51 Leopard Gecko Morphs (The BEST Ones!
Wondering about the best leopard gecko morphs? This guide is for you!
Leopard geckos are becoming popular by the day because of the happiness and joy they bring into our lives.
Breeders have gone a step further to create docile, friendly, and easy-to-manage amazing morphs.
Are you considering keeping a leopard gecko morph in your home or office? There are many different popular and irresistibly cute ones to choose from. Most of these varieties are selectively-bred, and are so attractive that even reptile haters find them appealing.
To get the best value for money, contact a breeder who is well-versed in the genetics of the different morphs. Indeed, you’ll always find a good number that caters to your needs.
You’d want to deal with a specialized breeder for the more exotic leopard geckos.
What Are Leopard Gecko Morphs?
Morphs are the different varieties of leopard geckos in the market today. The most basic is the normal morph, a leopard gecko in its original and natural state.
Because of selective breeding, the reptile market today has many different leopard geckos varieties.
These are distinguishable by their skin color and body patterns. They may also be of different sizes.
To create the morphs we see today, professional breeders use genetic mutations of the wild leopard geckos.
This is known as selective breeding, and creates different colors and patterns.
Only professional breeders can create exotic morphs with specific colors and skin patterns.
By selectively using dominant, co-dominant, and recessive genes, these breeders can include or exclude certain colors and patterns from newborn leopard geckos.
Some morphs can be pretty expensive because they are not readily available. You may find some inconsistencies in how some breeders classify and name some leopard gecko morphs.
Common Leopard Gecko Morph Terminology
You’ll encounter these terms frequently as you delve deeper into the topic of leopard gecko morphs:
Genetic Traits
Physical features and personality are derived from the genes of both or one parent. Color, size, and pattern are genetic features.
Dominant Traits
A gene from one parent dominates over the rest. So the baby leopard gecko will grow to show the characteristics of the stronger gene, inherited from one of the parents.
Recessive Traits
The physical features of the offspring are inherited from a recessive gene from both parents. Therefore, this gene must come from both parents to find expression in the baby.
Co-Dominant Traits
The offspring has two different but equally strong features, taken from both parents.
Genotype
This describes the leopard gecko’s complete set of genes.
Phenotype
This describes the leopard gecko’s observable traits.
Polygenic / Line Bred Traits
This is selective breeding that aims at producing babies with the same characteristics. Geckos with the same characteristics are bred with one another, so their offspring have the same features.
Out-Crossing
Leopard geckos with different characteristics are cross-bred to produce offspring with varying features.
Out-crossing lowers the risk of genetic defects. It can also bring about new size, color, and pattern traits.
Homozygous
This type of leopard gecko carries two copies of the same characteristic, one derived from each parent.
Heterozygous
Heterozygous leopard geckos carry a copy of a normal trait and a selectively-bred or recessive trait.
Wild Type
This is a leopard gecko in its unaltered state, as naturally found in the wild. It’s also referred to as a Normal type.
What Are the Different Types of Leopard Gecko Morphs?
Leopard geckos can be classified into 6 morphs based on their color, size, pattern, or a combination of the three.
Giant Morphs
These are selectively bred to be huge in size.
Eye Morphs
These are leopard gecko breeds bred to have unique eye colors and shapes.
Blizzards
These leos display solid colors; they are completely patternless.
Albino Morphs
These leopard geckos are light in color. Typically, albinism is caused by a lack of the enzyme tyrosinase.
Albino morphs are unique albinos in the sense that they are lighter in color despite having this enzyme.
Striped Morphs
These leopard geckos have stripes running down their backs.
Melanistic
They are of two kinds. Hyper-melanistic have more melanin, while Hypo-melanistics have less melanin.
The Best leopard gecko Morphs
Normal Leopard Geckos
These are the most commonly available leopard geckos. They are readily available in local pet stores, and are less expensive than the more exotic type of morphs.
The normal leopard gecko is not a morph as such. This is the leo in its original, unchanged state as found in the wild.
#1 – The Wild Type
Basically, they are yellow with black spots. However, you may find some wild leopard geckos with a brown tinge or dark brown spots.
