26/09/2024
I’m excited to announce that Jecko’s Geckos has produced a melanistic E. occidentalis from our high end (reduced side scales group). The baby is doing well and shedding and eating without any issues. I have talked with Mike Seifert who also hatched some out. It appears that they will become translucent after hatching for a while, then gain back color. I believe these are true melanistics due to their black color and completely black eyes. I do not think that it would be completely black because they have an aposematic signal, which there would be strong selection against no orange/ yellow colors. I’m looking forward to seeing how this project goes. I have full lineage information so I am going to try to replicate it with a few new groups next year.
Pic 1 - 1 day old (September 3)
Pic 2 - 13 days old (September 15)
Pic 3 - 23 days old (September 25)
