| The variety of leopard gecko patterns (known as | | | | recessive albino trait. It's important to know when |
| morphs - that is, types that are visually distinct from | | | | you have a leo of the het albino phenotype |
| each other because of color and pattern variations) | | | | however, as otherwise you might just think it's a |
| available today is truly staggering. If you've only ever | | | | normal wild-type leopard gecko, and miss the |
| seen the standard 'wild' leopard gecko, then you owe | | | | opportunity to breed it with another het albino to try |
| it to yourself to check out some pictures of | | | | to produce a homozygous albino. |
| spectacular morphs such as the Diablo Blanco, Super | | | | If you have two het albinos - a male and a female - |
| Hypo Carrot Tail, or Rainwater Mack Snow. They | | | | then each of their children has a 25% chance of |
| look as amazing as their names suggest. | | | | being a homozygous albino, and therefore looking like |
| Seeing these leo morphs might well get you | | | | an albino. If you have two albinos, then all of their |
| interested in breeding leopard geckos to produce | | | | children will be of the albino phenotype too. Simple |
| them, and why not - it's a great hobby. However, | | | | enough? |
| the sting in the tail is that doing this requires you to | | | | The other important concept to grasp is that of 'line |
| become an amateur geneticist, as otherwise you | | | | bred' traits. Line breeding refers to selecting leos with |
| simply won't be able to understand well enough how | | | | a certain trait that's a little different from the norm |
| to get the results you want. | | | | and breeding them together over successive |
| The first thing to learn is some frequently used | | | | generations to emphasize that trait. The tangerine |
| terms. Phenotype, for example, refers to the traits | | | | morph, for example, was developed by picking a |
| that a creature has and is showing. Genotype on the | | | | male and a female leopard gecko that both happened |
| other hand refers to the traits that a creature is | | | | to have a slightly brighter background color than usual |
| carrying but not necessarily showing. A couple more | | | | and breeding them together, then picking the |
| terms: heterozygous (or just 'het' for short) refers to | | | | brightest of their children and breeding them |
| a creature that is carrying one copy of a specific | | | | together, and so on and so on over a number of |
| recessive trait and one copy of a normal trait. | | | | generations. Over time a really bright tangerine morph |
| Homozygous is the opposite: it refers to a creature | | | | was produced. |
| that is carrying two copies of the same trait. | | | | As you can see, the science here is technical but not |
| Ok, let's now use those terms: a leopard gecko of | | | | too complicated. With just a little study you'll learn all |
| the albino phenotype is homozygous. It looks like an | | | | you need to know about leopard gecko patterns and |
| albino because it carries two copies of the recessive | | | | genetics in order to produce striking (and valuable) |
| albino trait. A het albino leo, on the other hand, won't | | | | morphs of your own. Good luck! |
| look like an albino, as it carries only one copy of the | | | | |