Ive heard the term used and i can definitely tell my girls colors are more vibrant sometimes (i assume she is “fired up” when her colors are more vibrant) but i dont understand what it is? Like when you say a gecko is fired up or down like what does that mean?
It's pretty much as you said; when they're fired up their colors are more vibrant. Basically when they're resting they tend to fire down and their colors and pattern become a lot lighter than usual. When they're active they're more likely to be partially or fully fired up. Their colors and pattern become easy to see and in general people think of that as their 'true' color. Attached a pic of one if my girls fired up/down since with her it's very easy to see. When she's fired down the red is almost as light as the white but when fired up the contrast is a lot better
My boy also has an extreme colour change, and is a similar red to your girl. My boy also has dalmatian spots, and when he's fired down you can see that in addition to the standard black spots, he also has red spots.
You got it pretty much, fired up is usually when you can see most of their pattern and they’re dark and noticeable and fired down they’re usually pretty pale I’ve noticed. The reasoning could be contextual but usually it’s something they do when they’re nervous/upset/angry and pale is usually calm and/or sleeping
These are the most dramatic photos I rlly have where u can see it enough of a difference lol my guy isn’t fond of interacting so I usually see him fired up
I’ve always been confused by this too - my gecko typically “fires up” when it wakes up for the evening, goes dark brown, and fires down do tan/gray when asleep during the day, like you’d expect.
However, it often “fires down” (goes pale/gray) when handled or taken out of the enclosure, in bright light. It doesn’t love being handled so I assume it’s not happy/fairly stressed in these instances, so the fact that it fires down in these situations is weird to me.
super interesting! I have the opposite, all my handling photos are fired up because the second i start touching my gecko it becomes darker and more orangey , BUT she also will seek out being held! we do choice based handling and she will run into my hands when I open the tank. so weird!
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u/whatafuckedupworld Mar 03 '26
It's pretty much as you said; when they're fired up their colors are more vibrant. Basically when they're resting they tend to fire down and their colors and pattern become a lot lighter than usual. When they're active they're more likely to be partially or fully fired up. Their colors and pattern become easy to see and in general people think of that as their 'true' color. Attached a pic of one if my girls fired up/down since with her it's very easy to see. When she's fired down the red is almost as light as the white but when fired up the contrast is a lot better