Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone. I am thinking about getting a silkback and just wanted to know if they need any special care different from a normal beardie? Also if they were bred with a normal beardie would any of the babies be silkies or leatherbacks or would they all be normal scaled?
Thanks,
John

I wouldn't bother with a silkback, they are one cross too far. Leatherbacks look better and function like a healthy animal. It bothers me to see silkbacks for sale. Keith

Just bought one several months back and it definetly is a severe mutation more than a morph. If you breed a silkie to a normal "scaled" beardie, YES, you will get leathers and Leathers with Very little & almost no spikes at all..... And a silkie to a leather will produce 66% silks and the rest will be leathers.

You may produce smoothies breeding it to a normal which is just a reduced scaled beardie too... Prodominatly you will produce leathers.

If you choose to proceed with purchasing a silkie is GET A MALE, the skin is sooo fragile that a female will get severly hurt during the mating process. And think of this way... Less wear and harm on your investment.
www.AtlantaBeardedDragons.com

Thanks guys for the help. One last question. If an italian leatherback is bred to a normal dragon what is the usual percentage of leatherback babies? Also would those babies be considered italian leatherbacks or just leatherbacks.

If you breed a silkie to a Normal Beardie, the majority of the ofspring will result in Leathers. Some leathers may have missing or reduced amount of sidespikes due to a more dominancy of the leather trait.

Now, Silkies or Silkbacks are reffered to as "Italian Silkbacks", thus being bred from 2 Co-Dominant "Italian" Leatherbacks together... and thats the only way to produce silkies.

It still will remain "Italian Leatherback" as far as phrases/terms go because it carried over the "Italian Leatherback" trait to allow it to have a smooth back. Depending on the scalage, there are additonal breeder's terms (micro-scaled). As far as percentages go... I would assume (just a guess) 30% Leathers, 30%Smoothies, 40% normals.
www.AtlantaBeardedDragons.com

I think you are mixing smoothies, and leathers when they should be seperated. American smoothies and Italian leatherbacks are two different lines. With a codom leather, you should produce 50/50 leathers/normals when bred to a normal scaled dragon(statistically).

If you breed a Silk to a "normal" dragon ALL of your babies would be leathers. A Silk is a super form of the leathers.
It's like breeding pastel ball pythons together. If you breed a pastel to a pastel you get a super pastel. Breed that to a normal, all pastel babies

"Now, Silkies or Silkbacks are reffered to as "Italian Silkbacks", thus being bred from 2 Co-Dominant "Italian" Leatherbacks together... and thats the only way to produce silkies."

You can still get Silks by breeding the two lines together. I've never heard of anyone ever calling them Italian Silks. Must be something new.