Leopard Black

Leopard Black

Breeding Leopard Geckos: The Diablo Blanco Morph

No-one who breeds animals as a profession, and few people who breed animals as a hobby, does so randomly. The whole point is to carefully choose which adults to breed with a view to producing offspring with desirable traits. So to it is with breeding leopard geckos, where amateur and professional breeders alike strive to create striking ‘morphs’ – that is, visually distinct leos with unique combinations of patterns, background colors, and even eye colors.

In the world of leopard gecko breeding, the Diablo Blanco morph is a relatively recent triumph, with the first being born in late 2006. It was done by the famous (in the leopard gecko world) Ron Tremper, the creator of the first albino strain – the Tremper Albino – back in 1996.

The Diablo Blanco has pure white skin, no patterns or spots anywhere on its body, and all-red eyes where the pupil and iris can’t be distinguished. Considering that leopard geckos as they are found in the wild have a cream-to-yellow back ground color, black spots like a leopard, and normal, dark-colored eyes, you have to say that the Diablo Blanco is a triumph of leopard gecko breeding. But how did he do it?

Creating the Diablo Blanco

The creation of the Diablo Blanco morph was only made possible by the existence of two other morphs: the Tremper Albino Blazing Blizzard and the RAPTOR.

The Tremper Albino Blazing Blizzard is itself a cross between the Blizzard morph, which is patternless, and the Tremper Albino, which has no dark pigmentation. That makes for an all-around light-colored animal, which can then be line bred over successive generations to get a morph that is a really pure white all over.

‘RAPTOR’ stands for ‘Ruby-eye Albino Patternless Tremper Orange.’ The RAPTOR has eyes where the pupil and iris can’t be distinguished because it is a combination of other morphs that includes the Eclipse morph, which has solid black eyes (the solid eyes of the Eclipse is a recessive trait). It has specifically red solid eyes because of its albinism, which affects eye color as well as skin pigmentation.

To produce the Diablo Blanco, Ron Tremper crossed the whitest possible female Tremper Albino Blazing Blizzard morphs with RAPTOR males, then bred their offspring together. The result was a morph that expresses albinism, is patternless, and solid red eyes. Not bad for a day’s work!

Note that Diablo Blancos have unique genes, which means that two of them can be bred together to produce Diablo Blanco offspring; there’s no possibility of getting Tremper Albino Blazing Blizzard or RAPTOR offspring from Diablo Blanco parents.

Conclusion

So that’s the whole story on the Diablo Blanco – when it comes to breeding leopard geckos this would have to be one of the greatest achievements to date. It makes you wonder what’s next; maybe an all-black morph with solid red eyes? It’s hard not to think a ‘Diablo Black’ must be just around the corner!

About the Author

Jo Morris is a leopard gecko enthusiast and author of the book " Leopard Gecko Secrets Revealed ". To learn more about breeding leopard geckos, visit www.leopardgeckocenter.com

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