Despite its typical color pattern, the normal leopard gecko is still a great pet in your terrarium. Its personality is anything but boring.
Indeed, the color and pattern on this leo do not make it any lesser a pet than the selectively bred morphs.
#2 – The High Yellow
This is a normal leopard gecko that is more yellow than usual patterns. It also has a few black spots.
Although it is slightly more expensive than the usual wild type, its price range cannot be compared to the more exotic, rarer morphs.
#3 – Fancy
This is a normal leopard gecko found in your local pet store. It has been given this name to distinguish it from the other typical leopard geckos found in nature.
Fancy leopard geckos are not wild-types; they are born and bred on a professional breeder’s premises.
Albino Leopard Gecko Morphs
These leopard geckos have lighter skin color, although they have the enzyme tyrosinase. This makes this leo unique because, typically, albinism in animals results from tyrosinase deficiency.
Interestingly, these morphs of leopard geckos are albinos despite the presence of this enzyme. This is because they are genetically wired to produce very little melanin.
#4 – Mack Snow
This albino morph has a very light body covered with bands and dark spots all over the body. Baby and juvenile Mack Snows are as white as hatchlings.
However, as these leos grow, they get some light coloring.
#5 – Super Mack Snow
This homozygous morph bears either two dominant or two recessive genes. The Super Mack Snow is lighter than the Mack Snow, and has more speckling.
#6 – Super Snow
These are homozygous albinos that come about when two Mack Snows breed. They are characterized by solid color eyes, heavy speckling, and white coloring.
#7 – Texas or Tremper Albino
This albino strain is one of the earliest albino leopard geckos discovered. The Texas Albino is characterized by silver eyes that have visible red veins.
This morph comes in various colors, including orange, brown, pink, and yellow.
#8 – Rainwater /Las Vegas Albinos
This is one of the lightest and smallest of the albino leopard geckos. They have darker eyes than the other albinos.
Baby Rainwaters have yellow bodies with pink bands. As they age, the bodies remain light yellow or change to white.
Some Rainwater adults have yellow bodies with pink markings. However, it’s common to see a good number of them with yellow bands from head to tail and pink-spotted legs.
#9 – Gem Snow
These leopard geckos are bred from a rare dominant snow gene. They come in an assortment of colored bodies, such as lavender, light yellow, or white, with black spots all over.
A good number of Gem Snow albinos have a blue tint in the eye area.
#10 – Bell/Florida Albino
This albino morph has a lavender body covered in black spots all over. It also features pink or blue eyes.
Some Bell Albino morphs have yellow bodies and lavender tails. Others are covered in yellow and lavender bands that alternate from head to tail.
Most have black or dark brown spots.
#11 – Chocolate Albino
This is an albino morph that’s darker than most other albinos. This is because their eggs incubate at lower temperatures, and the hatchlings come out darker.
In leopard gecko breeding, high incubation temperatures produce lighter and brighter colors. Lower temperatures make darker colors.
Striped Leopard Gecko Morphs
As the name suggests, Striped Leopard gecko morphs have stripes running down the lengths of their bodies.
Care should be taken not to confuse stripes with bands. While bands are rings of color that go round and round the leo’s body, stripes are colors that run down the body, from head to tail.
#12 – Red Stripe
The Red Stripe leopard gecko has two stripes running down its back. These stripes can be either black or reddish and appear in the juvenile stage of the leos life.
Before the stripes turn red, they are usually brown – from 4 to 6 months old.
The rest of this leopard gecko’s body can be yellow or orange, with black or brown spots on the head and tail.
#13 – Lavender Stripe
This leopard gecko morph emerged in 2003 when a Lavender leo and a Red Stripe were selectively cross-bred.
The Lavender Stripe leopard gecko has a yellow body with lavender stripes running down the length of its body.
They acquire these characteristics as babies and maintain them throughout their lives.
#14 – Bold Stripe
These leopard gecko morphs have stripes running down the sides of their bodies, not their backs, as with Lavender and Red stripes.
