tail kinks-what causes them?

[missinasworld]

I have been looking at a lot of leo photos lately and realized that there is a large number of male leos that have tail kinks, my own adult male tremper albino included. But no one seems to state if this is a birth defect or something that happens when the gecko is growing up. I'm concerned about it because I have 3 baby geckos from him and another 3 eggs in the incubator and he is the father. I love his color and his size and all the rest of him is pretty much perfect. The kid I got him from didn't really have much to say because he got him from a reptile show a few years before. if it is a genetic trait or a birth defect I don't think want to use him as a breeder anymore. but none of his offspring have tail kinks. So I thought I would ask. here is a photo of him from when i first got him last year, you can see the kink near the end of his tail

missina

 

[ColdBlooded]

It's been speculated that tail kinks may in part be caused by a temperature fluctuation during incubation but there may also be a genetic link as well. I own two tail kinked Leos that I got from a breeder (adopted them) and I will not ever breed them on the fact that it could be genetic and I have no way of knowing. This is just my insight, hopefully somebody who has more knowledge on the subject will know.

 

[Athenian]

It's been speculated that tail kinks may in part be caused by a temperature fluctuation during incubation but there may also be a genetic link as well.

Yep.

No one seems to really know for sure. People usually just believe one or the other.

I haven't seen any kinks come from a kinked parent in my circle, so I am not worried about it. That includes kinked x kinked.

A causal link has not been definitively established.