Is there still a market for "Classic" morphs?

[Golden Gate Geckos]

There has been something weighing heavy on my mind and heart for quite awhile, and even more so in light of today's leopard gecko market. There are simply too many leopard geckos for sale, and IMO many breeders are over-producing which only adds to the issue. On top of that, anybody with a pair of leopard geckos can build a website and call themselves 'breeders'.

I have been around for nearly 14 years, and I have never been one of those breeders who will ever produce a 'new' morph... and I never will be. Quite frankly, I am not intersted in producing multiple genetic morph geckos, so I'm OK with what I like to work with.

Awhile back, I sat around crying and feeling sorry for myself that I could not compete in today's leopard gecko market because there are soooooo many combination morphs out there that I couldn't possibly keep up. There is no way I could due to my physical limitations, as well as time and space constraints to house and take care of all the by-product hets that are produced when trying to create combination morphs. Not only that, it would just add to the already flooded market. If there are BIG breeders out there producing 20,000 geckos a year, what's the point of someone like me who only produces 300 geckos a year to try to keep up? Heck, I can't even keep up with all the morph names.

I would like to change the mindset of many of you that call these morphs "Old School". They are "Classics". At the rate we are going, there will be no more pure Patternless, Blizzards, Jungle Trempers, etc. left! Look what happened to the pure Rainwaters, red-stripes, Ray Hine Ghosts, and David Nieves tangerines! They are history now. The original R2 Bold Stripes are now well over 10 years old now, and didn't produce anything last season. This means that any of you that have pure R2 Bold Stripes have the last of their kind... and many are using them to cross into other morphs.

Soooo, what I would like to know is... is there still a market for pure, 'classic' morphs? What are people going to use to outcross and prove out their 10-trait combination morphs if there aren't any pure 'classic' morphs any more? Am I just a dinosaur clinging to "old school" ways with my "old school" morphs... or am I someone who appreciates the beauty of the "Classics" and doesn't want to see them vanish into oblivion? Am I just fooling myself?

 

[Nigel4less]

I can't sit here Marcia and tell you that "All Good things must come to an end". I find it funny how anyone with $25 dollars to spend at a Reptile show can buy a pair of Normals and like you said call themselves a breeder. Considering that half the Population who keeps leopard geckos have NO Idea what a R2 Bold Stripe or a David Nieves Tangerine is. Let alone a Ray Hine Ghost!

Its pretty disheartening to see these beautiful "Classics" fade away. Now that we have Super Jungle Patternless Black and White Hole Enigmas, its impossible to find a Patternless that isn't Het for Tremper or Rainwater. Now is becoming the same with Trempers that don't carry Reverse Stripe or Jungle Genes in their blood. I personally think the market is going to kick itself into gear when people stop thinking about the money and start doing this because they love their animals.

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, can say that they love their Leopard Geckos, but once they see that they can make money undercutting and mass-producing animals. Thats when they go to the "Dark-Side" of Reptile breeding. Its sad to see what was such a prosperous and friendly community, become the Ball Python market.....

My 2 cents...

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

Well i can honestly say the only one that i havn't heard of is the Ray Hine Ghost. But for me i like to keep things simple. Why do i want to have something that is triple/quad het for something. it's a huge let down in the end for me. i have very little patience and i know going into breeding my geckos that it will take all that i have just to hatch one.

I'm a huge fan of Tangs, Red Stripes, Bold Stripes, and Jungles. I will never be that person that has that drive or patience let alone cash flow to get into higher end morphs. I'm a firm believer that the i guess what you would call classics will always be my favorite.

Marica you are not alone and you are not a dinosaur just clinging on to the classics. There will always be kids out there wanting to get a pet gecko. There will always be huge breeders popping out 20,000 geckos.

It's not quantity it's quality. I don't care if a gecko is $30 or $5000. If it's not a pretty gecko it's not a pretty gecko. In saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[paulnj]

Marcia, we had a discussion on this subject weeks ago and I still think that "classic" morphs are very much valued and needed. Don't stop what you are doing!

 

[acpart]

During the summer I had someone come over to pick a pair of leopard geckos. His mother came along too and fell in love with a classic/high yellow (admittedly it was het for tremper albino). At first I didn't want to sell it to her because I had a show coming up and wanted to have some lower priced stock, but she was so obviously smitten I gave in. She loves it to death and just sent me a Christmas picture email of her. I do think there is a market for "classic", or what I call "simpler" geckos. There are a lot of people just looking for a gecko that strikes their fancy that they can love.

