Hey Any Advice?

[Kappa]

Hey,

Im relatively new to owning bearded dragons but have worked with them for over a year now (animal store reptile department). I bought a Blood (Male) and Snow (Female) about 3 weeks ago. They are doing great eating like crazy and growing fast. Colors are also looking brighter in the male. In about 3 weeks im goin to a reptile expo and want to purchase 2 more (1:1) beardies and plan on breeding some day. Any ideas / advice what colours / morphs i should try to get to go nicely with the 2 i already have?

[eyespy]

That's kind of a tough one, because beardie colors don't breed as true as snakes and other reptiles do. A lot of folks call them phases rather than morphs since more than just genetics determines the color of a beardie.

My rule of thumb is never to breed like to like, for example I don't breed Snows together. I bred my hypo x hypo/snow female to a normal x red male to bring some hardiness into the bloodline. There's already enough inbreeding in the beardie population as a whole, so I take parents from very different bloodlines so that the hatchlings have a better chance of doing well.

[Kappa]

Definately, ill keep my bloodlines as fresh as possible. I was thinking of breeding my blood to an orange phase and a hypomelanistic to my snow.

[ICULIZARD]

Personally I love Sandfire Red/Redflame's. When crossed with snows you can make really pretty Salmon's....but they also cross well with any other phases.

Also.....an Orange Phase Dragon is always a great addition to breeding stock.

:)

[ICULIZARD]

I have to say I disagree with you here eyespy.....as long as you are careful with your breeding stock you can breed pure Snows or Bloods etc. (If you make sure that they are from completely different lines)

So....if you want to breed pure Snows then make sure that the breeder you are buying them from is not crossing his lines, make sure that the breeder has the all the important information on their breeders including the breeders parents, etc.....

Either way, you will be very happy with the results. Pure Dragon phases are great, as are crosses.

Good luck!

ICULIZARD

[eyespy]

I've seen lots of dragons from pure bloodlines produce normal-phased dragons, snows and bloods no exception. Many of them end up being sold by the large petchains when they were produced by the big breeders. I know a lot of folks get a very pleasant surprise when they breed "normal" phased dragons and end up with Blood-like clutches. I also know a lot of big name breeders that have moved away from breeding Snows because of so many darker than expected offspring.

[ICULIZARD]

yes.....but those lesser-coloured babies can throw colour to their babies. Obviously the colours in any given clutch are going to differ....

My only point, which was missed was that you can breed healthy purebreds as long as you make sure they are from different lines. Large scale breeders especially should keep pure strain breeders in their collection......this gives the breeder more choices. If you keep on purely breeding cross after cross together.....the colour begin to fade out of your collection.

As for big breeders no longer breeding snows....All the best breeders are still breeding pure snows. Keep snows in your collection and you can always breed great snows and pastels.

ICULIZARD

[Dragon_Slave]

I personally think that if you want to breed ''pure'' dragons you need to buy from two different breeders. Ex: If they are babies and unsexable... buy a couple snows from one breeder and then a couple more from another breeder. As they mature and you are able to sex them, pair one snow with another snow from the OTHER clutch. Let me know if this doesn't make sense. But then you'd be sure to have dragons from different parents.