Lily White crested geckos: why the price, and the trap new breeders miss

Lily White is a dominant gene, not a pattern. Pair it wrong and you lose part of the clutch. What to know before you buy a breeding pair.

Lily White is a gene, not a look

Most people pick a Lily White because of the look. What actually sets the price is the genetics. It is inherited as a dominant trait, so a Lily White passes it to roughly half its offspring. That is why it sits well above a normal crested, and why breeders pay it.

The trap: Lily White to Lily White

Pairing two Lily Whites looks like the fastest route to more Lily Whites. It is not. The homozygous super form is lethal, and around a quarter of the clutch is lost. A seller who says you can pair those two either does not know, or knows and is not telling you.

So what do you pair it with

Pair a Lily White to a non Lily White. Roughly half the clutch comes out Lily White and nothing is lost to the gene. What you choose on the other side is a question of the direction you want, and it does not have to be a normal.

Watch the names that mislead

Some morph names carry Lily White in them while the animal in front of you reads as something else entirely. If you are buying to breed, ask for the full name and the parent history every time. A photo tells you nothing about the genes.

Before you buy a pair

Crested geckos are not reliably sexed as juveniles. Buy two hoping for a pair and you may end up with two males, which cannot share an enclosure. Plan for two setups from the start. The shop team confirms sex and lineage before you commit.