Stargazer is a gene that causes the animal to appear to be star gazing. Stargazing is a deviation in the bodys balance, as a result of which the animals makes uncontrolled movements. It is made worse in stressful situations. They move quite normally on a flat surface, but if they raise their heads above the surface or try to follow movement quickly they have very uncontrolled movements. The animals have great difficulty if they are laid on their back, it takes them some time to realise they are upside down before attempting to correct themselves. Also they can take several attempts to seize their prey.
In spite of this Stargazing is not contagious nor is it deadly for the animals. It is, however, a genetic failure that you do not want in your collection. It is probably a neurological failure that ensures that the animal has difficulty controlling its body.
Stargazing (also known as 'SG') has been proved to be a simple recessive trait thanks to Chuck and Connie of cccorns.com. They are already a couple of years into testing with their collection for Stargazer.
Many people think that Stargazer is only present in Sunkissed morphs, however the gene can be present in any morph. This makes it even more important to treat all Sunkissed lines very carefully and to test the Sunkissed morphs so that no more Amels, Snows etc come on the market from Sunkissed breeding or soon EVERYTHING could potentially carry Stargazer.
Stargazer was first discovered in the year 2000 in America. The breeder claims that more than 50% of their Sunkissed carried Stargazer. A lot of the animals had been sold to trade before the problem was realised including the more common morphs sold as by-products to bigger projects. Unfortunately many Sunkisseds have been exported from the USA which therefore could be potential Stargazer carriers.
For more information on stargazing see the Stargazers section on Ians Vivarium