Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As a new breeder of bearded dragons can anyone tell me if the color morphs available today are genetically linked. Therefore, does simple Mendelian Genetics apply? For example if I were to take a normal and cross it with any of the color morphs would I get hetero's? Likewise if I take two hetero's do I get the 1:2:1 ratio?

Not for nothin, but if you have kept and raised dragons before attempting to be a "new breeder" this would be pretty general knowledge. I would advise anyone to try them out and raise them before breeding. Raise a pair or trio from babies up to adults, and then try breeding. Im not knocking you, just advising to take steps towards breeding. Read, talk to people, raise your babies, then decide if you want to attempt breeding......and to answer your question.....with the majority of dragons out there nothing really breeds true, or there are not many actual morphs. There are some traits such as clear nails, or the marketed leucistics(questionable here for them) that you can breed for. All of the colors such as red, orange, yellow, and whatever else you see are all really luck of the draw. Your chances of getting certain color babies are normally increased if each of the parents either exhibit those colors or were decendants of those color lines. Chris

as a matter of curiosity, and if you dont mind answering, roughly what percentage of your babies have high colors that would be similar to tha parents? How often do you have dull babies that perk up and surprise you with vibrant color and how often do the pretty ones turn into duds?
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com