Dalmatian Crested Geckos for sale in the UK

A crested gecko is named a Dalmatian if it has a wild-type pattern of scattered black, red or green spots over its base colour. Because no two animals have the exact same scatter, keepers choose one for its spotting. The lines with the most heavy markings are sold as Super Dalmatian.

Appearance

The spots can cover the whole animal or just appear as a few marks over the base colour. You will find mostly black ones, with red being the next most common, while green or yellowish spots are rarer. These spots range from the size of a pea to a pinprick. Because the pigment sits in a skin layer that shifts when the gecko changes colour, spots may fade almost to nothing when the animal fires down and reappear when it fires up. A young Dalmatian is bought on potential as much as what is already visible because hatchlings often show few or no spots, and the pattern typically fills in shed by shed over the first year or so. The name Super Dalmatian is kept by breeders for animals with roughly a hundred spots or more. Oil Spot is the name for faded, colour-tinted spots that come and go with the gecko's mood, and a scatter of the largest, pea-sized black spots is called Ink Spot.

Genetics

Whether Dalmatian is a dominant gene or a polygenic, line-bred pattern built by selecting heavily spotted animals over generations is still unsettled. This is why Super Dalmatian is better viewed as a heavy-spotting grade instead of a confirmed two-copy form. Proof of true homozygosity requires test-breeding, as counting spots in a photo does not prove it. There are four names used in listings: Dalmatian, Pos Dalmatian, Super Dalmatian and Pos Super Dalmatian. The trait traces to wild-caught imports rather than a single captive-bred founder, and Dalmatian spotting appears on geckos of any base colour.