Giant Geckos?

[Spartanozzy]

So I have been debating on getting a giant or super giant geck for a while now. Do they need any special care besides the usual for Leos? Also, do they have shorter lifes spans or more health issues? And how much do they usually run? I just always thought it would be really cool to have a mammoth gecko. Thanks!

 

[packs_fan]

I don't know of any different care for giants than any other leo. From what I have seen they do run a higher price if you compare the same morph. But that is just from what I have seen from the breeders I have looked at. That may not necessarily be true.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Their care is the same, with exceptions of larger living space is highly suggested. Life spans on giants would be impossible to have a true answer. Simply because I leopards can live 18+ years and Giants have not been around long enough (and have non bred geckos) to have some sort of gauge on their lifespan. If I had to guess I would assume they would life a shorter life due to added body function effort. Price on them will vary and there are a lot of people out there selling "giants" and "super giants" that are neither. You can have huge geckos without having the "giant" gene in them. I posted a couple on my FB yesterday that are way bigger than the one and only Giant I had (now sold) in my collection. Size in my opinion is polygenetic not co dominant. I have seen the Giant gene at work and it certainly does produce larger than normal animals...but so do larger non giant geckos. Just pick someone with strong lines and a true genetic giants.

 

[mudskipper]

I bookmarked these pages when I was shopping for a giant.

http://www.leopardgecko.com/giants (where the first giant came from)

http://embergecko.com/ (They specialize in giants)

http://www.leopardgeckosforsale.com/giants (I ended up getting one from here)

http://www.geckosetc.com/available_trempergiant.html (big selection here, too)

 

[mudskipper]

Check out these pages from Ron as well. They are very informative.

http://www.leopardgecko.com/giant-genetics
http://www.leopardgecko.com/giant-faq

 

[kkigs]

Giants are becoming much less expensive these days, but supers are still pricey. The future of the morph is just like any other, brighter colors, combination morphs, and of course, consistent size. I will continue to state that weights have NOTHING to do with this gene. I'm going to post a picture one of these days to show what I mean. True super giants get MUCH longer than average non-giants at the same age. I have a five month old male that is a good 9 inches+, and "only" 52 grams. My 14 month old bandit non-giant is 51 grams, and looks plenty healthy! In my opinion, there is too much focus on producing offensive linemen, when we should be focused on producing tight-ends (or power forwards, analagous to basketball). Long and lean is what I am aiming for.