Giant question

[fallen_angel]

So we have a BIG Mack, his highest weight recorded thus far is 116.7g. We purchased from Alex Hue, who told us he has never worked with Giants, but has seen a few others of his grow to be just as big. \

We have two hatchlings at the moment who are both "Giant-sized" for their age. I wil have "4-week old weights" in another week, but right now, my 3-week old weighs 9.9 grams (and he actually won't be 3 weeks old until tomorrow).

I also won't be weighing my other hatchling until he is also 3 weeks old (on Tuesday), but he is the same size visually.

I remember on another post that someone said they knew their hatchlings were giants and they weighed 8.5 at 3 weeks.

So it's looking like the offspring are proving the Giant genes, right? Can I say that the father is a giant?

 

[Mel&Keith]

If all of the babies hatch at about the same size and grow at the same rate then, no. If you get a mix of about half huge ones and half normal sized ones then, maybe. Giant x Normal = apx. 50% Giant 50% Normal

We hatched a clutch where both babies were Giants, they hatched at 4.5g and 4.7g and grew at the same pace. The next clutch from that pairing were Normals and hatched at 3.3 and 3.5, they aren't long and lanky like the Giants either.

 

[fallen_angel]

If all of the babies hatch at about the same size and grow at the same rate then, no. If you get a mix of about half huge ones and half normal sized ones then, maybe. Giant x Normal = apx. 50% Giant 50% Normal

We hatched a clutch where both babies were Giants, they hatched at 4.5g and 4.7g and grew at the same pace. The next clutch from that pairing were Normals and hatched at 3.3 and 3.5, they aren't long and lanky like the Giants either.

Very helpful, thanks! I'm not sure of the weights when those two hatched, I didn't record them. But the one that I weighed today that is 9.9 grams weighed 7.5 grams at two weeks.

We will have three more hatching in about a week or so, so we will have to see how big those babies are! Although, we didn't necessarily think they would all be the same size, we just knew these two were definitely bigger than normal.

 

[Mel&Keith]

He may just be a really big boy who makes really big babies! lol

 

[fallen_angel]

he's not the biggest boy there is, but he is big

 

[fallen_angel]

But so ethically, if you bought a gecko that grew to Giant size and is producing Giant sized babies, even though the breeder you got him from has never worked with Giants.. Can you say that he has Giant genes if they are proving themselves true?

 

[Stevie]

When the animal reaches a weight of over 100 gram within the first year of its life, its a giant. This is according to the 'rule' that is stated for the morph.

Greets,

Stevie

 

[LadyGecko]

I have always heard/read that if the baby has at least one giant parent and it reaches 30 grams by 4 months of age (some one please correct me if I have this backward) and it has the long lanky body and long tail then it is a giant

Also-these days there are many big Leos out there that are not "giants" IE descended from Moose's line

I hope that I got that right

Those geckos are beautiful

:main_yes:

Sandy

 

[fallen_angel]

Well I suppose that since we are not actually working with the Giant line, we shouldn't say that our offspring are Giants.

 

[Mel&Keith]

As Leos have been selectively bred for so many years now, they tend to keep getting bigger. So there are lots of Giant sized geckos out there that do not carry Giant genes. To prove him as a Giant he would have to produce half Giant/half non-Giant offspring and with at least a couple of females. It would definitely be premature to mark them as Giants at this point.

 

[fallen_angel]

Thanks everyone

 

[Leopardgeckosunlimited]

I personally don't always count on weight to tell if leos are giants. We have had non-giants reach over 50 grams by 4 months old. Giants tend to be longer and more lanky. Also alot of the time when you hatch out giants one will be longer than the other. When you breed a giant to a non-giant you get about a 50:50 ratio. Also I bought a Giant Red Stripe APTOR het RAPTOR from Ron Tremper last year and she is only 58 grams at 13 months old. She is incredible long and is just now starting to fill in her weight. A lot of times, but not always giants will grow their length and then fill in their weight. It is one of those things that the more you see of them the better you will get at picking them out. Posting a pic or two might help also..

Henry Carota
Leopard Geckos Unlimited
http://www.leopardgeckosunlimited.com