The Bold Stripe leopard geckos are in great demand and can be pretty pricy, as a result.
#15 – Raining Red Stripe
This leopard gecko morph looks like a Rainwater with red stripes. It is the product of cross-breeding Rainwaters with Bod Stripe and Red Stripe morphs.
These leos have yellow bodies with orange or red stripes running down their bodies.
True to the cost of the striped albino varieties, Raining Red Stripe can be quite expensive.
#16 – Reverse Stripe
This leopard gecko morph comes in various colors and skin patterns. The common thing about this variety is the stripe that runs from the neck all the way to the tail.
This stripe appears broader at the tail – like it originates from the tail to the neck through the rest of the body.
#17 – Rainbow Stripe
The Rainbow Stripe morph has a green and orange body. It gets its name from the multicolored spots on its body.
Giant Leopard Gecko Morphs
These leopard geckos are bigger than most other morphs. However, some giant leopard geckos are not true giants.
Instead, this term refers to leos with particular skin coloration and eye types.
The only true giants are the Super Giants morph. These can grow to 12 inches long, thus holding the record for the biggest leopard geckos.
#18 – Giant
Although the Giant morph is smaller than the Super Giants, they are bigger than the normal leopard gecko types.
Giant morphs come in any color and skin pattern. Only the size distinguishes this morph from Normal leopard geckos.
#19 – Super Giant
This homozygous type of the Giant morph is huge. However, they are generally calm and friendly lizards despite their imposing size.
Unlike the Giants with one dominant allele, the Super Giant morph has two. In addition, while the Giants grow to about 10 inches, Super Giants grow two inches more to achieve a maximum length of 12 inches.
#20 – Godzilla Super Giant
This is the biggest morph of the Giant leopard gecko’s variety. They are the true monsters of the leopard geckos in terms of size.
They are also hard to find, making them quite pricy. Most of the Godzilla Super Giants weigh between 150g and 180g, with their offspring being as heavy as 120g at 6 months.
Hypo-Melanistic Morphs
Hypo Melanistic leopard geckos are also known as Hypos or Hypo morphs. These leos don’t have much melanin on their skin, and tend to be lighter.
They also have very few dark spots on their bodies – with most having less than 10 spots. Generally, Hypos are orange or yellow from head to toe.
#21 – Super Hypo
These leopard geckos have no spots at all on their bodies, although they have a few spots on their head.
Super Hypos are yellow in color, though you may occasionally encounter orange ones. In addition, the yellow Super Hypos may have orange patches on their body and tail.
Due to a lack of melanin, Super Hypos are brightly colored. Depending on their availability, the price of Super Hypos ranges from fair to expensive.
#22 – Baldy
This leopard gecko morph is very much like the Super Hypo, except it doesn’t have spots on the head. This means the Badly doesn’t have a single spot on the body.
Baldies can be red, orange, or yellow. The red ones are quite popular with most keepers, and are quite expensive as a result.
It is generally accepted that the price shoots up when the demand is high.
The Baldy morph gets its name from a lack of spots on the head. And neither do they have any on the body.
#23 – Hybino
These morphs are also known as Hypo Albinos. The Hybino is a product of a Super Hypo and any of the albino morphs.
The Hybino is presented in yellow or orange-yellow color, with pink, black, or blue eyes.
This leo can be quite expensive, especially if it is the product of a Super Hypo with the more costly albino variety.
The carrot head blue-eyed Hybinos are the most expensive because they are quite rare.
#24 – Hypo Ghost
Hypo Ghost (or just Ghosts) is light-colored in infancy. However, the color fades as they age, and they may look like albino hatchlings by the time they mature.
Baby Hypo Ghosts have a light-colored lavender or yellow shade. This turns to pale white as this leopard gecko grows older.
By the time he is one year old, it may be hard to distinguish him from the Mack Snow albino morph.
#25 – Hyper Melanistic Leopard Geckos
These leopard gecko morphs have darker pigmentation than hypo-melanistic leos. This is because they have more melanin, giving them a darker look.
Hyper Melanistic morphs are not entirely black; they are darker than most other light-colored leopard gecko morphs.
