Todd Stockwell
I will readily defer to those more experienced than myself, but since no one else seems to be online at the moment, I will take a stab based on previous discussions on DBT genetics and say that dark colored DBTs are generally born dark and stay dark. Two dark parents will produce mostly dark offspring. “Crosses” between a dark and a light parent result in mixed offspring. And I’ll stop there, before messing up any further . . . I am noticing with my one macrospilota and several littoralis hatchlings that they actually seem to be getting more colors in their shells and more distinctive patterns as they grow. I would NOT say they are getting “darker” or “lighter” overall, but they do change appearance some as they grow. I think they are improving with age, but that is just my personal opinion. Many breeders are trying to maintain “pure” subspecies breeding groups and then are selecting for specific colors and patterns within that subspecies. But some breeders have produced some interesting and beautiful “crosses” between subspecies. Todd Julie wrote: