This is yet another morph question. I got Norbert from a pet shop specializing in reptiles. He has brown irises and nails that are white with a little black strip in them that I assume is the quick (did I spell that right?). He is a leatherback but has super interesting bars and I was wondering what else you would "classify" him as. He scrambling around right now trying to run onto my keyboard. Here is a link to a picture. http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah207/ParkerandMe/Nor_zps6dcc4d2e.jpg
He has a really cool bright scarlet by his ears too, what is that? And also, whenever he is out of his cage (and sometimes in it) he is licking stuff. What is he doing? He's not hungry because he has been on a hunger strike since I've brought him home on Monday. Thanks!
Claire
There aren't really any morphs for patterns or colors so he is simply a leatherback - he is very handsome though.
The red behind his ears may be normal coloring or mood colors. They can get red or orange color there from stress or excitement. You may notice that the color comes and goes similar to stress marks or his other colors.
Licking is how many reptiles sense their environment, he is expiring what everything is He is doing the same thing a snake does when it flicks it's tongue - collecting samples from the environment to deposit on a special organ in the roof of the mouth. The Jacobson's organ gives them an extra sense with which they can detect chemicals other than smells. If he seams to just lick the air he is gathering samples, if he licks an object and touches it with his tongue he he is also tasting it with his tastebuds.
And don't be startled when he starts doing it to you. Mine didn't lick me until the 2nd week I had him, and it startled me, which scared him . So just try not to be startled by it when he does it, which he eventually will when he figures out your not going to eat him haha.