Friday, February 13, 2009

Leucistic and Hypo Pastel Morphs

There has been some confusion between the two that I would like to clarify. They are both from the same gene. It is a simple receive gene so both parents have to carry the gene for the offspring to express it. The leucistics have been selectively breed to have little to no color. So when the hypo gene is expressed it reduces the dark pigment and leaves only white. When you add this gene to a dragon with color than when the dark pigment is reduced you'll have a bright colored dragon. The easiest way to tell if a dragon is hypo is to look at their nails. They will have clear nails. Some dragons will have a couple of clear nails and so aren't hypo. If the dragon is het for the gene then it carries it but doesn't express it. Heterozygous means to have the gene on one allele, homozygous means to carry the gene on both alleles. The only way to tell if a dragon carries the gene is to breed your dragon to another one that you know carries the gene. If the offspring are hypo than both parents carry the gene.
This is our Hypo/Leucistic male. He still has some yellow but he is mostly white. Notice his beard still turns black when he is excited.