Aliza

 

[yellermelon]

Its people like you Marcia,


That keep good things going. I think its gonna sorta be like the trends now days..I see bolds coming "back into style now" They were out for abit but now they are cool again. Ive been eyeballing what we now call "normals" or high yellows. I think they are nice still lol. Marcias pattys are best in the biz for sure! Nobody gets tired of a nice tangerine..IMO thats right there with the originals..What was the first morph..a high yellow...The tang is a extension of the high yellow. they are still around and being bred by nearly every "breeder" in the biz.
I am a VERY small time breeder with less than 100 animals right now. I decided last year to only work with project I like. If they sell ...cool..If not..Ill keep them..and not breed the following year as the food bill would be sky high LMAO!
I think as long as you enjoy what your doing it doesnt matter what the "return " is...after all what other HOBBY even offers a return. I know my Honda Civic project car isnt giving me any money back..nor did my expencive rc cars..But with the geckos I have a chance to make a little back. Dont give up on the oldies Marcia..They are the goodies

 

[RepGurl]

I agree with Chris. Everyone likes a nice Tang, I think I see pics of them posted more then any other morph. I am one of the people who loves bolds and stripes, and I like them on normal colors better then any other morph. I think if you work with what you love you are bound to get a return of some kind because your dedication to the morph will show in the quality of the animals produced. Some people love the new combo morphs, and some people stick with the classics. I will admit that I was drawn to the hobby by the price tags on some of the Diablo Blancos and such. But once I was engaged I decided not to breed those and to stick with what I love the most (bolds and albino snow crosses). Not everyone is in it to sell a $5000 gecko, and the people who are truly dedicated to the hobby will be the ones left when the whole thing sorts it self out.

 

[Bodon]

I wondered if someday the "normals" will be worth a ton because there arent too many left, i doubt that will happen but you never know. I thought the normals were the cool looking ones when i first started looking into leos, now there is a rainbow to choose from so i say...GET THEM ALL!

 

[vctkiller]

I wondered if someday the "normals" will be worth a ton because there arent too many left, i doubt that will happen but you never know. I thought the normals were the cool looking ones when i first started looking into leos, now there is a rainbow to choose from so i say...GET THEM ALL!

Well wouldn't there be normals in the wild?

 

[Lacedolphin]

Some of us are not interested in breeding and cannot afford all those "new" morphs. For all those breeders putting out 20,000 a year, none of them get handled or are used to humans and it makes for the unsuspecting new owner a hard time getting them used to handling or regular home noises.

So yes, I think there is a place for the small breeder who takes the time to make great pets instead of breeders.

 

[Lena]

You know, I think with the way the 'combo' morphs are getting, things are going to get too confusing for beginners. Thus there will always be a market for the basic morphs.

I was just thinking when I went out to get my first leo - I gravitated towards the simple "Tangerine het Tremper" as I was overwhelmed by the leos with strange morph names and massive lists of hets I saw on the table!

EDIT: Oh, and I absolutely LOVE plain patternless leos.

 

[jakemyster44]

I have been giving alot of thought to the same question as well Marcia, I wonder, am I the ONLY person with a pair of normals? Obveously that is not true, but they are getting more and more rare... shoot, they are one of the prettiest "morphs" IMO... I think its perfectly fine to breed for intersting colors and patterns, but to take it so far as to hatch out geckos w/ all sorts of deformities (due to inbreeding) it is crazy. just my 2 cents...

 

[Lena]

I love normals.. But I can't find any "natural" looking normals anywhere.

 

[tangerineman]

classic morphs

i think there will always be a place for classics, but with increased shares of the pie being taken up by the increase in morph varieties their share may dwindle from whatever it was/is...

and , like anything there will be the purists who will keep certain strains going...

D

 

[vctkiller]

Maybe we can start at the beginning again by catching wild caught normal leopard geckos. Then we can start all over .

 

[herpencounter]

Maybe we can start at the beginning again by catching wild caught normal leopard geckos. Then we can start all over .

I think that would be sweet IMO... No joke.

 

[Nigel4less]

Maybe we can start at the beginning again by catching wild caught normal leopard geckos. Then we can start all over .

If only we didn't have sanctions against these countries....

 

[thestack510]

I think there will always be a market for the "classic" morphs. As the hobby progresses there will be an increasing number of morphs, but we have to remember that without the "classics" there would be no foundation for the combos we have now. Many breeders have there own areas of focus. I hope a fair number of us make some effort to keep the "classic" morphs. I wish I could find Nieves Tangerines now. I've seen very few Nieves crosses available, but even the crosses look great. Can anyone tell me why projects such as the Nieves Tangerines faded away? There are certainly enough hobbyists to keep morphs from disappearing these days, right? In my opinion preservation of the foundation morphs is essential to the hobby. I would love to have some good examples of "Wild Type" Leopard Geckos. I don't find them any less beautiful than any of the other morphs myself, to me they all have their own appeal. We should do what we can to become Morph Conservationists, at least on some level.

 

[Slager]

I am new to the gecko community and I have yet to purchase my first leo, but really want a normal. Truth be told, I really can't find one. I'm not interested in breeding. I just want a leopard gecko for what it is, a leopard gecko. I don't need some fancy enigma het for this and het for that. Nor do I want to shell out the cash for something like that in the first place. Keep on breeding the normals!!!! I would love to purchase one!!!!!

 

[jakemyster44]

I think I'll always be sure to have a pair of normals around!

refreshing?