Black Amber Project

The Black Amber Project started as an offshoot of the Amber Sunglow project. In 2016 I purchased a trio of Black Nights from Ferry Zuurmond. One of the ideas I had in mind for them was to outcross them to my amber sunglows, with the hope of eventually making a deep orange and black gecko line.

139079483 4826593410749407 4606725272644060070 o — The Original Black Amber Hypo Male

In 2018 I paired my Black Night male to one of my best Amber Sunglows. It wasn’t the most successful year, which we all know happens sometimes in the hobby, and resulted in just one viable hatchling from several eggs, that ended up being a nice dark male hypo het Tremper.

I obviously kept that male and paired him to a Black Night female and an Amber Sunglow female in 2019. This time around I had two viable eggs, both from the Amber Sunglow. One was another dark male hypo het Tremper, the second was an oddball sunglow female.

139563672 4826593260749422 1582137747140334791 o — 2019 Black Amber Super Hypo Male

Straight from the egg you could see this sunglow was different, with a very unique pattern. As she grew she began to take on an almost stonewashed look which has stayed with her into adulthood. So I started 2020 with both male offspring from the previous two seasons being paired to Amber Sunglow females.

139262477 4826593370749411 338833748983821881 o edited — 2019 Black Amber Sunglow straight from the egg.

The reasoning behind this was to increase the chances of hatching some darker tangerine hypos and super hypo females to help further the project. I paired the oddball female to my male Amber sunglow with the hope of replicating her look or at least hatching a male that looked a little different as well.

139184642 4826593660749382 4659691724959845853 o edited — Here she is again at 6 months old, now with the stonewash look.

2020 was a more productive season with the 2 males producing 18 Black Amber Sunglows and Super Hypos between them. I’ve held back several of the darkest and deepest tangerine Super Hypo females for 2021. The female with the stonewash look only produced one viable egg in her first season, which was incubated for male and, fortunately for me, produced a male hatchling.

139510813 4826593544082727 4338323341664792423 o — 2020 Male Black Amber Sunglow hatchling at two days old.

He also hatched with with quite a unique look to him as well although different from his mother. He is to date, the smallest hatchling I’ve ever had as he was almost half the size of a regular leopard gecko hatchling, but still with good body structure. There was also a female hatchling from the 2019 Super Hypo male that had caught my eye as she was a little different to all the others. She has a bright orange spot on her head and quite unique tail colour and pattern.

138391736 4823548837720531 4927326167495864741 o — 2020 Male Black Amber Sunglow

138748405 4827274700681278 7503360893058442397 o — 2020 Male Black Amber Sunglow

So now I have a 1:2 trio of Black Amber Sunglows for 2021.

I have other plans for the remaining 2020 Super Hypo females, so watch this space as the project continues to grow…….