Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I see all the color morphs, hypo, translucent, and even the basic yellows and reds pushing away from melanin. Everyone wants the the bright colors. Has anyone pushed for dark colors? Or ,as posted before I believe, a black dragon? Im planning on gettin a few more dragons and wonder if it would be a interesting experience. Not necessarily for money just to see what happens.

it would be nice to see a hypermelamine dragon...but you probably have to start with normal phase dragons and look for those who are darker than normal. Not as many people in the reptile industry as a whole, is interested in a dark brown/black animal. Yet a 'black/white' type animal seems popular in other reptiles, where there is a lack of both red and brown pigments, or lack of yellow as well....giving a more black and white appearance..or the much desired leucistic animal, one that is all white.

Certainly if you have the time, space and money, you can definitely go for creating a dragon which lacks the reds, yellows and oranges or has a high level of melamine present..to give a very dark or 'black' dragon. They may look quite stunning, and a market could be had...right now the translucents and reduced to no scale varieties seem to be popular (I do see them in Canada now, saw some advertised on a Canadian reptile site..and the hypos have been available too for a few years). No reduced scales yet...but I am sure they will come eventually. Not that I plan to pick up any, just no room..and I am happy with my single bearded dragon).
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PHLdyPayne

Currently I only have one dragon. He's a pretty light normal, and like I said I'm going to be adding to it. I'm kind of limited on money so I was looking at options. Get one MAYBE two nice colored dragons. Or get two or three very dark normals if I can find them. I think I might go with the normals. I could bring in more dragons later to increase the gene pool.
I'm sure it would be a long and involved process.

normal dragons are probably pretty hard to find these days..really only see them sold in pet stores for way too much. For a normal dragon baby $50 should be the maximum paid for it. I paid not much more for a colorful dragon ($80 it was I think.) but it is normal for reptiles to have a higher general price up here in Canada than you can get in the states. Normal dragons may go as low as $10 if you look hard enough.

But, the cost of keeping dragons is not in the individual price of the dragon but its setup. Building your own cages does drastically reduce the cost, but sometimes you can get nice used enclosures for the same price or less. Just have to shop around.
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PHLdyPayne