems unethical to me to breed an animal knowing it has health problems. Just my two cents.

Neon Aurora said:

It is hereditary. Since it is linked with enigmas, it is linked with that specific gene.

Enigmas are a bit controversial. I personally won't breed them and I definitely think that any geckos displaying even the slightest symptoms should never be bred. It seems unethical to me to breed an animal knowing it has health problems. Just my two cents.

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Thank you for your reply,

Another question I would be interested in your answer with is what about Enigma's with no ES. I have a Bee (Enigma Eclipse) as well, that doesn't have ES. Would you breed him? Would the offspring still have a possibility of ES?

Would I personally breed him? No. But that's because I've decided against working with that trait at all. I feel strongly about breeding, above everything else, healthy animals. If I had a really interesting colored dog (I don't know, a zebra striped German Shepherd or something) but it had genetic hip dysplasia, I wouldn't be breeding that dog.

By no means am I saying that I'm right and everyone else who does breed Enigmas is wrong. It's just a personal choice.

To answer that last question, I believe it would still have a chance. I've never worked with enigmas, so I don't know much about the patterns, but I know that I have heard of animals not displaying symptoms producing offspring that do (in which case a lot breeders retire the parent). It does seem to be stress-induced in some cases, though. So somtimes, a gecko that is born displaying no symptoms can begin to display after a stressful event (shipping, being dropped, something like that).

In summary: I've made a personal choice to stay away from the morph altogether. That doesn't mean you have to, or anyone else. It's just my opinion.

All of what I posted is just what I've read and what I've come up with on my own. I have no experience with it, so perhaps someone who does could give you a better answer.

EDIT: Excuse me. Some of my information was wrong. I went ahead and got rid of the parts that were not correct, specifically bits on what we knew about it.

Source: http://www.geckotime.com/enigma-syndrome/

In short, ES is believed to be a dominant disorder, with most affected individuals being heterozygous (homozygous is likely lethal). If this is the case, there would be unaffected individuals (individuals with two wild-type alleles, no mutation). However, even the article stated that they have had unaffected enigmas produce affected babies. ES seems to be a spectrum disorder, with some individuals displaying much more severe symptoms than others. Because of this, I think the question remains of which ones are really recessive for non-ES and which ones are heterozygotes that just have a very low grade of ES?

Based on this information, I change my answer a little bit. I would get into working with enigmas if I was able to actually test my animals for the presence of the mutation. Until then, there is too much uncertainty for me personally. It's entirely possible that your enigma eclipse doesn't have ES at all. But then again, maybe he is just on the lower end of the spectrum.

There does seem to be people who have success breeding healthy enigmas. Perhaps your enigma eclipse would be a good candidate for that. I'm uncomfortable with the uncertainty of it, so I like to stay away. Maybe I will get into it if there are some studies done and the mutation is identified and can be avoided. In any case, I think the one that does have ES should not breed anymore.

I still work with enigmas, but will not breed any that show signs of ES at all. If you see signs with an adult, I would not recommend breeding it. Enigmas are tricky and best kept to experienced breeders. I have one group that has been ES free for three seasons, but I know it can still pop up. You are more likely to get babies with ES if the parents are showing it.