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Crested Gecko Traits Guide

The Crested Gecko traits guide below was painstakingly written, organized, and put together by Melissa Walker at Sublime Reptiles. Her years of experience and desire to selflessly help others learn about her love and passion, crested geckos, are evident throughout this document. If you are looking to purchase a crested gecko please be sure to checkout Sublime Reptiles incredible crested geckos!  Not surprisingly, you can also find Sublime Reptiles on our Most Popular Crested Gecko Breeders list. We have attempted to give everyone involved in the production of the Crested Gecko Traits Guide proper photo and documentation credit. If you were involved in the production of the Crested Gecko Traits Guide and have not received proper credit, please reach out to us so we can do so immediately. 

The art of trait identification can be difficult and there are thin lines between some traits. This guide was put together to give you a brief introduction to the art of trait identification, and how to distinguish the difference between them. Some traits are restricted to certain areas; where as other traits are far more independent and can be on any given defining trait (the “morph”).  

“Independent traits”

These are traits that can be on any defining trait. These are things such as dalmatian spots, fringe, knee caps, portholes, blush (orange chin), furred, crowned, inverted pinstripe, and reverse pinstripe. None of these make or break the defining trait however some are more commonly seen on certain defining traits.

Defining Traits

These are your “morphs”. The defining traits are tiger, brindle, flame, harley, bi-color, and patternless. Defining traits can overlap, and this is where it gets tricky and end up with flame tigers, flame brindles, phantom pinstripe tigers/brindles, and even pinstripe harley and pinstripe flame.

Pattern Regions, this image was made by Jen Boeke  of JB’s Cresties. This is a fantastic image I wanted to use as it illustrates the regions on a crested gecko that are used for determining the “morph”.  As you can see the highlight regions are color coded for ease.

Now to the good parts…or maybe the bad parts, all depends on how you look at it! These are your defining traits, this guide will briefly describe what constitutes the requirements for the traits. Some of the pictures used do exhibit the independent traits such as dalmatian spotting, but the references to these are withheld as the picture reference is used to show an example of the defining trait. I do have an example of the dalmatian trait in this section as it is worth mentioning.

But before we dive in!

You will see terms such as base color, or pattern color in this little outline. So what do those mean? Some geckos have pattern, some don’t, but all geckos have a base color (even if some instances when extreme harleys seem like that have none).  In the picture below you will notice two areas circled on the gecko, these circles indicate what is considered the base color, and what pattern color is. Pattern color is circled in red, and the base color is circled in blue.

Bicolor & Patternless Crested GEcko Morphs

These animals have no (or very little) pattern. The difference between the bicolor from the patternless is that the dorsal color varies from the base color. Bicolor and patternless animals have the ability to come in any color, and can be coupled with phantom pin stripping.  Although yes flames/harley has a different color dorsal, the bi-color is a patternless animal (most often, or nearly patternless), so it isn’t quite the same thing.

Brindle Crested Gecko Morphs

These are often confused with tigers. Brindles are best described as a crazy broken tiger. Sometimes they are broken pattern, spotted/marbled look, other times they appear as if they would be an extreme tiger (no such thing, extreme tiger would be a brindle!), and even like lattice work.

Tiger Crested Gecko Morphs

Tigers are pretty easy to recognize, they have stripes. The stripes general start on both sides and will extend over the dorsal area. These stripes extending over the dorsal shouldn’t be confused with the stepping stone pattern than a flame or a harley has. Tigers can have some broken pattern, but unlike a broken pattern of a brindle, the lines are more linear and not scattered. Tigers can come as standard tigers, or bold tigers, bold tigers have thick lines.

If you study the examples you can see some differences between the tiger and brindle. The tigers bands are generally up and down, whereas brindles can break apart much like a lightning bolt. Tigers can be faint and barely there, to very bold and striking bands.

Flame Crested GEcko Morphs

Flames and harlequin often get confused with one another, rightfully so; there is a fine line between them. Both share a similar quality, the dorsal pattern. The difference is that the flame has reduced side pattern, and little to no leg pattern. The flame is restricted to the lower lateral area where as the harley extends into the upper lateral area.

Harlequin Crested GEcko Morphs aka “harley”

As stated this trait gets easily confused with the flame since they share the same identification marker. The harly pattern extends into the upper lateral area. Harleys can have reduced leg pattern , but remember their key difference is the abundance of lateral pattern.

Extreme Harley Morphs

Harleys have the ability to be extreme. They share the same standard requirements of the harley whereas the pattern resides in the upper lateral area, the extreme harley reaches that and blasts past it. To be an extreme, the harley needs a minimum of 75% of its sides to be covered in pattern so that the pattern is dominate over the base color. Some others require that the side pattern must also meet and reach into the dorsal pattern; however that requirement varies on the individual.

Fun with Flames!

