Iv been breeding ball pythons for quite some time now, but i am having a hard time learning the different morphs of cresteds. iv added a photo of my male can anyone help me out with this?
Welcome to the forums, Gary! He's very pretty = ) Your animal would likely be a fire by most standards; although it depends on who you are talking to. Some only justify a fire by lighter patterning and coloration on the head and dorsal region between the crests; and little to no patterning accompanied by darker base color on the lateral sides and limbs. Others will allow fires to have some minor patterning on the side and limb regions such as yours. A harlequin is essentially a highly patterned fire (AKA flame). They will have lighter coloration on the head and between the crests on their back, along with patterning on their sides and limbs. Yours could pass by some standards as a lower patterned harly. Because morphs are slightly more subjective, it makes it all the harder to learn initially. These traits discussed are pattern traits; you can then simply add the color of the animal to actually name the morph. I can't tell colors that well in general and its hard to judge from the picture, but the base color appears to be some shade of brown. He may be an olive, buckskin, or chocolate - fire or harly. You'll catch on to crestie morphs soon enough; there are a lot less crestie morphs than there are BP morphs ; ) Crested geckos tend to exhibit an incomplete type of dominance with most of their traits, they don't seem to have strickly dominant, codominant, or recessive mutations. Cresteds are characterized by a color and pattern to designate a morph; colors can be yellow, orange, red, brown (olive, buckskin, chocolate), etc to name a few. Pattern Traits can be: Fire, Harlequin, Dalmation Spots, Pinstriping [% value], Other Striping (full stripe, phantom pinstripe, reverse pinstripe, lateral striping, etc), Tiger, Brindle... then there are patternless and bicolor individuals.
iv added pictures to see if this makes it more clear. pic 1 is the male and the one that follows is the female. i have no clue what morph they are if anyone can help that would be great.
Those pictures do certainly make it easier to tell, they both appear to be fires to me = ) You'll have to see what the babies turn out being; its not always consistent. The offspring will most likely resemble a mix of the parents and be fires as well, but there is a chance they may not. I've thrown a nearly patternless animal from a combination of two harlequins - its not typical, but you'll just have to see! Feel free to post pics of babies when they come about and we can help you ID them. Note how both the male and female have a darker base color on the bulk of their body and a lighter, different pattern color betweent the crests on their back and on their head. This patterning is what classifies them as a fire. If there was more of the lighter pattern color on their sides and legs, they would be harlequins. These are probably the two most common traits in the crestie world... if they were a uniform color throughout the entire body they would be called 'patternless.' Also, the picture makes it clear that both of them have some dalmation spots. This is another pattern mutation - those black spots here and there on both of them are the dally spots. These may or may not be passed on to offspring... typically if there are only a couple its neglected in the naming of the morph, but as long as they are present you could classify both adults there as 'Fire dalmations.' Edit: Anthony Caponetto has a nice little Morph 101 page for visual representation here: http://www.ciliatus.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=292
Hey Jeff , I thank you for all the help! Im very excited about this project. The main reason I was wanting to know the exact morph is because I plan on adding another female to the breeding cage and i didnt want to but more of the same morph. I wanted to have a variety of options to trade with when the time comes and maybe even get something rare to have a little more pull in the things i would want to add to my collection. Do you have any suggestions of what kind of female I should get to add to this project to add a little more excitment to this? Also when is breeding season for these guys i keep getting mixed answers from other rookies that i talk to. Im very anxious about this project. Again i am very thankful for you insite on this post. Its really helped me out alot as far as where i stand with this guys.
No problem Gary = ) These guys don't have quite a 'set' breeding season like Ball Pythons usually do. Most people opt to breed them in the Spring through Autumn and allow them 3-4 months off for a break typically during the winter. This keeps the males libido up and is particularly important for allowing the female to recoup from all of the stress of breeding and laying... gives her a chance to chill out and fatten back up again. They will readily breed year-round; and you can overbreed females if not given a chance to rest. Rhacodactylus geckos originate from a fairly temperate/tropical location, where year round temperatures do not fluctuate too much. There are two main seasons in New Caledonia - the hot season allows for temps as high as 85 degrees F and average fairly mild, and the cold season where temps stay mild but allow for nightime drops as low as 55 and 60 degrees F. Much of their natural climate sticks around the 70-80 degree range, hence why these geckos rarely need supplemental heat and thrive just fine at room temps for us. Due to this, seasonal changes don't influence them quite as much as other herps to stimulate breeding. Honestly, all you usually need to do is introduce the male to the female and they will often get things done in no time... most breeders will drop temps some in the winter though to help encourage natural seasonal change for the end and beginning of breeding seasons. Also, these guys can retain sperm. A single breeding can result in several fertilized clutches from the female. They will lay 2 egg clutches several times throughout the season. AC's site (both http://ciliatus.com and http://acreptiles.com) contains tons of good info about breeding, morphs etc that I linked too earlier. Feel free to browse it over, I think you'll enjoy it. He's also go nice eye candy photos everywhere lol. I can link you to some other sites with pictures if you'd like as well to familiarize yourself with options and pictures to put with a morph name to help you decide on projects you might like to work with. As for what morph to pair with your male; thats a tuffy. We all have our personal preferences, so it really depends on what you want to make. Browse around and look at some of the morphs, colors, and patterns along with pricing and see what you really like best and what you can afford. Thats always my best advice, get what YOU want = )
Jeff you are the man again i thank you for the help! All this stuff your telling me is really getting me pumped up for this. Iv got the 2 together now so im going to let them breed one time so make sure they are breeders as the person i got them from say they are. They are both at perfect weight. and once i get a spot in the house organized which will probably be a few months out ill put them back together and start breeding them in to my own created season. This will also allow me to fin a second female and depending on her age allow for her to grow if needed. Wow its like im starting with the snakes all over again. the unknown is so much fun! Thanks again!!!! ill post pic of the babys when the time comes and maybe even a status check soon.
Keep us posted on these guys! And feel free to ask anymore questions = ) I totally feel ya on the unknown and getting new projects together, its a blast. I'm kind of the reverse though, started with these guys and lizards a decade ago and have worked my way into snake and BP land over the last couple of years lol. Completely hooked