They have spots and patterns on their skin similar to wild-type leopard geckos.
Melanistic Leopard Geckos
These leopard geckos are supposed to be completely black, and are often described as solid black. However, most leopard geckos described as melanistic have a shade or two of other colors.
This means we don’t have entirely black morphs, but the race is one to develop them through selective breeding.
Because it has been so challenging to come up with a completely black leo, this morph will fetch a hefty price once it is developed.
#26 – Black Night
This is the closest leopard gecko breeders have come to producing a genuinely black morph.
The Black Night is hard to find in nature and in captivity. As such, it is one of the pricier leopard gecko morphs in the market.
This leopard gecko is solid black in color with a white underbelly. The underbelly is dotted with brown or dark spots.
#27 – The Black Pearl
This leopard gecko has all the characteristics of the Black Night, with one exception. Whereas the spots on the Black Nights underbelly are brown, those on the Black Pearl are blue-black.
The Black Pearl is as popular and as expensive as the Black Night. Indeed, these are some of the most expensive morphs in the market today.
#28 – Black Velvet
A good number of hobbyists confuse the Black Pearl and the Black Velvet because they are similar in almost every aspect.
Actually, it is common for some keepers to call the two one and the same name – or to interchange the names.
The Black Velvet looks like the Black Night, but has a few white patches on its tail. Because this leopard gecko morph is rare, they are quite expensive.
Only females are sold.
Blizzard Leopard Gecko Morph
Blizzard leopard gecko morphs lack patterns on their skin. Instead, they are presented in a solid color that covers the body, from head to tail.
Blizzard morphs can be either brightly or dark-colored. While most are yellow or white, a good number are presented in darker colors.
The dark ones are sometimes referred to as Midnight Blizzards.
#29 – Midnight Blizzard
This is a yellow leopard gecko that’s often marketed as banana yellow. It is patternless, with the dominant color being yellow.
This leopard gecko morph shares several characteristics with the Murphy Patternless leopard gecko morph.
#30 – Blazing Blizzard
These are products of a Midnight Blizzard with any of the albino morphs.
Breeders have successfully created two of these morphs: the Tremper Blazing Blizzard and the Rainwater Blazing Blizzard.
Both types of Blazing Blizzard leopard geckos are quite pricy because of their rarity.
#31 – Blazing Banana Blizzards
This is a combination of Blizzard, Murphy Patternless, and Albino traits to create a unique morph.
The race to produce a viable Blazing Banana Blizzard is hotly contested among breeders and genetic engineering experts. We expect this leopard gecko morph to be developed soon.
Once out, the Blazing Banana Blizzard will have eyes of the albino morph they are bred from, and a patternless body consistent with that of a Murphy Patternless leopard gecko morph.
Patternless Leopard Gecko Morphs
The Murphy Patternless morph starts with discernible spots as a hatchling. As this gecko grows, however, the spots disappear and are all gone by adulthood.
It’s easy to confuse the Murphy Patternless with the Blizzard morphs because they have much in common.
#32 – Carrot Tail Patternless
This leopard gecko morph comes in various colors. Some are gray or purple, while others are yellow or greenish.
The common thing about them is that they have no botches or spots on their bodies; they are completely patternless.
Other Leopard Gecko Morphs
#33 – Snake Eyes
This leopard gecko’s eyes are described as solid. Many leopard gecko morphs may have a percentage of solid-colored eyes.
However, the Snake Eye morph beats them all, with its eyes so solid that they look like those of a snake.
#34 – Eclipse
The eclipse leopard gecko shares several characteristics with the Snake Eyes morph. For example, they both have solid-colored eyes.
The eyes of the Eclipse morph are solid black. This leopard gecko is a product of two recessive genes combined through random breeding.
Interestingly, breeding two Eclipse leopard geckos can produce a Snake Eye morph. The traits exhibited by the Eclipse morph are common among Blizzard and Snow Albino morphs.
This gene has produced many other eye colors and morphs, such as Raptors, Diablo Blancos, Reverse Stripes, red eyes, and high white colors.
