Origins of SPT Crested Geckos. Selective Breeding Masterpiece
Origins of SPT Crested Geckos.
Selective Breeding Masterpiece
I can vividly remember the first time I saw an SPT crested gecko. Right away, I knew it was something different, completely remarkable. Having seen thousands of crested geckos over the years in this hobby, it’s rare for one to truly stand out to me. That was not the case with SPT crested geckos. I was immediately drawn in and fell in love with the phenotype. To my pleasant surprise, it was not just a "one-off" and was actually one of many geckos that came from a particular breeder in Hong Kong. That breeder is Dony from Reptile Addiction HK
After years of selective breeding, Dony and Jason from Reptile Addictions HK have developed a bloodline of extreme harlequin tricolor crested geckos that they dubbed SPT. The following is an interview I did with Dony and Jason in regards to this incredible line of crested geckos! Enjoy!
Reptile Addiction Interview: SPT Crested Geckos.
Q1: First of all, I want to ask you about your experience breeding crested geckos. How long have you been breeding and what got you into it?
Answer: I have about 11–12 years of experience breeding crested geckos. In the beginning, I kept turtles, leopard geckos, frogs, and other reptiles, but in the end, I found that I like crested geckos the most. It was like love at first sight.
Q2: What does SPT stand for? When did you start to realize that you had something special with the SPT crested geckos?
Answer: At first, I felt that the name “Extreme harlequin / extreme tri-color” was too vague because 50%–90% pattern coverage would all be called Extreme. So I wanted to call 80% and above coverage “Super tri”.
I had more than 10 breeding groups of Extreme tri-color (1 male with 3 females), but one group marked as SPT produced a lot of Super extreme offspring. The pattern coverage was already very high right out of the egg, almost full pattern, and the babies had obvious color differences. So I started paying special attention to this group.
The most obvious difference with SPT is the real-life color. Basically every one has golden-like lines and looks a bit golden in person. But I want to clarify that having this color doesn’t necessarily mean it’s SPT, because I know some other geckos also have this feature,However, when offspring produced from SPT show this kind of performance, they are basically SPT.
Q3: What was your breeding process like when you decided to focus on your SPT line of crested geckos? Did you do line breeding or more selective breeding?
Answer: When I decided to focus on it, I used several combinations to test whether SPT should be defined as a line:
- SPT x Harlequin – I used several females to experiment and produced many surprising offspring. Basically, the offspring performed better than the parents.
- SPT x Extreme harlequin / Tri – This combination definitely produces good results.
- SPT x PST – PST means Possible SPT. These are offspring that looked like normal Tri-color with around 50% pattern coverage. I used them to breed with other SPT offspring and found a higher chance of producing SPT, sometimes even higher than SPT x Extreme tri.
- SPT x SPT – This combination obviously works well and has a higher chance of producing Sunset.
- PST x normal harlequin / extreme – This combination also produced very stunning offspring.
SPT mainly has yellow (Sunrise) and orange (Sunset). The orange in Sunset is a bit different from normal orange. You can roughly tell right after birth, but it becomes more obvious around 8–10 grams.
Q4: What has been the response you have seen from the Asian market with the SPT crested geckos?
Answer: In the third year of testing, I invited ten clients and friends to experiment together. They all received SPT and PST to test. After one year, everyone’s feedback was very positive and matched my own experimental conclusions — it was easier to get high-end performing crested geckos. Only then did I feel confident to start selling.
However, the response in the Asian market has been very enthusiastic. Everyone is trying to use the SPT line to combo with other lines or morphs.
Every time I see how much people love SPT, I feel very happy. I am also very grateful for everyone’s support!
Future SPT Crested Geckos breeders at TikisGeckos
Q5: Can you describe what makes an SPT crested gecko?
Answer: At first, I noticed that the offspring marked as “SPT” had slightly different colors right after hatching. Then I found that this breeding group’s offspring performed very stunningly, with more high-end results. So I started paying attention and observing their characteristics.
The most obvious difference with SPT is the real-life color. Basically every one has golden-like lines and looks a bit golden in person. But I want to clarify again that having this color doesn’t necessarily mean it’s SPT.
Also, Sunset is the color I see more often in the market.
Sometimes it’s hard to describe their color in words, but it’s much easier to tell when you see the actual gecko.
Q6: What has been your favorite combination to breed the SPT crested geckos with?
Answer: In the past few years, I have been pursuing beautiful Sunset. I have tried experimenting with Cappuccino, and the results were quite good. This year I will use SPT het axanthic to do experiments.
Q7: What morphs have you bred SPT crested geckos to and what morphs have you not bred them to yet?
Answer: Basically, I have tried the following combinations:
- SPT x Cappuccino
- SPT x Sable
- SPT x Axanthic – This produced many nice Het axanthic. This year I will breed the hets further, hoping to get good SPT axa.
SPT Cappuccino Crested Gecko
SPT Sable Crested Gecko
SPT het Axanthic
Q8: What lineages make up the SPT crested geckos? Do you have any pictures of the first SPT?
Answer: In early 2017, I bought "Cloud9" (offspring of Atom) from UK breeder Kirk Hadland. Unfortunately, Cloud9 passed away suddenly around late 2018 to early 2019, not long after breeding. All current SPT descendants come from Cloud9’s offspring.
"Atom" 
Q9: What are the current prices of SPT crested geckos?
Answer: Basically, our selling price starts from 4500 USD and up, depending on size, quality, and sex.
Q10: Is there anything you would like to mention about SPT crested geckos?
Answer: SPT is a line that I am very proud of. They really have produced many unique and different crested geckos for me. I am truly very happy that everyone likes them so much. I am also happy about everyone’s participation, this is the greatest recognition for us. I also hope that in the future, SPT can become more widespread so that everyone can buy SPT.
Conclusion
SPT Crested Geckos are a testament to the possibilities of selective and line breeding crested geckos. It is important to breed with a vision and purpose in order to be able to stand out in a world full of crested gecko breeders. We hoped you enjoyed this interview and the pictures provided. We have recently acquired two (1.1) SPT crested geckos that will breed in the 2027 season. We will have pure SPTs, SPT outcrosses and SPT Lilly whites towards the end of the 2027 season.
If you would like to see more of the SPT crested geckos, check out Dony on Instagram @reptileaddictionhk