Tangerine Leopard Geckos
Tangerine leopard geckos owe their orange to generations of selective breeding, so the colour runs anywhere from lightly warmed to a deep, near-red orange. Dozens of named lines chase it from different starting stock, so look at the seller's own line, not just the name on the label.
About the Tangerine gene
No single identifiable gene is responsible for the orange pigment in a Tangerine leopard gecko. Since the 1990s, breeders have focused on that colour. Dozens of named lines from different starting stock now chase it. This means a Tangerine animal can be anything from a deep, near-red orange to lightly warmed.
Appearance
An adult Tangerine carries orange pigment at least forward of the tail base. In lines that are more developed, the tail, body and head can all pick it up. This ground colour varies widely in the amount of the body it covers. It runs from a deep, near-red orange to a light orange-yellow. While a leopard gecko that is lightly tangerine might look barely warmer than a normal one, the most selected lines push toward a fully saturated finish that is near-patternless.
Genetics
Tangerine is polygenic. Rather than switching on from one recessive or dominant allele, it builds up over generations of selective pairing. This means there is no het to track and no super form. You will also see Pos Tangerine, which is stock bred from tangerine lines that is not yet fully showing the colour. Because they are not genetic partners but are related traits, Hypo, Carrot Tail and Carrot Head can all stack on the same orange base. These combinations include Super Hypo Tangerine (SHT), Super Hypo Tangerine Carrot Tail (SHTCT), the further refined Super Hypo Tangerine Carrot Tail Baldy (SHTCTB), and albino crosses such as Sunglow and Tangelo. Aside from plain Tangerine, breeders keep dozens of named lines and price each one on its own: Blood (JMG Reptile), Electric (Kelli Hammack's HISS), Tangerine Tornado, Green & Tangerine and Afghan Tangerine. The last one was made by crossing wild Afghan subspecies blood into Super Hypo Tangerine stock. No year or single breeder settles where Tangerine began, as various breeders built their own line-bred strains from 1996 onward.