Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been corresponding with a lady on a local herp forum about adopting her baby dragon. He is 11 months old, and was sold to her as a "vitticeps". She was later told he was a Rankins x Vitticeps ( i have no idea what any of these names mean...) She tells me he is 4.5" from snout to vent, and 9.5" inches in total. Isn't that oddly small for an 11 mo old Beardie??? He is apparently eating well, and the vet gave him a clean bill of health, or so i am told. What do you all think?

Here is a pic of him...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/84942285/84942332YdxggY

K!LOS

It's not odd if it was crossed with a Rankins. That's a beautiful dragon.
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TheClassyLizard

I did not think you could cross a rankin's and bearded dragon. Maybe that is a question that needs to be answered. If you can, then it is possible that is as big as it will get. A rankins is very small compared to a beardie.
Reed's Reptiles

many people object to it as it mixing two breeds of dragons and he does have the look of a rankin, but larger, so I would say she is correct and that he is what is being called a vittikin.

There are some real questions that the rankins (true name is Henrylawsonii)in the US are this species at all, or possibly another never named ninth species as the ones in the US came from a different area than what henrylawsonii were identified in, described and named for, which is Queensland. Those in the US are believed to come from the northwest area of Australia which herpetologist have not studied in Australia or the species that is here in the US.

You can feel safe about adopting the dragon, if you don't mind it being small. I've known Deb from Reptilerascals for years. She's very honest and very caring when it comes to her reptiles..
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TheClassyLizard

I don't know why on Gods earth we would cross a rankins to a vitticeps but yes, it can and does happen. I would think if checked over by a vet and given a clean bill of health he would make a nice pet. If you have plans to breed in the future, I would not use him for that. With the increasing diminish in size to begin with among vitticeps, using him for breeding purposes would just make it worse down the line. As people don't understand what they are getting. They fall in love with this species then go out and buy a normal (Vitticeps) dragon to breed with it and sell them as vitticeps or (normal) to others but they are still carrying the genes for size from the rankins witch will show in some babies down the line.
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Mystical Dragons