ACR LINE GENETIC SNOW
This is the original pair I bred to confirm the genetics. I bred a male (homozygous) and female (heterozygous) together, and then the male was also bred to non-Snow females to further prove that he is indeed the Super or homozygous form.
Genetics: Incomplete Dominant
Heterozygous Form: Genetic Snow (Visual)
Homozygous Form: Super Genetic Snow
Originated: AC Reptiles
First Produced: Unknown
Gene Proven: 2022, Confirmed & Made Public 2025
More Information: GENETIC SNOW Resource Page
We have genetically proven an entirely different gene that looks like our original White-Spot aka Snowflake, but works as an incomplete dominant gene with an incredible homozygous or super form (show below).
The Background of the Genetic Snow
At the end of the 2022 season, long after my attention had shifted away from the original Snowflake project, I paired up the above pictured pair of what appeared to be very extreme examples of Snowflakes that didn't come from my original Snow project. This pairing has been tracked for two seasons now, which I did in order to prove out what I believed to be a previously unidentified gene, which had to have surfaced here in my collection.
The pair pictured above were some of the first to hatch from a Tangerine x Lavender Tri-Color project that I had set up in 2020 and they got my attention immediately as hatchlings. By the time they were juveniles, I suspected this Snowflake was probably a completely different trait - or more accurately, a different gene, which just happens to produce white markings that look similar to the original Snowflake. Though if I had to compare it to something else, it actually looks a bit more like the bright white markings that we see on the flanks of Lilly Whites (not the walled laterals, but the pure white part underneath).
Basic Description
If you've not checked this gene out, it's definitely one to keep your eye on. While drippy dorsals and snow spots aren't exactly novel or hard to find on geckos these days, I don't know that I've seen anything bleach the base color white or impact the harlequin markings quite like this. The other thing, which you'll have no choice but to see in the Phantom version, is that it makes the Harlequin markings take the form of dots, just like the snow spots.
The Genetic Snow's white patterning is typically in the form of dots, closely situated or overlapping, situated above the base color, but beneath the lateral markings. This gives us the ability to make Genetic Snows without obscuring or tweaking the Whiteout laterals, as seen on the original Genetic Snow pair you see above. The Genetic Snow's markings are pure "piebald" type white and cannot be influenced or tinted by Tangerine pigment, unlike other cream or white markings like Whiteout/Whitewall laterals, etc. If you look at the original pair in the photo above, you'll notice the dorsal and lateral markings have a creamy tint (one more yellow, one more orange/pink), but the Snow markings are pure, bright white, devoid of any tint - these white markings tend to be in the base layer of the skin.
On older homozygous (Super Snow) specimens, we're seeing the base color go completely white on the flanks, which appears in the layer of pattern/pigment situated beneath the lateral markings.
In the future, we expect to see these with intense Tangerine pigment that will create an even greater contrast to the pure white G. Snow markings.
Genetic Snow FAQ
Is the Genetic Snow a new gene?
Not so much - our 2025 introduction was more informative, if not corrective for customers who bought these geckos not knowing there was a wild looking homozygous form. Because the Genetic Snow looks superficially similar to the original Snowflake aka "White Spot" project we worked with for years, I don't have a precise date for when it first popped up in my colony.
That being said, I can only guess that a decent number of geckos with this gene were probably sold before I realized it was a different gene. If I had to guess, I'd say it probably surfaced here for the first time in 2017-2019, if not before, meaning it probably surfaced around the same time as Lilly White or maybe a little after.
How Rare or Widespread is the Genetic Snow?
Considering my epic frustration with our original Snowflake project and the fact we've just recently confirmed that the Genetic Snow is genetically different, I have made literally no effort whatsoever to produce more of them or figure out how many we've inadvertently sold. I'd guess far more rare than Lilly White just because we've done next to nothing with it, even though the two genes have probably been around for about the same length of time.
The other issue to consider with any G. Snows floating around on the market is that you'd either need a very well-trained eye (better than mine), or extensive lineage information to positively identify Genetic Snows that don't come directly from us. That's not a self-serving thing, but a matter of genetic compatibility - for all I know there could be two or three other genes floating around that produce similar looking geckos to het Genetic Snows.
If you have a gecko you suspect is the same thing, it will either need to be line bred, or be bred to a known Genetic Snow in order to prove it out. Only then could offspring be known genetically compatible and ethically sold as Genetic Snows.
Where did the Genetic Snow originate?
As mentioned above, it first popped up in a group of Tangerine x Lavender line tri-colors and then It popped up again shortly after that in Tangerine x Citrus base geckos, which are actually descended from the same lineage as the Tangerine x Lavender line, just a completely different branch of the family tree, which I still sometimes use for outcrossing purposes. This wasn't unexpected, having known how often I outcross those two lineages, both having been descended directly from the original 2004 Stripes (Lavender/Cream Quad) x OG Tangerine pairing and then having been treated as separate lineages for 10+ years after that.
One thing we do know for sure is that this version of the Snowflake originated from within my collection because it's physically impossible for it to have been brought into the collection from an outside source.
Since adding the last of my founding stock, a wild collected male, back in 2007, only 7 geckos have entered my ciliatus collection since then - four Lilly Whites and three Leucistics, all tracked and completely unrelated to the G. Snow project.
What's the difference between our Genetic Snow and our original Snow/White-Spot?
1. Genetic Snow has a predictable mode of inheritance (incomplete dominant) and reproducing it is straight forward and simple. Expression is predictable, no geckos that wait to develop a couple white spots in adulthood to finally tip you off. The genetics and expression of the original Snow/White-Spot are anything but straightforward or predictable. Many of them were almost indiscernible, selective breeding didn't seem to help and the ceiling for what it could do was relatively low.
2. Genetic Snow has a distinct homozygous or "super snow" form, which has more spots than anything we ever saw from the original project. In fact, the average heterozygous Genetic Snow tends to have more white spots than all but the best Snowflakes from our original project....in other words, het Genetic Snows are as good as it used to get with the original, and they're just the HETS.
3. Genetic Snows actually hatch with white spots already on them and they consistently have more white than the original, but it still increases a lot with age. The original - good luck figuring out which babies to keep when most have little to no white spots, regardless of the pairing.
4. The spots are typically so numerous on Genetic Snows, both visual hets and supers, that they often appear in connected groups of spots, which then fuse together with age - much like Dalmatian spots turning into ink spots.
5. While they are different, the differences are nuanced and you probably need a well-trained eye to differentiate these from other snowflake type geckos (without knowing the lineage). In fact, it's so similar to the original snow in appearance (especially as youngsters) that I didn't really think much of it until 2022 when I realized the Super Genetic Snows were far more extreme than the best of our original snows, and that they were being produced with the level of consistency I desperately wanted, but never saw, in the original project.
Genetic Snow Photos
G. Snow on Tangerine x Lavender/Black Base
Homozygous G. Snow on Tangerine x Lavender/Black Base
Homozygous G. Snow on Tangerine x Lavender/Black Base
Homozygous G. Snow on Tangerine x Lavender/Black Base
Heterozygous G. Snow on Tangerine x Lavender/Black Base
G. Snow on Tangerine x Citrus Base
G. Snow on Tangerine x Citrus Base (same gecko as above)
