Black eyed tokay?

**Riverside Reptiles** · #1 06-22-2010, 11:45 AM

Some of the tokay morphs have solid black eyes (ie some of the leucistics and some of the calicos). I'm curious if the blackness of the eyes is something that they're born with? Or is it something that changes over time? As most of you know, I have a handful of cbb calico x calico babies. The mom has black eyes, the dad does not. All the babies have normal eyes (so far anyways).

Green-eyed Gecko · #2 06-27-2010, 09:49 AM

Hey Ethan,

first I like to say as we know there's a range of eye colorations. Especially that from the calicos varies from normal, blue , black , brown, grey, silver to at least mixed eyed colorations. Sometimes it's also possible that they have more than one color in each eye - for example blue and black.

As we know from other species real leucistics or albinos should be born with an usual eye-color - same like they are born with a white skin! Till now I've only found one picture on the internet of such an tokay juvenile!

Finely to answer your question.

The Calicos can change their eye-color when they grow up same like their skin-color! It happens step by step.
My advice to you: Check out the veins in their eyes from time to time! On the picture you can see the first step of such a metamorphosis!

As i said there are many options. So you still have to wait what happens. I bet not all of your animals will have the same eyes - some will have blue, some black and so on and so force!

- It varies same like the moment when they start the metamorphosis of their skin! Sometimes they start after years to changing their color! So don't give some of them away cause you think they won't change - they will but later!

At the moment I'm at the point that I would say there aren't different calico-morphs. It's all the same no matter which eye color. They just vary in the shaping of the metamorphosis!
What do think?

Best regards
Georg

**Riverside Reptiles** · #3 06-28-2010, 01:57 PM

Thanks for the info Georg. Have you actually seen this for yourself? Or is it just a theory? My calico x calico babies are just starting to change (they are about a year old)...so I will be excited to see what happens with their eye colors as well. Since the parents have different color eyes, it will be interesting to see if one ends up being more dominant than the other.

Green-eyed Gecko · #4 07-02-2010, 10:10 AM

Hey Ethan,
it's no theory! The first picture shows an eye of an adult calico(blue&black-eyed) x calico(blue&black-eyed) that starts changing it's color. The second photo shows an eye of the same animal one year later at the age of three! That tokay started changing the whole metamorphism at the age of 2! As you can see with your calico-baby the metamorphose can start way earlier!
Best Regards

**Riverside Reptiles** · #5 07-05-2010, 09:51 PM

Thanks for all that info Georg!

danniel · #6 04-08-2011, 07:12 AM

how about this tokay??

tombo46 · #7 04-08-2011, 02:12 PM

That's awesome Daniel, any idea whats caused it?

Riverside...If you're calico x calico's are starting to change is that proof that it is indeed simple recessive?

reason I ask is that I currently have a Calico x Calico in my posession but whether they are the same gene remains to be seen. its a couple of years old but still very "young" weight wise (30g when I got it). it probably weighs in the region of 70g - 80g now. I understand that its very possible that mine came from a pairing of two incompatible genes so could simply be a double het but if it turns out to be female (fingers crossed) I can put it to my Calico Male next year and hopefully produce some visual calico's (if it is indeed recessive).

what sort of weight were yours when they started turning? and how exactly did the process go? did they darken off and then start to lose pigment?

I currently have hatchlings from a Calico x Blue/Yellow Granite pairing and hope that sometime in the next 2 - 3 years I can produce a double.

**Riverside Reptiles** · #8 04-08-2011, 10:56 PM

@ Danniel, that's crazy! I've never seen a tokay with two completely different eyes like that!

@ Tombo...my calico x calicos (I have 4 of them from the same parents) all look "different" than normal. Two are olive colored, one stays dark ALL the time, and one has made amazing changes all through her life and is still changing at roughly two years old. None has turned into a calico yet though. Although, the one that has gone through the major changes appears to be losing the pigment on her head now. So, she may well become a peach head, and could still yet turn calico or even into a leucy. See this link for pics: Tokay Morphs...