[Graham_s]

I know some of you have already seen this, but thought I would share it anyway.

MVI 0168 - YouTube

Very interesting stuff, but I hope that it isn't the start of another morph...

[rhachic]

Originally Posted by Graham_s

Very interesting stuff, but I hope that it isn't the start of another morph...

It definitely will be if they can prove it out. Cresteds have officially gone the way of ball pythons 0.0

[Graham_s]

I think you're right. It seems that a lot of people are more interested in making money and having something fashionable than the animals themselves.

Apparently all the offspring from this gecko so far look normal.

[rhachic]

Yeah, i'm sure they'll just breed it back to the dad to try to prove it out. Supposedly the original breeder didn't even know what they had. Personally i think some morphs are neat and some do happen in nature (like melanism for example). However they seem to lead to other issues when taken too far and selective breeding takes over. Breeding animals to "look pretty" that end up with wobbling heads, walking in circles, or other neurological disorders due to linked genes freaks me out. But that's just my opinion :/

[Hannibal]

It just looks so unnatural/unhealthy on a crestie (especially compared to how they look in their natural habitat), hope this was just a fluke of nature.

[Ozymandias]

so weird looking

[sanderfrog]

Sorry for the gecko but what an ugly creature!!!!
I just can't imagine that there are people who want to buy this.

[Spyral]

Originally Posted by Graham_s

Very interesting stuff, but I hope that it isn't the start of another morph...

If it does breed out, it would be the only "true" morph for crested geckos, as most of the morphs are just selectively bred combinations of traits.

I don't like the looks of it, personally, but I know that if this is heritable, there could be some interesting combinations made.

[missiechrissie]

made me think of michael jackson.......

[Spyral]

I did a bit of digging, trying to find what kind of conditions this might be related to.

If this is similar to piebald mutations as found in other animals, it's a simple recessive trait and pairing father to daughter should result in 50% showing the same mutation.

However, if this is something else, akin to what are called "paradox" animals, this appearance may not be reproducible. However, this is strongly linked to albinism. I'm really not very knowledgeable about snake genetics so I may have this totally wrong. I couldn't find a ready definition of paradox snakes...

Here's what I've seen on the Facebook group "Animal Oddities":

"Snakes with unexplained, irreproducible markings are commonly termed "paradox" snakes. Though most paradox snakes appear to be mosaics, this snake's pattern suggests a failure of pigment to migrate across its entire body during early development. Notice the snake has black eyes even in areas that skin is pigmentless. The melanoblasts that produce pigment for the brain and eyes separates early on from cutaneous melanoblasts. (Leucistic animals also demonstrate this separation.)"

Pic:
Photos from Animal Oddities | Facebook

What I am seeing in this animal does not look (to me) the same as piebald, because...it's not white. All the piebald snakes I see are marshmallowy white in patches. This gecko seems that it's just lacking pigment, translucent like in some house geckos. Maybe it's just the lighting in the pictures and video. Or maybe there is an accepted variation in "white" in other pied animals?

There is a condition called Vitiligo - which is what Michael Jackson said he had, where his pigment disappeared. Vitiligo (in mammals) is an auto-immune disorder in which a localized loss of melanocytes.

Piebaldism is apparent at birth but vitiligo forms over a period of time (ontogenetic), and usually starts later in life. Non-human animals generally display it in old age. If we knew if these were developing over time, that would be cool.... love to know what's going on.