#35 – Lemon frost
This leopard gecko is characterized by a solid white base color with a tinge of yellow.
It has white or bright-blue eyes.
The breeding program responsible for creating the Lemon Frost is ongoing. We hope to get many exciting developments concerning this morph.
The Lemon Frost morph was first produced in 2012 by Gourmet Rodent. The first purchase of this leopard gecko was made at an auction in 2015.
#36 – Enigma
This leopard gecko has spots all over its body and a white tail. Some Enigma morphs have blotches instead of spots.
Yet others start with blotches at a young age, gradually fading away to be replaced by speckles. The backs of these leos have a unique, non-uniform pattern that sets them apart from other morphs.
Their unique coloring has made them popular and pricy.
#37 – Tangerine
This is a leopard gecko morph that displays a solid orange tinge. It may or may not have dark-colored blotches and spots on its head.
Tangerine leopard geckos with few spots are more expensive than those with many.
The most popular Tangerine is the Super Hypo Tangerine. This morph has a slightly faded orange pigmentation with very few spots on its body.
Its rarity makes it pricy.
#38 – Carrot Head
This term refers to leopard gecko morphs with orange heads. The intensity of the orange coloration on the head determines the price of this pet.
Carrots Heads with an intense orange-colored head and a yellow body are the most expensive.
#39 – Carrot Tail
This leopard gecko morph has a bright-orange tail and a yellow or orange body. Like the Carrot Head morph, the intensity of the colors determines the price of the Carrot Tail.
Carrot Tails with intense orange tails and yellow bodies tend to fetch higher prices in the pet market.
Variations of Carrot Tail morphs can be found amongst Murphy Patternless, Raptors, Hypos, Hyper-Melanistics, Albinos, and Tangerines.
Some have been spotted amongst the Blizzard morphs in the last few years.
#40 – Jungle
This leopard gecko morph is unique because of its broken pattern on the body and the tail. They can be cheap or expensive, depending on the genes they carry.
For example, if this leopard gecko has a Godzilla Giant gene, it can be pretty pricy. However, if it combines with common morphs such as Blizzards and Snows, it is less costly.
#41 – Aberrant
The Aberrant leopard gecko morph has the same unique broken pattern as the Jungle. The only difference is that the broken patterns on the aberrant are either on the body or the tail, but not both.
The Jungle, as noted above, has broken patterns on BOTH the body and the tail.
The inconsistent, broken patterns on one part of the Aberrant’s morph give this reptile a unique appeal. As a result, it is much sought after in some quarters.
This morph is commonly found among other morphs, such as Mack Snow.
#42 – Marble Eye
This is a rare morph that was first introduced in 2006. It fetches very attractive prices for the breeders (and owners who wish to sell them).
The uniqueness of the Marble Eye comes from the three-dimensional appearance of the eyes. This feature gives the eyes a marble-like quality.
#43 – Lavender
The lavender leopard gecko morph is either lavender or violet colored. This morph may or may not have spots.
The dotted ones have black or dark brown spots and bands. A good number has blotches instead of spots, which makes them more visible.
The spots on Lavender morphs are strong and easily noticeable when the reptile is young. However, these colors fade with age.
This means mature lavender morphs with strong spots fetch a very good price.
#44 – Halloween Mask
The Halloween Mask has a yellow and white body with prominent black spots. It also has vivid black blotches on the head and tail.
These markings are most vivid when the Halloween Mask is a baby and a juvenile. Then, as this reptile grows, the spots and blotches start fading.
The Halloween leopard gecko can be pretty expensive because of these striking markings.
#45 – RAPTOR
RAPTOR stands for Red-eye Albino Patternless Tremper Orange.
As this acronym suggests, RAPTORs are orange-colored morphs bred due to bringing together the genes of five generations of orange morphs.
RAPTOS are produced by breeding Reverse Stripes, Eclipse, Carrot Head, Patternless Stripe, and Albino morphs.
#46 – APTOR
APTOR stands for Albino Patternless Tremper Orange. This morph appeared as an offshoot of RAPTORS. In their initial attempts to produce RAPTORS, breeders came up with APTORS.
