New RAPTORs

[Rhacodactyl]

I came home to a great surprise today-both of my eggs had hatched and these two were waiting for me. These are the first hatchlings from my giant RAPTOR pair, and the first leos I've ever produced. I was really surprised the one had so much pattern. I'm not sure how it will end up, but it doesn't look much like either of its parents. I'll post some more pictures of them and their parents later. Quick question though-about how soon should I expect them to start eating?

 

[Wezul]

Sweet! I wish the first ones I ever produced looked like that.
Congrats, they won't eat until after their first shed....about 3 or 4 days, just look around for their fist poop.

 

[Jeremy Letkey]

Kevin, they will usually eat after their first shed. This can happen within 3-7 days.

On another note, were both parents RAPTORS?

The on with the patterning seems to have normal eyes?

OH, congrats on your babies!!! They are nice.

 

[Rhacodactyl]

Thanks for the info on feeding. Most of the crested geckos I've hatched shed immediately after hatching, so I didn't know if these two had shed and already eaten it or if that would come later. Jeremy, I can definitely understand why you'd ask about the one since it doesn't look at all like I expected from the parents, but both are RAPTORs.

However, the mother hatched with partial snake eyes that faded as she grew. Here's a picture of one of her eyes.

You can see the darker area, but it's not so opaque anymore. The father has a snake eye and a partial snake eye.

Here are both parents:

It's hard to get a good look at the juveniles' eyes since they're so light sensitive, but I think the one with the weird pattern has at least a snake eye on one side but the other eye does look normal as far as I can tell. It looks like the patternless hatchling has at least one solid eye, but I can't say for sure yet. I'll try to get a better look and update on that later.

 

[paulnj]

Nice hatchlings reguardless of what that patterned hatchling is, but it isn't a true raptor and I agree the eye looks normal in that one image of the pair.

 

[yellermelon]

Ive heard of the RAPTORS eyes fading alot. I can see a darker area on the mothers eye, mabey what use to be the partial snake eye. Also I would think if one eye is a snake eye on the baby that would make it a RAPTOR.

 

[preacherman]

They look great, Kevin! Welcome to the fun of breeding raptors! You can get all variations in pattern and eye pigmentation with them. Hopefully they'll be as big and robust as their parents. Keep us posted on how they develop.

 

[Rhacodactyl]

OK, I got a pretty good look at each of them and there's good news and bad news. The good news is the typically patterned hatchling seems to have 2 solid eyes, so I really hit the jackpot with that one. The bad news is the one that looks like an albino jungle seems to have 2 normal eyes. Maybe it has some small partial snake eye, but I couldn't see it if it does. I'll have to keep a close watch on that one for the next few days and try to figure out what's going on with it. I thought for sure the mother was a RAPTOR since you can still see where her eyes used to be partially solid, but the male definitely has snake eyes, so if either of them have questionable genetics I guess it's her.

 

[David Loftin]

I have actually had offspring from RAPTOR x Normal hatch with as much as 50% Dark Pigmented Eyes. By the time they reach maturity... It has completley disappeared. It is still very interesting. So.. at least your Female is a Het RAPTOR. It could be worse.

 

[MSMD]

Congrats! Nice babies! :main_yes:

 

[Country Gecko]

Awesome hatchlings !!!

 

[preacherman]

Kevin, your female is a raptor. Even solid eyed Raptor x Raptor can produce offspring without any red pigment whatsoever. They can also produce offspring with stripes and jungle patterns.

 

[ataber]

raptor genetics are "fun"!

 

[Rhacodactyl]

Even solid eyed Raptor x Raptor can produce offspring without any red pigment whatsoever.

That's good to know. I thought if each parent was homozygous for the eclipse trait all offspring should have at least partial snake eyes, but I only know enough about leo genetics to predict what I'd hatch out (or so I thought). Anyway, I'm just happy they're both healthy and hatched without any problems. I was expecting all of the offspring to be pretty similar, so it's kinda nice to get something unexpected.

I've seen a few "banded RAPTORs" for sale which looked like normally patterned tremper albinos with eclipse eyes. I assumed they were the result of outcrossing RAPTORs to non-stripe/jungle/PRS geckos, but is it possible to get such a thing from typical RAPTOR parents? Also, if the one jungle hatchling is in fact lacking any solid eye pigment, it would be an APTOR right? Or should it even be called an APTOR if it doesn't have the PRS pattern?

 

[Michelle]

Congrats on your stunning new hatchlings!!