Top 10 Crested Gecko Morphs

I ranked these on popularity, influence in the gecko world and visual appeal. Some photos in the video come courtesy of Crestopia Reptiles, Creepy Exotics, Lilly Exotics and Amanda McArn.

10. Pinstripe

The first morph that got people excited about crested geckos, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Two rows of raised scales run down the back: broken on a partial pinstripe, complete on a full one. Variations include the empty-back pinstripe and my favorite, the quad stripe, with a solid lateral stripe down each side.

9. Creamsicle

A color combination rather than a trait: orange against cream or white. They are far less common than most morphs here.

8. Tricolour and extreme harlequin

An extreme harlequin has pattern over most of its sides. The best are covered almost entirely, about as close as anyone has got to a solid white crested gecko. A tricolour shows a dark base, orange harlequin markings, and white over the orange. They are still fairly rare.

7. Dalmatian

Spots, black or red, on any base color; large ones are called ink spots. It is co-dominant, so a super dalmatian is the super form of the gene, not a set number of spots.

6. Charcoal

My name for my own line of patternless, almost solid black or very dark brown geckos. Other breeders have similar animals from different bloodlines. My line has proven co-dominant; when I made this video I didn't yet know whether there is a super form.

5. Red harlequin

A red base with harlequin pattern. Red extreme harlequins add far more coverage, and the brightest I call neon red harlequins.

4. Red pinstripe

For a long time these were, for me, the pinnacle of crested geckos: a pinstripe on a red base. There are red quad stripes too. My favorites have solid cream dorsals against neon red.

3. Drippy dorsal

Also called white spot. Small white spots run along the dorsal just under the pinstripe scales, and can appear on the sides and back legs, like paint dripping down. Any base color. I had a female with it in 2009, before anyone really recognised the trait.

2. Lilly white

Lilly Exotics identified this morph, and as far as I know every Lilly white comes from their bloodlines. It is co-dominant and lays thick cream and white over the gecko, often with a drippy dorsal and an almost patternless tail. The super form, a pigmentless leucistic, is fatal: the babies have to be cut from the egg and don't survive. Lilly whites themselves are unaffected, but breeding two together produces some of that super form.

1. Axanthic

My favorite. A mutation stops them producing yellow pigment, much as albinism stops melanin, so they are fully monochrome, from almost white to almost black. The first came from a hobbyist breeder in London. The project needed more outcrossing than she could manage, and I bought the entire bloodline from her. In person they look almost fake.