New gecko morph: Black Pearl???

[Sinosauropteryx]

Take a look at this youtube video: YouTube - New Leopard gecko Morph!! BLACK PEARL

It is called a "Black Pearl" morph and apparently there are only 13 of them in existence right now, selling for prices around $3,000. Has anyone else heard of this? Is it a real morph, and how well distributed is it?

PS: I tried different kinds of tags to get a URL text link and this is the best I could do. Site administrators can change the tags if the video link is too problematic.

 

[Lordoftheswarms]

They've been around for a while. The Urban Gecko has them now after Living Art Geckos sold the entire collection to them. They've sold a few female juveniles. For some reason they have been breeding them to be Hypomelanistic. If it were me, I would breed them to hypermelanistic super snows.

 

[Allee Toler]

Yeah they've been around for a while. This forum isn't too into morphs like many other leo-based forums are, just general care and health.

 

[leofreaky]

I personally think it's a cool morph. I give it 4 years before it's as common as any other morph.

 

[Allee Toler]

I personally think it's a cool morph. I give it 4 years before it's as common as any other morph.

I'd say more like ten. They've been around for a couple already. When Super Snows first were discovered by two years into it they were as common today as Novas.

Look at the RAPTOR's. One year they were brand new, the next $500 each, the next $100, now they're as cheap and common as Trempers.

Because of their genetics, they're still trying to unlock them. You have to understand something well before you mass breed it, and even then mass breeding an animal for their genetics can cause a flood, which in turn lowers their value.

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Black Pearls still rare?

They've been around for a while. The Urban Gecko has them now after Living Art Geckos sold the entire collection to them. They've sold a few female juveniles. For some reason they have been breeding them to be Hypomelanistic. If it were me, I would breed them to hypermelanistic super snows.

Yeah they've been around for a while.

I see. It seems I am more outdated in my knowledge of leopard gecko morphs than I thought.

This forum isn't too into morphs like many other leo-based forums are, just general care and health.

OK. Makes sense.

I personally think it's a cool morph. I give it 4 years before it's as common as any other morph.

I'd say more like ten. They've been around for a couple already. When Super Snows first were discovered by two years into it they were as common today as Novas.

Look at the RAPTOR's. One year they were brand new, the next $500 each, the next $100, now they're as cheap and common as Trempers.

Because of their genetics, they're still trying to unlock them. You have to understand something well before you mass breed it, and even then mass breeding an animal for their genetics can cause a flood, which in turn lowers their value.

So I take it the Black Pearl morphs are a whole lot more difficult to understand than other morphs are? If not, then - as leofreaky said - I would expect them to be more common by now.

 

[Allee Toler]

So I take it the Black Pearl morphs are a whole lot more difficult to understand than other morphs are? If not, then - as leofreaky said - I would expect them to be more common by now.

From my knowledge they're a naturally occurring morph. Hatching from W/C's, I don't see why there can't be black pearls hatching in the wild. Looking so different, they're not surviving because they stand out from their surroundings. If they were so easily replicated, then why haven't they been replicated such as the enigma was at first? From my understanding, some select breeders of BP's are trying to figure it out.

The Urban Gecko

Here's a link to their coming about, from the TUG site.

 

[fostergeckos]

I was always under the impression that the black pearls were a line bred supersnow morph

 

[hauseremt]

The Black Pearl is a genetic trait of Hyper Melanistic. They originally came from a batch of wild caught geckos that were sold to a Zoo. Pretty much what is needing to be done with the Black Pearl is to try to breed the "Hyponess" out of them so that way they get their pattern back which will in turn help with them being super dark. They have been crossed into other different lines of Hyper Melanistic geckos.

As far as the genetics behind the morph it's still being worked on. From what is to be believed is that it is a recessive trait. I think that in the right hands and not crossed into other morphs this has alot of potential.