Have you recently purchased a new leopard gecko and are in love with the patterns and colors it displays?
Do you want to learn more about your leopard gecko and what kind of morph it is?
When you want to explore some of the different morphs found in leopard geckos, you might start by asking:
How Can I Tell What Morph My Leopard Gecko Is?
Leopard geckos are available in a wide variety of morphs, and each one has unique characteristics. When determining yours, look at some of the major characteristics to narrow down where your pet fits.
Read on to learn more about telling what morph your leopard gecko is.
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How Can I Tell What Morph My Leopard Gecko Is?
If you don’t know what morph your leopard gecko is and are trying to identify it, it first helps to put it in one of the categories of morphs.
There are currently over 100 morphs with different colors, patterns, and more identifiable characteristics.
Some of the main characteristics you will be able to look for are the base color of the skin, the arrangement of black spots, or even the lack of color or patterns.
Here are a few examples of things you will look at to identify your leopard gecko morph correctly.
If you have a leopard gecko without any pattern, you could have a kind of blizzard morph Leo or a patternless morph.
Carrot tail morphs have earned their name from an identifiable bright orange tail.
Other morphs like a melanistic leopard gecko are so dark or even black and do not have any patterns on display.
Another great identifier is the eyes of your leopard gecko.
For example, in conjunction with being patternless and an orange albino, the defining characteristic of a raptor morph is the red eyes.
It is best to look at the identifiable characteristics of major morphs and narrow it down to tell what kind of leopard gecko morph you have.
Leopard Gecko Morphs
Not all, but most of the leopard gecko morphs that you’re likely to encounter, as well as a selection of some of the most popular ‘designer’ combos.What Is A Leopard Gecko Morph?
In simple terms, a leopard gecko morph is simply an animal with a variation in color, pattern, or other physical characteristics of the species.
These variations in color or pattern are not harmful to the creature like other genetic mutations could be.
Morphs only have changes to these visible characteristics and, in every other way, are just like other members of their species.
Morphs are achieved in captivity through selective breeding, but they can happen due to random mutations.
When selecting a new leopard gecko or identifying your current pet, you will need to understand which traits are genetic, recessive, dominant, and co-dominant.
These are all things breeders consider when they attempt to breed certain morphs or create new ones.
A genetic trait determines your leopard gecko traits, including eye color and whether the new animal will be on the large or small for a gecko.
With recessive traits, they will take a back seat to a dominant gene, and for them to come to the surface and be displayed in the offspring, both the mother and father must carry them.
For example, the blue eye color in people is a recessive gene.
If you have blue eyes, both of your parents had to carry this trait in their DNA for you to have them.
But they don’t have to display this recessive gene for you to have blue eyes or for your leopard gecko to display a particular characteristic.
The parents have to have the gene.
A dominant gene makes certain traits come forward each time, whether paired with another dominant gene or a recessive one.
Dominant genes mask the recessive ones when they are put against each other.
Sometimes there are co-dominant traits.
This happens when two dominant traits come together in the DNA, and both are displayed.
Currently, there are thought to be over 100 morphs, guaranteeing you will be able to find a variation just for you.
Check out our post on the 25 best leopard gecko morphs (pictures included) to see some real beautiful morphs available in today’s market.
Breeding Leopard Geckos
If you consider taking on the breeding of leopard geckos, you will be able to play with the different genes and morphs independently.
Before you get carried away with dreams of producing wildly colored and patterned leopard geckos, there are a few things you will need to keep in mind.
Breeding leopard geckos is a rewarding and easy experience, but it requires time, space, money, and commitment.
You will need to house and feed geckos you are looking to breed.
To develop unique leopard geckos of high quality, you will need to house a larger animal collection.
Making sure you are housing them correctly can take up a lot of space in your home, not to mention the proper equipment costs.
Also, there will need to be space to incubate the eggs until they hatch, and once they do hatch, you will have to be ready to provide food and a home for the hatchlings.
Also, look at the market in your area.
Is there a market for leopard gecko babies in your area?
Many go into the process, believing this will be a great side hustle for them but cannot find enough people looking to buy little leopard geckos.
If you believe you can do all of this and want to experiment with breeding, take the time to do some research, start small, and work to build a good reputation and clientele.
Learn how to breed leopard geckos in our guide for a great resource to get you going.
We've partnered with XYZ Reptiles to bring you an excellent selection of pet reptiles and the supplies you need to keep them healthy.
Conclusion
Leopard geckos are found in so many colors with a variety of patterns.
When identifying your specific morph, look for identifiable characteristics of the morphs, like base color, patterns, and even a lack of color or design.
If you were not told what morph you purchased or were given, doing this will help you narrow the options and put a name to your leopard gecko.
