Temperament and Size

Hello everyone,

This will be my first post on the forum. I've had my leos for awhile - great animals, my first reptiles - and I'm considering drabbling in breeding I like them so much. A small operation for superior quality control, if you will. I know breeding any creature is not meant to be taken lightly and I also know, regardless of what animal it is, rigorous breeding ethics need be applied. (Trust me, working with hedgehogs has taught me this much!) I've been reading things and trying to get more information, but as per usual, either I'm not digging in the right places or they're things you gain through a mentor which I don't have.

I have a few questions I'm hoping someone can answer.


1) Is personality/temperament genetic? Or is it all about how much they're raised/handled as juveniles or what temperature they're incubated at?

2) Is size or more accurately, the ability to put on/keep on weight genetic?

3) My female seems to be getting darker each shed. She's a mack snow (I think lavender). Is this normal/genetic, characteristic of a hyper melanistic, or is it due to her improved diet?

4) From everything I have read the different strains of albino? are incompatible. Can anyone explain why/what happens to the offspring?


Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forum! I'm Kathryn, I hope you enjoy your time here and I hope we are able to help you anyway we can

I haven't bred leos before, but I will be breeding them after New Years. This information is what I've learned doing research, and from other members on this site. So just keep that in mind. :P

1. From my understanding, temperament is not genetic. I've noticed more than anything, its just the leo. lol. Some will be nicer, or more open to being picked up and handled than others. Some are just more skittish than others.
Temperature doesn't affect their personality but it DOES affect their gender! Leopard geckos can be temperature sexed.
78-82 degrees will produce females

83-88 degrees will produce a mixture of both males and females

89-92 degrees will result in males

2. I'm not sure about that. I haven't read/heard anything about it. Sorry!

3. Yes, thats normal for a mack snow. Mack snows start off white and black and slowly become more yellow and black.

4. Take a look at this thread: http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t2059-just-curious-about-albinos#19297

I have to disagree a bit with kathryn on the temperament point, temperament is absolutely an inhearited trait passed down from the parents. Some well be more like mom, some will be more like dad and some will show traits of both parents, some well show traits of neither but it's in the genetic background. The theory of nurture versus nature does affect the final outcome of the core temperament but there will be an inhearited temperament.

In addition to what kathryn said about color, I own a mack, they will get more spurs and darken a bit as they age, darken really isn't an appropriatete term tho since it's just their adult spots coming in, but temperature and proper supplements and nutrition will also affect color. Cooler temps make a darker duller leo where as warmer temps make them brighter and more vibrant.

the only thing i believe is a genetic heritable personality trait is in enigmas. they always seem more tame and mellow. but one thing i have noticed is that if you handle and have more interaction(from cleaning cages, and just being in the room in general) the animals will be more mellow. EVERY baby i have is very mellow and let me handle them, as are my adults. i have been handling them since they have hatched. most breeders wont handle thier babies untill they are a few months old(even then it is very limited), and i have noticed that they are screamers and runners! once my babies start eating, and do so several times, i handle them. i am not saying that they can not be calmer, through genetics...it is possible, but i believe it is more to do with human interaction as younger animals. if you have two clutchmates, handle one on a regular basis as a baby...it is going to be a way calmer animal, from juvinile all the way through adulthood. take that clutchmate, and dont handle it....wait six months and try to handle it and it will be very flighty and deffensive. no matter the age, or genetics(other than enigmas), i think it is more of a human interaction issue, as far as how tame your gecko is going to be. oncw you earn your animals trust, it will be alot more trusting and mellow. look at the reticulated python, and the blood python for instance....for many, many years these pythons had a horrible reputation for being nasty and very deffensive(or aggressive)....these were often wild caught adults being brought into the country...so of course if you take an animal from the wild, put it in a cold box for weeks on a boat or airplane, then put a big ugly human in front of it...it is going to do what is natural, defend itself. after people started breeding these animals, and understanding the proper husbandry...even the FIRST generation animals were very tractable and calm. i have kept and bred both bloods and retics, and i can tell you that these are both very calm and enjoyable pets...

i do somewhat agree that in SOME cases, you can breed for a better, more affectionate personallity, like in dogs. but im not so sure this is the case with reptiles. kel may be right on the money, but im not sure how you could prove or disprove this. i believe that if you get an animal, almost any animal, and raise it as a baby, it is going to be more tollorant of humans...im not saying go buy a baby tiger, raise it in your house, and expect it not to eat you one day....i just believe you can curb certain behaviors, and condition reptiles in varying ways...but they are still wild animals, even if they are domesticated....

