giant-supergiant?

N

newbiez

Guest
ok i really like giants and super giants but i dont have any.... i just want one basically for a pet but i need a male to go with 3 females.. so i was wondering can a person breed giants with non-giants? and if so what would i get if i breeded a giant or super giant with normals ?... i dont really care about the morph just wondering about if i would get just normal giants or super giants or what?
thx,Dillan
 
snowgyre

snowgyre

New Member
Messages
588
Location
Athens, GA
Nope. Giant is a co-dominant trait in leopard geckos. That means that a leopard gecko only needs one copy of the gene for the trait to be expressed. So, quick genetics lesson:

All animals have two copies of a gene, one inherited from mom, one from dad. Let's say that the giant gene is "G" and the regular gene is "g".

Here are some pairings.

Giant male (Gg) x normal female (gg)
Possible outcomes:
Dad
-----G..........g
M g Gg........gg
O
M g Gg........gg

50% of the babies will be giants (Gg) and 50% will be normals. The problem is that the giant gene is what I call a 'subjective' gene, in that it's really difficult to separate the normals from the giants. Essentially, all babies produced from this pairing have to be advertised as 50% possible giants, because unless you're Ron Tremper or some other breeder that's been working with this morph since it came out, then I doubt anyone's ability (myself included) to tell the difference between a large normal and a small giant, even if giants tend to be lankier. It's not like an albino where you KNOW you have an albino animal because there's no pigment. It's not that easy.

Now, if you breed a super giant (GG) to a normal female (gg) all babies will be giants, because the Dad only has the giant gene to pass on. All babies will be of the genotype Gg, with G coming from Dad and g coming from Mom.
 
godzillizard

godzillizard

New Member
Messages
639
Location
Minneapolis, MN
In my personal experience working with giants and super giants for 3 seasons, I would NOT consider it (size) to be co-dom or in any way dominant--From my breeding results, size seems to be a result of polygenic/cooperating recessive genetics. In my opinion, "giantism" is a result/effect of E.m.angramainyu cross breeding...
 
snowgyre

snowgyre

New Member
Messages
588
Location
Athens, GA
Good to know. I always wondered if it was a strict co-dom, because it certainly hasn't acted like it in my collection either.
 
J

Jayyoung

Guest
At what size is a gecko giant? I have a pet store buy that is 118Gm he is 1 year old. He was sold as a "Juvenile Leopard Gecko".

And he is very calm, I have a large crestie also (46Gm) he is pretty chill compared to my 32Gm guys/girls. I think that their size makes them feel less threatened.
 
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