SUPER RAPTOR ?
Six weeks old. Hatched March 30, 2007
May 13, 2007 - I believe that this is the first SUPER RAPTOR !!
Notice the bright white face and tail. That quality of pure bright white will likely spread to the entire body by the time the gecko reaches 7 months of age, just as it does in the snow corns and snow ball pythons. (the face and tail are brighter white because blood capillaries are not near the skin surface as seen in the torso when young.) There is no hint of pattern on the body or striping on the tail whatsoever.
Since this morph requires the combining of at least three different genes, the genetic probability of getting this SUPER RAPTOR from the multi-hets I used was over one in 256 offspring.
A second identical looking SUPER RAPTOR hatched here in April, as well. I do not expect to release any SUPER RAPTORS until July 2008.
April 18, 2008 - SUPER RAPTOR UPDATE - Below you can see this outstanding gecko at one year of age. As predicted, the body filled in with a rich white color to match the head and tail.
This male, the first of its kind in existence, has been in a test breeding situation for 2 months and his first series of offspring are about to begin hatching. He has been bred to normal wild types, Tremper albinos, Snow, Super Snows and raptors in order to prove out whether this morph is a patternless super snow albino, or just a pretty super snow albino or a brand new co-dominant patternless white morph with the gene for all red eyes......a "SUPER RAPTOR".
So far this year we have already hatched three young from this project that are exact duplicates of the 6-week photo below.
Test breedings and growout will be completed by July 2008, at which time we will debut this spectacular morph. Pricing will not be posted until day of release.
Additionally, there is the probability that the non-albino version of this morph, no matter what it tests out to be, will be the world's first genetically pure black gecko. Those eggs are in place as well.
July 16, 2008 - SUPER RAPTOR UPDATE - 15 test breedings show that this unique male produces all snows. So the best I can say is that this is a Patternless Mack Super Snow Tremper Albino. (the patternless gene is from my raptor line) I have not been able to duplicate this new morph to the level I wanted, so no release will occur this month until further work can be done.
SUPER RAPTOR # 001 - Male - 12 grams - 6 weeks old
SUPER RAPTOR # 001 - Male - 48 grams - 1 year old
A few years ago I decided to make a genetically patternless, solid procelain white gecko with all red eyes. Knowing there were several paths one could take to achieve such a creation, I decided to pursue two ways of reaching my goals, which now have been realized. Both are combination morphs.
With the Diablos, breeding results are straight forward - what you see is what you get. BUT, the Raptor/Mack project opens up several important points. These are the main ones that come to mind:
- 1) Diablo Blanco = Raptor times Blazing Blizzard
- 2) Super (Snow) Raptor = Raptor times Mack Super Snow
- 1) At this time, in the brief Super Raptor's breeding history, there may be no visual way of telling 100% if the above gecko is a Super Raptor or a Super Snow Albino, without doing a test breeding.
- 2) Since Super Snow Tremper Albino adults develop a pattern on the head, body and tail by 2-3 months of age (see pics below), it makes us believe that, since this gecko is totally patternless at 6 weeks of age, it is a Super Raptor.
- 3) Also, it will be hard, if not impossible, to tell a Diablo Blanco from a Super Raptor. Let's hope that some subtle characteristic will allow us to visually determine which is which without relying solely on buying direct from the breeder or test breedings, as well.
SUPER SNOW TREMPER ALBINO - Adult Male - photo Albey Scholl
SUPER SNOW TREMPER ALBINO - Adult Female - photo Albey Scholl
As time passes, it is going to be very interesting for all of the leopard gecko community to contribute their findings and results to answer these newly emerging genetic questions.
Morph Definitions:
- SUPER RAPTOR = A Super Raptor is a pure white gecko that has been derived by combining the Mack Super Snow bloodline with the Raptor bloodline (a Tremper albino). It must have two all red eyes, and must be 100% patternless throughtout its life.
- SNOW RAPTOR = A Snow Raptor is a combination of the Mack Super Snow bloodline with the Raptor bloodline (a Tremper albino). It must have two all red eyes and is born all white, but develops a raptor pattern as an adult.
(see pics below)
SNOW RAPTOR - Female - same gecko as a baby (above) and as an adult (below)
two all red eyes, overall pale coloration; especially the ghostly tail
are distinguishing features - photos Alberto Cadolini
Below are some of the other variations that came out of our Raptor/Mack project.
BANDED SNOW ALBINO (= two normal albino eyes) - 2007
ALBINO STRIPER (= two normal albino eyes) from Mack/Raptor project - 2007
BANDED SNOW ECLIPSE (= two all black eyes) - 2007
STRIPED SNOW (= two normal eyes) - 2007
copyright 2007 Ron Tremper
page launched May 14, 2007
updated April 18, 2008
