03/11/2026
Geckos Etc. is excited to officially announce the Desert morph, a brand new recessive gene we discovered and proved out in our Western Hognose collection! This project has been years in the making and we are excited for its release to the hognose community.
Desert is a recessive color mutation that reduces and suppresses warm pigments (reds, oranges, yellows, and peach) and lightens the overall coloration. It appears to leave the melanin intact. By lightening the background color, it increases the contrast of the saddles and lateral blotches versus the background color. It does not appear to affect the shape or location of the pattern, but the blotches of pattern appear to be lighter, faded, and softer around the edges. This can be attributed to the reduction or loss of the warm pigments that are a component of the richness of color of a normal hognose snake.
We created a very detailed page on our website with the morph description, origin, combination morphs, FAQs, and lots of photos of Desert hatchlings, juveniles, and adults. For more infomation on the morph, please check out the page: https://geckosetc.com/desert-western-hognose/
While Deserts a beautiful on their own, we believe Desert will be a fantastic enhancer gene for creating spectacular future combinations, and we are excited for the future of this morph!
Geckos Etc. will be at Tinley this weekend, and we will have the first visual Deserts and hets available at the show. We hope to see you there!