jonhollister
When she first saw me No-Eek didn't "eek" at me!
Why is this gecko named No-Eek? I will explain at some length:
Baby Leos will lunge and hiss, scream, or shriek at you when they first hatch. This is purely instinctual - it's nothing personal - it's simply that you are a comparatively enormous moving object that for all intents appears to be a predator. The screeching is an attempt to scare you off if you are indeed a predator. The screaming sounds like a hoarse "eeeeeeeeek!"
I must admit that on more than one occasion I have jumped and quickly withdrawn myself from the baby's vicinity when they have unexpectedly lunged and eeked at me. Even when one know they will likely eek it can still startle you to great effect! It's loud, and clearly evolution has ensured that the sound is disturbing to larger animals.
A screaming gecko hatchling makes one of the most disconcerting noises I have heard. I don't care how tough you are or how silly this seems: the first time a hatchling eeks at you, you WILL involuntarily jerk away from the critter!
When taking a baby from the egg box where they hatched and putting them in their new home it is almost certain they will eek at you several times - if not nearly continuously!
No-Eek however was perfectly calm and climbed right up into my hand for the transfer. Her name was decided right then!
Her Mama Gecko is Batman (Blizzard). Her father at first was assumed to be Unsub, as we witnessed him mating with Batman three times. But now that Noeek is a month and four days old and demonstrably a Mack Snow I've realized that PK (Tremper Albino Mack Super Snow) is in fact the real father. Thankfully there is no gecko equivalent to the Jerry Springer show!
PK has two copies of the dominant variation of the Snow gene because he is a Super Snow. That means all his babies will carry one copy of the dominant form since he has two copies of the dominant form.
No-eek also has a copy of the recessive gene necessary for Tremper Albinism from her father, but while her mother has a single copy of that gene Noeek received the other copy, the dominant, non-albino-making copy. This means that she has only the one recessive copy from her daddy - and one isn't enough to make the trait appear in her phenotype.
What this all means is that she is a Mack Snow that is heterozygous for Tremper Albinism and also heterozygous for Blizzard (from one of Mama gecko Batman's two recessive copies).
When she first saw me No-Eek didn't "eek" at me!
Why is this gecko named No-Eek? I will explain at some length:
Baby Leos will lunge and hiss, scream, or shriek at you when they first hatch. This is purely instinctual - it's nothing personal - it's simply that you are a comparatively enormous moving object that for all intents appears to be a predator. The screeching is an attempt to scare you off if you are indeed a predator. The screaming sounds like a hoarse "eeeeeeeeek!"
I must admit that on more than one occasion I have jumped and quickly withdrawn myself from the baby's vicinity when they have unexpectedly lunged and eeked at me. Even when one know they will likely eek it can still startle you to great effect! It's loud, and clearly evolution has ensured that the sound is disturbing to larger animals.
A screaming gecko hatchling makes one of the most disconcerting noises I have heard. I don't care how tough you are or how silly this seems: the first time a hatchling eeks at you, you WILL involuntarily jerk away from the critter!
When taking a baby from the egg box where they hatched and putting them in their new home it is almost certain they will eek at you several times - if not nearly continuously!
No-Eek however was perfectly calm and climbed right up into my hand for the transfer. Her name was decided right then!
Her Mama Gecko is Batman (Blizzard). Her father at first was assumed to be Unsub, as we witnessed him mating with Batman three times. But now that Noeek is a month and four days old and demonstrably a Mack Snow I've realized that PK (Tremper Albino Mack Super Snow) is in fact the real father. Thankfully there is no gecko equivalent to the Jerry Springer show!
PK has two copies of the dominant variation of the Snow gene because he is a Super Snow. That means all his babies will carry one copy of the dominant form since he has two copies of the dominant form.
No-eek also has a copy of the recessive gene necessary for Tremper Albinism from her father, but while her mother has a single copy of that gene Noeek received the other copy, the dominant, non-albino-making copy. This means that she has only the one recessive copy from her daddy - and one isn't enough to make the trait appear in her phenotype.
What this all means is that she is a Mack Snow that is heterozygous for Tremper Albinism and also heterozygous for Blizzard (from one of Mama gecko Batman's two recessive copies).