These natives have orange bodies created by breeding at least three different morphs.
The main difference between RAPTORs and APTORs is that the latter don’t have red eyes.
#47 – Creamsicle
This is an orange-colored leopard gecko morph produced by combining morphs: Mack Snow, RAPTOR, and Enigma.
This leopard gecko morph features an orange body with white patterns, earning it the name creamsicle. The original creamsicle name belonged to an orange and white frozen human treat.
This leopard gecko morph also has yellow bands or spots around its skin. Surprisingly, this morph is relatively inexpensive, despite the effort that has gone into creating it.
#48 – Bandit
The main feature of the Bandit leopard gecko morph is a black band across the nose. You can find this morph among the Halloween Mask, Stripe, and Tangerine morphs.
Apart from the black band across the nose, this leo also has dark spot-like markings on the head.
#49 – Diablo Blanco
The Diablo Bianco is produced by breeding Blizzards with RAPTORs. This leopard gecko morph is characterized by white bodies and red eyes.
This morph is in high demand because of its striking white color. It brings life and a sense of excitement to any terrarium.
Its red eyes are a striking contrast to the white skin, making this morph even more appealing. It gets the red eyes from the RAPTOR genes.
The Diablo Blanco is patternless and doesn’t have any dots or blotches.
#50 – Nova
The Nova morph is a product of bringing together select Enigma and RAPTOR morph genes. The result is an orange-colored Nova morph with a white tail and red eyes.
The Nova leopard gecko morph gets its patterns from both parents.
#51 – Blood
It is easy to confuse the Blood leopard gecko morphs with Tangerines because of their look-alike features.
The main difference is that while the Tangerines are orange-colored, the Blood morphs are bright red. This leo does not lose its color as they get into adulthood.
They remain attractive and striking from infancy and throughout their lives, creating a high demand.
The Blood morph can be quite pricy, as a result.
Frequently Asked Questions ((FAQs)
What Should I Consider in Buying a Leopard Gecko Morph?
Conduct all due diligence when buying leopard gecko morphs; ensure you are not exploited.
The pet market has both good and bad dealers. As such, don’t believe anything you hear until you verify people are who they say they are.
Some people have jumped into the leopard gecko breeding business with little or no idea of what they are doing.
It is these kinds of people you need to be wary of. Take your time to discover the best breeders you should be dealing with.
You wouldn’t want to end up with ill-bred leopard gecko morphs that will be perpetually sick or die before you even enjoy their company in your home or office.
In a nutshell, carry out due diligence as a buyer.
What Should I Look for in a Good Leopard Gecko Morph Breeder?
By conducting some research, you’ll be able to find a good breeder to cater to your needs. Look for the following qualities:
- Should be an expert
A good breeder knows what they are doing. This expert is well-versed in leopard gecko genetics and the traits of different leopard gecko morphs.
A good breeder does not dodge your questions, but takes them as an opportunity to inform and educate you.
- Has a solid reputation
Talk to reptile communities either online or in your local area to find out about the breeder’s credibility.
Do they deliver on their promises? What do customer reviews and testimonials say about the breeder you have in mind?
- Has a positive attitude
A good breeder displays an open, positive attitude from the onset. Conversely, a defensive breeder is a red flag.
Such dealers are defensive because they either don’t know what exactly they are doing, or they are hiding something about their pet trade.
- Should be available
An expert breeder will always be available to answer your questions, guide you, and assuage your concerns.
Good breeders know the value of after-sales service. As such, they won’t shut down communication channels once you make the purchase.
Establish that this is the kind of breeder you’re dealing with before purchasing the leopard gecko morph.
Conclusion…
Are you looking to purchase the best leopard gecko morph or just curious about them? There are over a hundred different morph varieties to choose from – or learn about.
Some varieties are popular and reasonably affordable, while others are exotic and expensive. Fortunately, the more costly morphs can only be sourced from specialized breeders.
If you’re looking for a leopard gecko for your home or office, there’re definitely some morphs that will take your fancy.
