anyone working with hyper melanistics?

[skmcwilliams]

I am not talking about the black pearls or black velvets, their over seas anyway. I just wanted to know if anyone has made it their side project here in the U.S. I saw Aaron Jones leo which is amazing (still want to see more pics) But is there anyone else who knows or would like to chime in to any progress they have made?

 

[hybrid]

I have a very dark female that i'm wishing to find a mate for. So far the only one ive seen on here close to her darkness is a thread called "godzilla" they are almost identical in color. I can only hope to find another like her soon!

 

[OhioGecko]

Matt, can you post a pick of your girl?

 

[KnECritters]

I'm going to work with the dark leos, well...try to. Still need to find some dark ones. I'm keeping my eyes out for any.

 

[hybrid]

I'll post some pics of my female tonight when i feed and weigh them out.

 

[leoman777]

i saw a really dark SHTCT at p******t

 

[Halley]

I think we have a while to go before we see a black leo...

 

[KnECritters]

Oh yeah, a while.

 

[Gregg M]

I think we have a while to go before we see a black leo...

We will not see one unless there is a mutation causing black melanin to cover the entire body... This would be a true melanistic... This can pop up in anyones collection at any time...
Anything else being produced now will just vary in shades of brown...

 

[skmcwilliams]

Gregg M, I am not disagreeing with you but there are completely orange geckos with no other colors on them except the tip of their tails, depending on how much carrot tail they have. So why couldn't the same thing happen with line breeding the Leos with the most black on them. Why would they have to be brown? I do agree that mutations have made all white and yellow loes but orange we made ourselves. Why not black?

 

[Gregg M]

Gregg M, I am not disagreeing with you but there are completely orange geckos with no other colors on them except the tip of their tails, depending on how much carrot tail they have. So why couldn't the same thing happen with line breeding the Leos with the most black on them. Why would they have to be brown? I do agree that mutations have made all white and yellow loes but orange we made ourselves. Why not black?

"We" did not make orange in geckos... That base color was already there...
Almost all skin cells on leopard geckos have the ability to produce orange coloration... This is why you can see an almost completely orange gecko... It is a natural coloration that can be found on ALMOST any part of a leo...

Not all the cells are able to produce black melanin in the skin of leopard geckos and many other animals... This is where an actual mutation needs to step in and reprogram all the cells to produce black melanin...

This is why when you see a true melanistic reptile, every scale is black including belly scales... This is almost always the work of a defective recessive gene... There is nothing to say that it can not be the result of a dominant, co-dominant, or incomplete dominant gene causing the defect but it is usually recessive...

I can tell you 100% that an all black reptile has never been produced by line or selectively breeding...

I hope these facts help you to understand my logic a bit... LOL

 

[skmcwilliams]

I can understand what your saying, I am quite sure you know more about it than me. I guess I just see a "wild caught" leo having the base colors black, white, orange, and yellow. I guess I shouldn't have said we made orange, but we sure helped it out. White and Yellow came in the mutated forms but I am not convinced that black is not a base color that can't be line bred into. Only time will tell, and I could be completely wrong. It will be fun seeing what's in store in the next couple of years though :main_laugh: