Dark/Light

[jandsfannon]

I thought I would show the difference between using dark substrate or dark bins and how it affects the colors in a Leopard Gecko:

This is a hatchling that was placed in a dark hatchling container:

I then removed the hatchling from the dark bin, place her in a clear bin and as always I use white papertowel. This is the result:

I thought that it was interesting to see how dark colors can affect how light or dark an animal is.

 

[Phantom240]

Strange. How long did this change take to occur?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

When you say dark do you mean without light or black in color? Did you try the same thing in reverse? If so, did the hatchlings get darker over time when moved from light to dark? I'm just wondering because my hypos lighten up as they grow regardless of setup so you'd have to control for that aspect ans see if it was really the set up and not just normal growing up that caused the lightening. Super interesting investigation either way!!

 

[yats08]

very interesting indeed i want to see some pictures, have you tried it on the others?

 

[jandsfannon]

Strange. How long did this change take to occur?

Once we removed her from the bin about 2 weeks, and one complete shed.

 

[jandsfannon]

When you say dark do you mean without light or black in color? Did you try the same thing in reverse? If so, did the hatchlings get darker over time when moved from light to dark? I'm just wondering because my hypos lighten up as they grow regardless of setup so you'd have to control for that aspect ans see if it was really the set up and not just normal growing up that caused the lightening. Super interesting investigation either way!!

They are not completely without light, I used some bins off my snake rack which are see thru but black in color. Usually they are in a completely clear bin with white paper towel. No I know the difference with lightening up from growth and this change. I actually have noticed this before in Blizzards, and Tangerines, adults and babies. But the last time I was using dark substrate before I changed to white paper towel.

 

[jandsfannon]

very interesting indeed i want to see some pictures, have you tried it on the others?

I have seen it before in adult tangerines and blizzards mostly, although this year because I had alot of hatchlings I had to use some hatchling bin the were meant for baby ball pythons so they are darker than my gecko tubs. I have notice some darkening on my Giant Fascio crosses. These were older animals that were light in the first place and then about a weeks after beeing in a darker bin the black and yellow were darker or dirtier.

 

[LLLReptile]

Funny how perceptive these animals can be to their surroundings. Neat post, thanks for sharing!

If you're interested in more about how geckos see (it's surprisingly rich), we did a video on nocturnal geckos and their eyesight.

-Jen