Now some people like to dismiss this ability of flames to express two traits, but they have to remember both traits are present when you actually study the animal, the dorsal flame is present, along with the bands and craziness of brindles. It is the same as pinstripes having the ability to be flames,  harleys. Remember they are called polymorphic for a reason! Yay fun with flames!

Or maybe he is a tiger flame? Depends on which you consider his better side!                                                               

As you can see these are all light based animals, and funky flames are seen on light based animal. So how do you tell a tiger flame/brined flame from an extreme? This diagram was put together by an individual who is well known for being one of the best producers of extreme harleys. She wanted to depict the differences between an extreme harley, and that of a tiger or a brindle. Remember you can’t go by leg pattern alone, many high expression tigers and brindles have leg pattern and this is often expressed when it is tied into a gecko showing the tiger flame pattern.

Now I hope this has helped some of you guys and gals out there. Determining the defining trait on these guys is not that difficult once you learn the rules of what makes a certain trait what. Look for the key clues using the region chart, does the gecko in questions side pattern extend into the upper region or is it restricted to the lower? Just how much pattern is on the legs? Are there defined bands or just crazy stripes everywhere? Do remember some animals will simply not fall into a defining trait, these are just unique animals.

Before we head on to pinstripes:

I want to touch base again on base color and pattern color. People get confused when it comes to pinstripes and phantom pins.

Pinstripes and Phantom Pins

Depending on who you ask, some may say pinstripes are an independent trait, others thing it is a defining trait. Pinstripes regardless of their form are a refined trait from flames and harley where the dorsal pattern was selectively bred for two full rows of raised dorsal scales. Because of this

Pinstripes Crested Gecko Morphs

Pinstripes are an independent trait, they have the ability to be on flames, harleys, even tigers and brindles. Pinstripes are determined by the two stripes that run down the dorsal from the head to the base of the tail. These stripes are a raised row of scales. The standard pinstripe’s stripe will be the same color as the lateral pattern’s color. Some pinstripes can have a solid dorsal stripe, others can be broken within the stripe itself. Just because a gecko has a solid dorsal that doesn’t mean that it is a pinstripe, remember it is the raised row of scales that determines a pinstripe, it is the color of the scales that determine if it is a standard pinstripe or a phantom pinstripe.

Phantom Pinstripes Crested Gecko Morphs

A phantom pin like a standard pin is defined by the raised row of scales running down the back. The difference is that a phantom pinstripes pinning is the same color as the geckos base color, or in some cases phantoms can have highlighted pinning, but empty dorsals. These should not be confused with standard pins which are flames and harleys, these geckos lack the flame dorsal making them phantoms. Phantoms can be patternless, tigers, or brindles. The dark lines on the outside of the pinning is not what defines the trait, this is called reverse pinning, it often goes hand in hand with phantom pinstripes, however it can be seen on other traits.

Now for that tricky differences between a pinstripe, partial pinstripe, and a pin dash. Pinstripe as stated have the raised dorsal scales extending from their head crests, down to the base of their tail. Partial pinstripes are animals who maintain those stripes, but there are breaks in it. Pin dashing is just simply dashes of highlighted raised pins, these are not considered pinstripes. Now a partial pin is generally animals we consider to be 50% or more pinning, and the pinning is connected. An animal with many breaks down its back is as stated, a pin dashed. A partial pin as you will see in this next example, have the majority of their dorsal scales connected making the “pin.

Dalmatian Crested Gecko Morphs

Dalmatians are like you expected, geckos with spots. Generally a gecko is classified as a dalmatian when it has 25+ spots. If less than 25 spots a gecko is referred to as dalmatian spotting, not a dalmatian. Super Dalmatians are animals with 100+ spots. There is some bend to the rules for super dalmatian, such as animals with many large ink spots but not quite 100+. Dalmatian spots come as black, red, clusters (many spots stacked into one massive cluster), ink spots , green, oil, and phantom spots (spots that come and go depending on the geckos fired/unfired state). Green, oil, and phantom spots are uncommon and often fade and disappear with age.

This next photo is a standard super dalmatian expressing normal standard spotting. She does have a few big ones but she would not be classified as an ink spot.

I want to remind people, super dalmatians are not normally born overnight. They often can hatch with just a few spots but as they mature they gain many more. So once your gecko hits 100+ spots, you have a super on your hands! Until then it’s the painful wait. This photograph shows the progression of a super dal.  A fresh hatched super dalmatian baby (bottom right picture), at a few months old (left bottom picture), and at 10g (top pic). Sometimes they hatch out with even less spotting than you see here, but this shows you a good progression.

The photo on the left is an animal that just barely qualifies as a dalmatian, the one on the right is a simple dalmatian crested gecko morph. 

Portholes Crested Gecko Morphs

These are white spots on the side. Now this is not to be confused with the “white spot”/drippy dorsal/creeping white trait. Notice the white spots within the side pattern; portholes are restricted to the lateral area only.

