newbie to bearded dragons, some ?s

[crocsnhots]

Hi everyone :),
This is my first time posting in this forum, I have seen bearded dragons on the classifieds time and time again and although I thought they were absolutely adorable lizards I never did much research on them as I mostly keep snakes. I hear so many stories of what wonderful pets they make, I would like to get some in the future, but for now I want to be well informed on my possible future pet(s). :) So if you'll bare with me, I have some questions, some are pretty silly but I wanted to ask anyway. :rolleyes:

My main questions surround colouring, I read that unlike snakes, their colouring is not a definite thing (genetic wise). Some animals are nicer than others but you don't know til they are a little older and that the brightest coloured specimens are highly inbred and that I should avoid them as they usually have health problems. I read of corals, pastels, reds, oranges, golds, sandfires, tigers, hypos, yellows, snows, leucistics, bloods and more I'm sure I can't think of at the moment.
How many morphs are there?
Any link to sites on how to tell them apart?
Or does anyone have descriptions for the different morphs?
(Except for the white ones, or bright orange ones, they pretty much look alike to me lol)

It's an odd question but I've never seen a bearded dragon in person before, do they flick their tongue when investigating their environment like an iguana? :o

Another behavior question, I have plenty of experience with green iguanas, and their (in my experience) potential aggressive behavior, how are bearded dragons aggression wise?
Do they get grouchy in the breeding season like iguanas?
(I am accustomed to dealing with crocodilian aggression and snake aggression, but lizard aggression I have minimal experience with lol.)

Sorry for all the questions, hope to get some informative responses. :)

[Big Mike]

I'm not the most knowledgeable about beardies by a long shot, but I'll help if I can.

First off, they are great pets. I only kept snakes for a while but then I got a pair of beardies and they are tons of fun.

I don't know much about the "morphs" or "phases" of BDs but as far as I know, you are right. They grow into their color so it's hard to tell how they will eventually look, when they are young. The best way to tell is to see the parents. As far as inbreeding, I don't know. Good for colors...bad for health.

I don't see them flicking their tongue like snakes but they do "taste" their environment by licking.

As far as I know, they do not have aggressive behaviour problems on the same scale as iguanas do. I know that you should not keep two males together and even two females will fight over a male. Other than that, by most accounts, they are little softies. Especially if you handle them often.

They are smart and will hold a grudge if you piss them off (like iguanas, so I'm told) ;)

Definitely a recommended pet.

[crocsnhots]

Thank you very much for your information Big Mike. :) I would have responded sooner but I was hoping someone would speak up about their morphs.

[eyespy]

Big Mike is indeed right, they are called phases rather than morphs as there are many factors that control pigment and genetics is just one part. They have color-changing cells called iridophores similar to what chameleons have, but with less range of color. Those iridophores are influenced by diet, mood, temperature, presence or absence of UV light, and the health of the dragon.

There is a tendency towards color that is inherited from the parents but it's no strong predictor of what offspring will look like. Even in bloodlines that have been significantly linebreed you will get animals that appear to be normal phase. Some offspring are brightly colored at hatching but the colors fade as they grow. Others are born looking normal and develop beautiful coloration later in life.

[meow_mix450]

My dragon would lick me once, everytime i handly him, so then he knows its me:) They are loads of fun, not hard to take care of. I heard that when there older and have been handled a lot, they dont get very agerssive, But my dragon has never biten me or anything. hope that helps

Meow