Tangerines - color dulling?

[Olimpia]

I have 4 geckos right now - 1 tangerine carrot-tail, 2 albinos of different sorts, and 1 bright yellow bell. And I've noticed that, outside the obvious shed, everyone retains the intensity of their colors except my carrot-tail. One day he's super bright orange and the next it's like... eh. Dull grayish orange.
So I'm very curious as to why that is. I used to have a sister of his that was the same way, so is it just this color do you think? Or could it be something else that seems to affect him and no one else?


He was rooming with two of the females up until an hour ago, so temperatures are always the same for all of them, and there's nothing I do to one that I don't do to the others.

 

[ang3l3s]

i read higher temps mean better colors but also quality of the animal could be in question, i had a tang from a mom and pop store and a another from a reputable breeder and the difference is very evident.

 

[Olimpia]

Mine's beautiful, don't get me wrong. I got him from a very reputable breeder, and he's got a massive amount of orange on the tail, something like a solid 80%. But it's interesting that some days he's super intense, bright, and beautiful, and then another day he's much duller.

As I was waiting for replies I was looking around on the internet and I found that tangerines don't reach their full color potential until their adult size, and since mine is still young, that might explain it. I guess I just have to wait until he doubles in weight.

 

[acpart]

I have one also that varies. She was a holdback from my first breeding season in '05 and when I was trying to decide which of the 2 to keep, she didn't have as nice a color but she had more carrot tail so I went with her. Much of the time she's a gorgeous yellowy/orange but sometimes she gets dull. I can't really find any correlation. One thing that's been really nice is that even though she's breeding, this season she looks better than ever.

Aliza

 

[Olimpia]

That's what I mean, there is no correlation between dullness and lower temperatures or anything like that. Sometimes he looks great and sometimes not so much. I just think it's curious that it's only my tang that does this.

 

[acpart]

I think blizzards do it too.

Aliza

 

[Olimpia]

Here are some photos, just to show the difference:
The first one is from about 4 months ago, so he has changed in color a bit since then. But it's a good example of how dark he gets randomly.

This one is more recent. Granted, the photo had to be edited because it was taken with a crappy cell phone camera, but you get the idea. He's natually a much brighter orange.

 

[Olimpia]

Wow, I'm looking at my own photos and I'm amazed by how much the orange has grown on his tail! haha I didn't know there had been so much change, and there's even more on there now.

 

[Geckonut]

If you used a really good digital thermometer with a probe and monitored your temps over periods of time I'd bet you'd see wide fluctuations in your readings. People make the mistake of taking a reading now and then and think all's fine, but if you do a real study of your temps, taking highs and lows, you would be amazed and the wide swings in and out of range. Using a good thermostat is essential but there are other factors in maintaining consistent temps.

This color variation you see is almost certainly temperature related.

 

[ang3l3s]

actually there is a temp color corelation , check out ron trempers site where he did the experiment with incubation and heat, as well as heating of juvis for color. have adult tangs and they still vary in color from time to time so who knows, agreed with the blizzards as well.

 

[Olimpia]

That's interesting... I mean, it makes the most sense. I have digital probe thermometers in each warm section and then another one to read the ambient temperature in each of my tanks, and since I have them set up around my couch, I can see the reading from where I'm watching TV or on the computer. So I know the warm section doesn't fluctuate more than 5 degrees, and the room temperature is staying pretty constant also now that the weather outside isn't changing dramatically. But temp is very probably the reason for it, so that's interesting.

And is it only tangs and blizzards? Why doesn't, say my high yellow bell or one of my albinos change color?

 

[ang3l3s]

That's interesting... I mean, it makes the most sense. I have digital probe thermometers in each warm section and then another one to read the ambient temperature in each of my tanks, and since I have them set up around my couch, I can see the reading from where I'm watching TV or on the computer. So I know the warm section doesn't fluctuate more than 5 degrees, and the room temperature is staying pretty constant also now that the weather outside isn't changing dramatically. But temp is very probably the reason for it, so that's interesting.

And is it only tangs and blizzards? Why doesn't, say my high yellow bell or one of my albinos change color?

correction , the temps on the article were for incubation only: http://www.leopardgecko.com/color.html
but i did hear/read from some/one/where about viv heat affecting color just can't remember where??

 

[Tommy13b]

i know this may sound kinda crazy, but my tang always gets dull when its a crappy day out lol, but when its really sunny he gets some really nice color's!

 

[Olimpia]

i know this may sound kinda crazy, but my tang always gets dull when its a crappy day out lol, but when its really sunny he gets some really nice color's!

Haha really? Could it be that he just looks better in sunlight?

 

[Gonser]

i know this may sound kinda crazy, but my tang always gets dull when its a crappy day out lol, but when its really sunny he gets some really nice color's!

Makes sense. We feel crappy when the weather is bad and barometric pressure is low, so why wouldn't geckos be affected this way? I think you may be onto something.

 

[Tommy13b]

heh true, no its not the lighting and its not sheading either.

 

[Olimpia]

I was just kidding But yea, you might be right.

 

[ElapidSVT]

from the last paragraph of the Tremper article "...changed color from light to dark after hatching due to exposure to temperatures below 84F even as adults. "

 

[Olimpia]

Ha well that would explain it. I guess I can't read obviously, since I read the article and missed that completely lol