White Spots / Drippy Dorsal Crested Gecko Morphs

White spots can often get confused with portholes, but they are quite different. Portholes are much more ridged in shape and are restricted to the laterals. White spots are much more fluid in shape, making more of a drippy pattern, or more roundish shape. White spots also have the ability to show up on the laterals, legs, and drip down from the dorsal pattern. The key to the white spot trait is hidden in the legs, white spots in the legs is your indicator the gecko carries the trait even if it expresses little visual spotting and dripping. White spots can show up on a variety of traits and are not limited to any single one. They can be seen on them all! However the dripping dorsal is only expressed in flames and harleys. I am going to have quite a few examples of these expressing the trait to different degrees.

Kneecaps Crested Gecko Morphs

Fringe Crested Gecko Morphs

Fringe is restricted to the back of the hind legs, again it is cream, orange, or yellow in color, it extends from the base of the tail down to the feet

Furred / Furry Crested Gecko Morphs

This is restricted to the dorsal. Whereas a pinstripe has a single row of raised dorsal scales, a gecko with the furred trait has multiple rows, normally have 2-4 rows of raised scales.

Reverse Pinstripe Crested Gecko Morphs

This trait often tailgates with the phantom pin however it isn’t the same thing. Reverse pin refers to the dark stripe that is right below the dorsal pattern. This can be on phantom pins, flames, and harleys. In this picture notice the orange stripe under her raised dorsal scales, this is the revere pin.

Inverted Pinstripe Crested Gecko Morphs

The inverted pinstripe is a weird thing to behold, where as a reverse pinstripe is on the outside of the dorsal stripe, an inverted pinstripe is on the inside of the stripe. Now this is different from a super stripe, these are often seen on unique animals that do not fall into a defining trait (much like the animal used as the example).

Blush Crested Gecko Morphs

And no it’s not Maybelline. This refers to the orange/red coloring on the chin.

 Crest Structure: The good, the ok, and the bald.

So what is good structure and what is bad structure? It is slightly subjective but there is an agreement, these are Crested geckos, and not crestless geckos. There are intermediate levels of crest structure from poor (and when have no crests at all they are known as baldies), average, good, and crowned. The difference in these can range from the shape of the head (head structure) and the actual crest structure (length and thickness).

Poor structure aka Bald

These are animals with little to no crest structure.

Average structure

Many geckos fall into this, it isn’t good, it isn’t bad, it is just simply average.

Good Structure

Not quite crowned but these guys are above average in the crest department and prime examples of what is considered above average, well-shaped heads.

Crowned Crested Gecko Morphs

Crowned are animals with exceptionally large heads that’s had heads that may drupe down

Top view of a crowned

Tricolor Crested Gecko Morphs

Lastly in this section I am sliding in tri-colors into this section. Although a tri-color is more of a color combo than a morph (as a tri-color is a harley), I find it good point to touch on as it is often asked “is this a tri-color?”.  A tri-color is a harley, but unlike your more traditional harley, a tri-color expresses 3 different colors. There is some difference in opinion on what makes a tri-color. Some say just the 3 colors constitutes a tri-color while others state 3 colors and a certain percentage of those three colors. For me, I feel it is not only 3 colors, but also requires almost equal proportions of those colors in the pattern. What is also expected of this term is that the 3 colors be different colors. I know I said it once, but it is 3 easily distinguishable colors such as orange (or yellow), cream, and a dark base color. Two shades of cream on a dark base (or even a light base) is generally not considered a tri-color. This is the most common accepted description of a tri-color. But as with many color combos, it can be subjective. These two are top notch examples of tri-colors:

And a little to the lesser extent of color differentiation but still good examples of tri-colors

A note from one of the authors: "I hope this guide helps some of you guys, it may not seem brief to everyone however this could go on and on touching base on the independent traits, and some of the new traits popping up such as dripping dorsal, creeping white, and white spots. That can be saved for the advanced addition! Feel free to ask any questions, post pictures on the group, shoot me a private message. Want to see more? Let me know I am happy to add things to this! The art of trait identification can be tricky at first but once you get down the key features it really is quite simple. And we are here to help you on your way to being a master of this art."

A special thank you to: Margaret Sharapan of Harlequin Hoard, Erin Schroeder Paris of Paris Reptiles, Trish Jones of Good Time Geckos, Barb Gebert of Creepy Exotics,  Patrick Clark of The Lizard Shack, Ashley Jawiche of Scaredy Cat Geckos, William Bedard of Monster Crests, Mary Frizzel of Good Luck Geckos. , Crystal Rolfe of Tailspinz Geckos, Melissa Walker of Sublime Reptiles, Samantha Maddox of Crestopia Reptiles, and Jen Boeke for allowing us to use their images in the reposting of this trait guide.