If you take that one step further rick, don't handle any of the babies for 6 months you will find some are more accepting, even curious and approach willingly whereas others will run screaming, that is core temperament, what is present before the interference of man, that is the inherited temperament, what happens after human interference is nurture, not nature, thats conditioning and training an animal to accept more that it's primitive genetic programming is coded for. Some leos will handle that conditioning with less stress than some shyer more reserved leos but conditioning isn't requirement, it's training and teaching tolerance. The willingness and grace which an animal accepts that is temperament. If you take that one step further rick, don't handle any of the babies for 6 months you will find some are more accepting, even curious and approach willingly whereas others will run screaming, that is core temperament, what is present before the interference of man, that is the inherited temperament, what happens after human interference is nurture, not nature, thats conditioning and training an animal to accept more that it's primitive genetic programming is coded for. Some leos will handle that conditioning with less stress than some shyer more reserved leos but conditioning isn't temperament, it's training and teaching tolerance. The willingness and grace which an animal accepts that is temperament.

great points kel, i would have to agree...

Thank you everyone for all the information and the greeting!

I felt temperament probably was genetic; of course, I have 0 experience breeding reptiles so I had to ask. I know sometimes when you breed two great tempered animals together you still may get those few who are still skittish or aggressive. It just happens.

My current pair came from the same breeder, from what I was told are unrelated; while the female (see my avatar) is much more calm and seems to enjoy being handled, the male is what I've termed a "suicide jumper" and a runner. I'm going with the idea that they would've handled them about the same amount of time, at the same age, in the same way, etc. Even still, I don't want to see this type of behavior in the offspring I produce.

Now that I've heard about the personality of the enigmas I want one... of course!


When looking for possible stock to ad to my.... group? herd? gaggle? (lol), should I be proactive and ask about the individual temperaments, that of the parents, or when the breeders begin to handle and how often? I know some breeders have huge operations with sometimes hundreds of geckos... if any of you have any suggestions on where to get my stock from, I'm all ears.

Rick, I'm assuming you sell most of your babies, do you have a website where you list them? Or am I allowed to ask about this sort of thing on the forum?

It's fine to ask about temperament, but not all breeders handle their geckos on a regular basis. This is especially true for large scale breeders. It's simply mathematics, you only have a certain amount of time in a day and for breeders that have over 100 geckos, there isn't much time to hold each and one of them every day.

But I do know some breeders that do pay more attention to their geckos, some a bit too much, like me lol. So it's fine to ask about temperament, but also know the breeder first otherwise you'll get the same answers everytime as I've not seen one breeder say they're selling an aggressive or skittish gecko.

As for asking about breeders to buy from, they don't allow breeder sites be linked on the forum. But you can ask for a list in the pm. In fact I'll pm you a list of breeders I've purchased from, they're all reputable breeders that take care of their geckos.

in my opinion, if you handle your male, and EARN HIS TRUST, it will most deffinately calm down and allow handling. leopard geckos are pretty mellow lizards, by nature, they are just mellow. he just needs to understand that you are not a predator, or a threat, then he will chill...just like most other leopards. but keep in mind, there is always an exception

Something else to consider is the difference in gender will also produce a difference in temperament. Even with animals from the same clutch. When I breed my show rabbits in a litter of 3 (which is average) 1 is colored and tempered like mom, 1 is like dad and 1 is like neither. I would imagine its similar amongst most species that have multiple babies. I wuld always ask about temperament when buying a leo. I got mine from gecko euphoria in utah I believe he was, Adam as very up front with describing his animals, smaller scale breeder and even started handling eros more in the 2-3 weeks he had before shipping him to me just to make sure he was more tame. It all depends on the breeder

Another thank you, Mardy, for the info and the list. I also LOVE that male for sale... he is just so handsome.

I think I may give him some more time.

Yes... I've also seen this not only in the hedgehogs but in the chickens as well. Could you PM me his website? I did a google search but got no results.

As soon as my pc is back, up and running I'd be happy to get you Adams contact info.