I'm curious about this "bubblegum" albino.

katie_

katie_

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I bought a bubblegum. I realize now hes an abombination to all leopard geckos, and I do NOT plan to breed him.
Now I'm still learning about albino strains, but this one stumps me. I read the other thread about 'bubblegums' but I need someone to 'dumb it down' for me.
Does this gecko show both traits from tremper and bell? Or is it something 'different'.
Here are some pictures. Hes about 8 months old.

View attachment 44465

View attachment 44466

View attachment 44467

Again, I am just curious about this 'morph'. Probably only because I have one. I do not plan on ever breeding it.
 
LeopardShade

LeopardShade

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It's certainly not an abomination, visually speaking. Genetically, yes. But it's a beautiful animal, regardless of its muddy genetics.

The term "bubblegum albino" is given to geckos who are homozygous for two strains of albino. I created a thread asking some questions about this morph as well, and I think there was some great information given as to if these geckos really do express two strains of albinism in the phenotype, or if one recessive mutation manifests in the phenotype before the other, which hides in the genotype. You can look more into it if you wish:

http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=78043
 
stager

stager

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I could be wrong but a bubble gum will only show one strain of albino, and this looks tremper to me, but because its two strains mixed hard to be sure. its very nice looking though.
 
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RampantReptiles

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Tremper eyes can be a little pink... which is what I see in your photo.

I cant say flat out your gecko is not a Bell. This is the problem with these crosses... the expected phenotype cannot express the genotype.

Only way to prove its a bubble gum without a shadow of a doubt is test breeding.
 
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katie_

katie_

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RampantReptiles said:
Tremper eyes can be a little pink... which is what I see in your photo.

I cant say flat out your gecko is not a Bell. This is the problem with these crosses... the expected phenotype cannot express the genotype.

Only way to prove its a bubble gum without a shadow of a doubt is test breeding.
Click to expand...

Oh no, I dont really care to test that. I'm just curious about gecko genetics, and am a tad bit confused with all these recessive genes.
 
katie_

katie_

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RampantReptiles said:
can you identify what is confusing you? maybe we can help clarify something :)
Click to expand...

I think whats confusing me is that I see neither tremper or bell.
Also, I was under the understanding that if you breed two different strains of albinos..you would get normals? I was wrong, ovbiously.
 
A

AlexB

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katie_ said:
I think whats confusing me is that I see neither tremper or bell.
Also, I was under the understanding that if you breed two different strains of albinos..you would get normals? I was wrong, ovbiously.
Click to expand...

at first you will see normals, but when you breed them back to each other you will get more normals 66% het for Temper/Bell, Trempers 66% het bell, bells 66% het Tremper and the "bubblegums" wich are homocigotes for bell and tremper
 
LeopardShade

LeopardShade

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Like I said earlier, Seamus brought up a great point about "bubblegum albinos" and how the two albino strains are expressed in the link I provided in my previous post. Here, I'll quote it here, maybe it'll help. If you want to see the actual conversation and thread, here's the link once more:
http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=78043

M_surinamensis said:
Soooooort of. Maybe depends on how you're using expressed. Expressed as in present in the genetics, yes. Expressed as in combining the unique visual traits, maybe not.

The color, the end, visual appearance of color and pattern, of an animal is the result of a complex physiological process involving a number of organic chemicals, and a few types of cells. There are many steps involved, starting as early as the metabolism of nutrients, going on into the synthesis of pigment compounds, the movement of pigments through the cells of the skin and the function of each cell type involved.

There are lots of points at which the process can be interrupted. Where the mutation causes it to not function as intended, resulting in the appearance that we identify as a morph. Furthermore, each point can often be interrupted in different ways, a cell type isn't present, a cell type isn't functional, a necessary chemical is never synthesized... different ways for each such step to be affected.

Albino leopard geckos are all tyrosinase positive, so we know that melanin is produced and that the point of interruption comes somewhere after that. Exactly where and how is an unknown, nobody has taken the time, put in the expense and the effort to determine exactly how each strain's particular mutation functions.

Since there are dozens of steps involved in the resulting appearance, even discounting the functions which we know are working as normal in producing melanin, we can only broadly know at what point after that the process is interrupted. If one strain has an interrupt point that is earlier in the process than another, as in... step sixteen (as a purely hypothetical) is where Strain X's mutation manifests, but step twenty is where Strain Y's mutation comes into play... then even with both mutations being present in the same animal, one of them would never manifest visually, since the other happens first.
Click to expand...
 
Dimidiata

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I see tremper, im not a eye person so no use from me there. Quite a morph(if youd call it that). Hes a cutie, guess hell make a good lil pet eh? Im sure hes feeling the love.
 
katie_

katie_

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Dimidiata said:
I see tremper, im not a eye person so no use from me there. Quite a morph(if youd call it that). Hes a cutie, guess hell make a good lil pet eh? Im sure hes feeling the love.
Click to expand...

Haha yeah..
Hes got a great personality. Hes the only one in my bedrooom, and when I come in, he stomps out to see whats going on.
When I was taking his picture in his tank, he was totally interested. My other geckos dont seem to care.
 
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