Leo's - Giants and Super Giants

labmad · #1 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 09:37 PM

Hi guys

yep......still trying to come to terms with genetics, so I will apologise in advance and hope your not thinking I'm becoming a pain in the arse

........anyway........

can someone just shed light on the way to produce giants and super giants in either a 1 or 2 year project if poss..........it throws me when i look at them for sale and it says het giant, or het super etc......will 2 hets for the same produce the desired offspring.......please help me out guys

cheers

Ssthisto · #2 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 09:48 PM

"Het" Giant is exactly the same thing as Giant.

A Giant is a visual heterozygous animal for the giant gene.

If you want to produce definite giants, get a Super Giant from two super giant parents - this will guarantee 100% giant offspring no matter what you breed it to, and breeding it to another giant or super giant will get super giants as well.

That said, you've got to trust that the seller has genuine super giants to sell... and not just giants or big geckos.

blue-saphire · #3 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 09:49 PM

im not an expert on this, though if its anything like ball pythons then i have a good idea of the subject so heres my opinion
giants are co-dominent therefore you can get hets, a giant can be produced by breeding a giant to a normal (only 1 gene is passed down) this is also how you get hets.
though you must watch as there not always 100% hets you may get 60% or something, meaning the genetic gene may not be in the animal.
supers are formed when a giant and a giant or a super and a giant mate (2 genes are passed down, one from the mother and one from the father)
theirfore even if you purchase a super giant to a normal as only one parent has the gene you can only get giants.
hope this helps

labmad · #4 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssthisto

"Het" Giant is exactly the same thing as Giant.

A Giant is a visual heterozygous animal for the giant gene.

If you want to produce definite giants, get a Super Giant from two super giant parents - this will guarantee 100% giant offspring no matter what you breed it to, and breeding it to another giant or super giant will get super giants as well.

That said, you've got to trust that the seller has genuine super giants to sell... and not just giants or big geckos.

Ok, so just so I've read this right the following will produce

Super Giant x Giant = Super Giant
Super x Super = Super
Super x any other gecko, hypo, mack, normal, etc etc = Giant

Sorry for my dumbness

Thanks for helping out - it's appreciated

blue-saphire · #5 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 09:54 PM

if giants top 100g, i wonder how much supers weigh lol

BG-Gecko · #6 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 10:15 PM

Youre almost right:
Super Giant x Giant:
50% Giant
50% Super Giant
you were correct about the other two

labmad · #7 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BG-Gecko

Youre almost right:
Super Giant x Giant:
50% Giant
50% Super Giant
you were correct about the other two

Thank-you

Ssthisto · #8 (**permalink**) 27-12-2007, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue-saphire

im not an expert on this, though if its anything like ball pythons then i have a good idea of the subject so heres my opinion
giants are co-dominent therefore you can get hets, a giant can be produced by breeding a giant to a normal (only 1 gene is passed down) this is also how you get hets.
though you must watch as there not always 100% hets you may get 60% or something, meaning the genetic gene may not be in the animal.

Not quite.

A heterozygous ("het") carrier of giant IS a visual giant.

You don't get 100% hets or 66% hets with codominant/incomplete dominant/dominant morphs - a morph carrier IS a morph or it isn't a carrier at all.

However, what you don't know for sure with Giants until you grow them on a bit and see what their weights are like is whether you've got a het (Giant) or a homozygous (Super Giant).

Super Giants are in the 120-150gram range. I'd expect a Giant to be within the 90-120 gram range. I have a couple of large geckos who are around 85-95 grams at their pre-breeding weight... but as far as I am aware, they are not even possibly giants.

If you've got an SG over 150 grams, it's PROBABLY overweight... and that will significantly shorten its lifespan. Moose himself, the original supergiant, died recently - and he was nowhere near as old as a healthy male leopard gecko could expect to live. He also looked quite overweight in most of the photos I'd seen of him. What I would like to know is what exactly he died of - if it was organ failure, I'd be blaming his weight; if it was inconclusive I'd be questioning the morph.

freekygeeky · #9 (**permalink**) 28-12-2007, 12:30 AM

how do you knwo if you have a giant or just a big long gecko?

Ssthisto · #10 (**permalink**) 28-12-2007, 11:12 AM

If you have a giant, it will produce gangly, long-bodied hatchlings that grow rapidly and top out at 10+ inches in length; it may also produce normal-sized animals if it's not a "super" giant.

It will also, comparatively, be longer and heavier than the typical "big male" - my two big boys are 85 grams at the moment, but they're still only nine inches or so from nose to tail. Moose, when he died, was just shy of 12 inches in length. And when he was three months old he was as heavy as a normal adult breeder female - 54 grams.

I must admit all of this is 'regurgitated' from what I've read about them - I do not want nor will I keep giants for one reason.

Moose died young. He was only seven years old. I want to know WHY he died.

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