Question on Fat Tail morphology

[chachasushi]

I was just perusing JMG's site and they have two morphs, Zero and Patternless that confuse me. Zero is named such because it has zero banding and Patternless is well... patternless. However, to look at the pics of their stock I don't see too strong a difference in some of their examples. There are Zero's that look like Patternless and Patternless that look like Zeros. Also, some of the Zeros look like that do have banding, albeit very slight... If someone were to hand me a gecko without telling me it's genetics, how would I tell the difference?

Also, what's the difference between a zero and an abberant? Lack of banding?

Here are the links to what I'm referring to...

This gecko is being called a Zero... it looks Patternless to me

 

[ang3l3s]

agreed, also the carmels and normals look the same too!!!

 

[chachasushi]

Top one is aberrent, bottom one is zero... both look the exact same to me... what am I missing?

 

[snared99]

Zeros have a band near the tail and a ban behind the neck, which the patternless lack. The super zero is identical to a patternless thus far, so i dont have any info for you there.

 

[chachasushi]

The very first picture I posted has no band either and it's being called a Zero. Maybe it's the super form?

The second picture is two aberrents followed by a single picture of a zero. They look identical. To me there is no discernable way to tell the difference among these new morphs.

 

[snared99]

YEs the first pic is of a super zero, and is identical from a patternless thus far. I only see one zero that you have pictured, and it is easy to tell it is a zero by the banding, or lack there of.

 

[chachasushi]

This image is of two aberrants, but it looks identical to a Zero. Did JMG make a booboo on their site?

 

[snared99]

NOpe no mistake. The lower one is a zero, see how it is missing them middle band. The top one is a aberant, almost a zero, but still have the remenants of the middle band.

 

[chachasushi]

Okay, that makes sense. But why is this one called a Zero when it still has a band present?

 

[chachasushi]

Sorry, I'm having a difficult time grasping this.

 

[snared99]

I have no clue why that one is marked zero, maybe fromn their zero project?????

 

[chachasushi]

That's gotta be it. I emailed Jeff and got a response that I liked:
"The zero is considered an aberrant trait. Any odd pattern mutation just as long as the pattern is there but not normal is considered aberrant. The stinger is an aberrant pattern also. The Zero is a Co-Dom trait, jungles / aberrant fat tails are a line bred trait. "

 

[OhioGecko]

Here is more info I received from the Galewoods on their Zero Fat Tails. I received permission to post this Email response.

"Basically anything that is irregular patterned is considered aberrant just as long as it isn't some type of pattern less. Jungle is a common name for aberrant also. We have a few pictures of zeros under our aberrant page but that is because the zero trait is also considered aberrant. The stinger is also an aberrant trait and we have not figured out how it works yet completely but we are nearly positive it is a stinger in the non striped form. One way to tell zeros from a jungle / normal aberrant is to look at the head and the legs. Regular aberrant striped fat tails where they have one long connecting band look normal except for the banding on the back, zeros on the other hand have unusual leg markings they have darker colors and their head pattern and color is very different ( especially on older adults ). The super zero looks similar to patternless but they appear very different as hatchlings, and since both can look similar they are easy to tell apart just because you will know their genetic background. So far we have bred zero to patternless and have hatched 16 babies with no pattern less. When you breed a zero to a normal you get 50% zero and 50% normal and when you breed zero to zero you get 25% super zero, 50% zero, and 25% normal.

Also you are exactly correct on the quality of zeros, it is just like a lot of other Co-Dom traits, you get lower and higher quality animals. You will get zeros with small openings in the connecting single band and you will get some that almost split off. I will have to get some pics of breeder zeros soon, I would explain the look their heads have to a cinnamon ball python head. They have the same solid mocha look."