Buffalo Bill...Giant Mack Snow eye shot

[Designer Geckos]

This is Buffalo Bill, our monster Giant MS. He may have some of the coolest eyes I've seen...very light silver with maroon lines. This male has some crazy genes and produces wild looking offspring.

 

[Designer Geckos]

I'll do an updated pic of this Bill baby soon...she's getting very light body background like Bill now and is growing fast. She has regular MS eyes.

 

[bubblez825]

VERY handsome father and baby!

 

[SamsonizeMe]

Wow, he is a specimen. Just how big is he?

 

[CNest]

Love!

 

[Designer Geckos]

Right now Bill is about 120g at 15 months and he is not fat at all, just big. They say Giants grow up to about 18 months but we've found they actually still grow some beyond that age. Moosie, a Hot Moose SG we have is now almost 12 in. We don't let our SGs get super heavy because obesity puts a huge demand on their organs and they can die young. Obesity affects the SGs much more than the regulars.

Bill's not a big eater...just a few mealies every day or so and an occasional dubia. He likes silkies but large silkies are very hard to come by and die quickly so we don't bother much with them.

A word to keepers of SGs...keep their weight down.

 

[CNest]

What do you use to classify a leo as a Giant or SG? Mainly length? Weight gained in x amount of time? Mostly for pairings like Giant x Normal... Do you grow them out a bit longer to be sure of the title you put on them? Or? I'd like to avoid purchasing a so leo labeled as a giant just for it to end up being below average in length and weight.

 

[Designer Geckos]

Hmmm, well first off, I don't make judgments on whether or not breeders are accurately designating Giant or Super Giant classes on their geckos....but be sure of your sources because certainly there could be misinformation, albeit very likely unintentional.

The best way to tell if a juvie will be G or SG is by knowing the parents. For instance, if both parents are SG then you can say with over 90% certainty that the babies will be as well. You then confirm that by looking at the juvie as it grows. If it is G or SG it will of course be longer and bulkier looking than a regular gecko and will have a stronger appetite. We've found that SG juvies have very long tails and once they start eating they eat like crazy. It gets to the point when you work with Giants that you just get pretty good at determining whether they will be G or SG at a very early age. We had a male baby from our SG Moosie that was over 8 inches long at 3 months! It was crazy.

So the main thing is knowing the parents. We track every single egg we produce and chart out who the parents were so every egg that hatches has defined parents. If you don't do this, then you are more or less guessing. We also do not do colony breedings for this reason. As the juvies grow it becomes very apparent early on. SGs get longer than Gs, and of course males get bigger than females.

We try to keep our SGs in the 130-145 range. While it is cool to see a big hulking gecko of massive weight, we feel it is not in the best interests of the gecko to get them too heavy as I said. Bigger isn't always better. An SG that is 11+ inches long looks well proportioned at this weight, but any heavier than that they look obviously obese... Moosie is about 145g and he is almost 12 inches now, and he even has a belly on him...I think we need to put him on a diet!

The thing I really like about the G/SG geckos is they are all super mellow and friendly. They are born tame and make a nice handling gecko, and great couch buddies. My big boys are TV fanatics and love sports and concerts. Seriously.

Fun with geckos...

 

[CNest]

Thanks for that! Oh I'm not here to bad mouth anyone or get anyone to confirm/chime in on anything for me. I had various other issues with the geckos I got from the breeder but that was three years ago. Its water under the bridge and a lesson learned. I'd just like to have a better idea of what to look for/ask when I do buy. That way I can avoid, as much as possible, previous issues and get what I'm looking for. Really appreciate you answering my question.

 

[Designer Geckos]

I do think that some may claim their geckos are Giants, but in reality they are perhaps just bigger than normal geckos. There's a difference. Giants are genetically bigger and have a different body and head structure than a regular, large gecko. They almost look like a completely different animal in a sense. They have thicker legs, necks, broader heads (even the females), etc.

We have some regular males and females that are large, even males in the 115-120g range, but they are not Giants. This may sound confusing, but some geckos do get big but are not genetic Giants. Also, some Giants do not get huge, but they exhibit the structural characteristics of a Giant, carry the Giant genes, and produce Giant babies.

Designer Geckos guarantees our geckos to be Giants if sold as such, and that's something I'd look for if you are buying young Giants. If they don't offer that kind of guarantee, then I'd be skeptical. Most breeders are very ethical, but I also know there have been customers we've talked to who have been disappointed buying so-called Giants that really were not.

 

[mudskipper]

I have a 3-month old tremper albino giant from Designer Geckos. Her body shape is definitely different from 2-month old my mack snow (also from Designer Geckos) and my 4-month old SHTCT. The giant's tail is longer. Her body is also more elongated. It's definitely true about the tamest as Ray described. When I take her out, she just sits on my hand and chills.

I don't know if my mack snow from Designer Geckos is related to Buffalo Bill in anyway because she's not a giant, but she's also very smart and friendly. I picked her because Ray labeled her as "super friendly". And she is! She is very bold. When I'm nearby, she comes out to beg for food. She would look at me right in the eyes and just stare like in the picture below, with her head following me around. After I give her mealworms or dubias, she goes back to one of her hides.. but with her head sticking out watching my every move. I look forward to going home everyday because she is usually out in front of the tank waiting. When I feed her, I use a pair of tongs. As soon as she sees the tongs in front of her, she looks on the floor!! Because that's where I would drop the bug! To me, that's a sign of intelligence. That's what my dog does when he sees me with a laser light, he looks on the floor because that's where the light would be so he can chase it. If I want to feed her while she's sleeping, all I have to do it tapping the tank with the tongs. Then she comes out. She's definitely my favorite.

Anyway, I highly recommend Ray's geckos!!

 

[Designer Geckos]

Thanks so much for the kind words. Glad you are happy.

A couple things....two of the tamest morphs are the Mack Snows and Giants. All leos are of course super mellow, but those 2 are among the chillest. We also breed for personality and even intelligence, and we feel those traits are just as important as anything else. We also handle each gecko daily to socialize them, and that's why we've decided to keep our operation on a somewhat smaller scale so we don't lose focus on that.

As for your MS, if I recall that gecko, that line does have Giant genes, so even if it doesn't get huge it could still produce Giants. I wish everyone could check out Buffalo Bill in person....he's a gentle monster and will let you do anything to him. The dude just loves people. And he's still a baby at 15 months. I can only imagine how he will be in 15 years!

Thanks again and keep us posted on your couch buddies.

 

[CNest]

I think I could tell a giant from just a large normal. I had one giant but it was fully grown when I bought it. So no experience with hatchlings or juveniles. It has just been a long time since I've been around leos that I feel super noob again. Haha Designer Geckos are one of the top three that I've been looking at. So far I've liked what I've seen.