Giants?

[fallen_angel]

There was a thread awhile back where I was asking about whether or not our hatchlings were Giants, but I couldn't seem to find it, so.. just wanted to post an update.

The first two suspected to be Giants:
Chance - weighed 6.9 at 12 days, 13.8 at 4 weeks, and is currently 5 weeks, 3 days old and weighs 18.5 grams
Gizmo (my avatar) - weighed 6.5 at 9 days, 11.5 at 3 weeks, and currently weighs 16.4 grams at 5 weeks old.


We now have three other hatchlings from the same father (the one suspected to be passing the Giant gene) for comparison:
Shadow - 11 days - 4.9 grams
Smoke - 1 week - 4.5 grams
Spot - 1 week - 4.8 grams


So now that our results are closer to 50%/50%, what do you guys think? Is daddy proven to be a Giant?

 

[fallen_angel]

found the thread, so here it is for reference: http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=19107&page=2

and here's some comparison pics, they are all about the same age in these:
suspected to be Giants:

Spot, average weight:

and here's the same leos as hatchlings for comparison (in the same order):

 

[david13]

that is pretty big i think..I think (a guess) that they are giants

not to hijack the thread but what is the normal gain weight each month for a baby leo..i remember some1 posting it before..

 

[fallen_angel]

I am not sure, I only know Moose's weight gain, and the two leos that are suspected to be giants are similar to his

 

[fallen_angel]

please help

 

[fallen_angel]

this is my orginigal question:

So now that our results are closer to 50%/50%, what do you guys think? Is daddy proven to be a Giant?

but if anyone can just answer me this, that's fine.. Is the gecko pictured in my avatar lanky enough to be Giant? he looks lanky to me, but I need someone who has more experience with looking at Giants

 

[Mel&Keith]

We had 2 Snows that hatched at 4.5g this week (about on par with our Giant hatchlings) yet they have no Giant genes. You would really need to prove him out with a group of females and see if all of your results are the same.

 

[fallen_angel]

Thanks, we are.. Only time will truly tell, I just thought I'd ask again since the results are more 50/50 now.. When I asked before, the answer was "you'd have to get 50/50". Also, someone said it was pretty easy to tell a giant from a non-giant by lankiness, and these two suspected to be giants look pretty lanky, but I'm not used to looking at Giants. Do you think the one in my avatar looks lanky?

One of the hatchlings is from one female (Female A), while the other four are from a different female (Female B), all from the same male. The two suspected to be Giants are from Female B, and we'll have two more babies this week from Female A. We had a third female breeding with him, but she laid one infertile clutch and has reabsorbed eggs ever since

 

[fallen_angel]

forgot that Chance's hatchling pic had a ruler in it:

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I have several 'non-giant' geckos that are over 100 grams. Unless one of the parents of your babies IS a giant, you would not get any giant offspring. We really are growing them bigger and bigger these days!

 

[fallen_angel]

Thanks Marcia, that is what we are trying to prove, whether he is a Giant or not.. because he is well over 100 grams, and is producing 50% larger than average offspring (thus far).. I understand that only time will give us 100% unquestionable answers.

I don't mean to be highly annoying by bringing up this topic again when several of you have told me that growing weights vary, some can be giant-sized with no Giant gene, some are large as hatchlings and end up a normal adult size, etc., etc., etc. I will have answers to all of my questions once we have more offspring, and our "suspected giants" grow to adult size (we're keeping them both). To be honest, I'm excited/impatient and I was just curious if anyone that works with Giants or is experienced with recognizing Giants could give their opinion on our results thus far (and on my avatar picture - lanky enough to be Giant?)

feedback is highly appreciated, thanks!

 

[fallen_angel]

here's a good comparison pic of daddy.. does he look lanky like a Giant?

 

[Lottiz]

I have several 'non-giant' geckos that are over 100 grams. Unless one of the parents of your babies IS a giant, you would not get any giant offspring. We really are growing them bigger and bigger these days!

Me too! One of my first males was up to 116 grams for a year ago, no giant.

But I got a giant line too. Non of them are a super giant and because of that I can't tell who is normal and who is giant when they are small. You can only guess, so I take no extra for the size and mark them all "poss. giant". When they are adult you can see the differents easier.

This is a not a giant:

This is a giant female, 96 grams. Very long body (got eggs in her belly on this pics):

This is also a giant (male) with a premature raptor at his side:

I sold this one and today we can all him giant, 10 month and 102 grams:

http://www.rainbowreptiles.se/mango.html


/Lottiz

 

[fallen_angel]

Thank you SO much for helping!!! Your non-giant looks similar to our male, and our male doesn't look as long as the male giant in the link you provided.. So we now know that ours is an oversized male, not a Giant at all..

I just have a few more questions, if anyone could help please..

1. So is it possible for an "oversized gecko" to make some "oversized geckos" just like him, without him being "Giant"?
2. Or is it more likely that I just have "bigger" hatchlings that will level out into normal size and weight as adults?
3. If his large size does pass onto offspring, what does that mean, since he's still not Giant?
4. Has anyone ever bred their overly large, but non-giant geckos?

thanks in advance!

 

[fallen_angel]

very beautiful geckos btw Lottiz :heart:

 

[pastelball]

Between my giants and normals I could see that the giants tail were not as fat but they were quite a bit longer than the normals.
Here is are super giant male. He is almost the length of a 12quart tub.

 

[sbord_tom]

man he looks like a monster but i noce one at that

 

[MSMD]

Very nice, Lottiz!

I have a 110g male Mack Snow that is not a giant, just a BIG boy.

Here's Cheddar Bob:

Jess, I would expect that, even without carrying any Giant genes, your male could very well have offspring that grow up to be larger than average. You can line breed for size just like any other trait. Even without the geckos carrying the actual 'Giant' gene. I imagine your little guys will probably be some good-sized geckos when done growing! :main_yes:

 

[fallen_angel]

Very nice Mari and pastelball, they are both amazing and beautiful!! I was very questionable about the Giant gene with our male for the longest time (it feels) but now I am 100% positive that he is just a large male based on everyone else's pics :sweetheart: Thanks SOOOOOO MUCH to everyone for helping!

Mari - thanks for shining some light on that question about breeding big geckos too!! I don't know if we will be line breeding at this point, but we are interested in seeing what happens if we breed two oversized geckos together :heart: and I think we will always keep at least one oversized gecko in our breeding colonies if we continue to get oversized offspring :main_yes: :main_yes: :main_yes:

I'm glad you think our two babies will grow to be good-sized too, so thanks for the boost!! I'm really excited to see just how big they get - we are keeping both of them since they are our very first two babies

I just weighed Chance (he's a normal/pastel) last night, he is exactly six weeks old today and was 20.7 grams when I weighed him! Gizmo (my avatar, a LBS X MS snow) won't be 6 weeks old until Tuesday, but he weighed in at 17.4 grams :main_yes:

 

[fallen_angel]

they both have a 50% chance to be het. Tremper, too