Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two dragons that I have had as pets for a while, but I am curious as to their morph. It seems easier tot ell with leopard geckos lol. The male (top) is usually a little oranger on his back, but it didn't come though on the picture. Anyway, if you know what either of these two are, please let me know! Thanks,

Brian

Beardies come in all different colors and patterns. Normals are browns and dark earth tones, some light patches of white or off white. Some breeders give names to colors and patterns as a marketing tool. A red or orange Beardie may be called a Blood or my line, a Florida Orange. Colors include Snow/Grey, Red/Orange, Translucent, Albino, Citrus, Green, Yellow/Gold and various combinations.

Additionally, just because a Beardie is a certain color, does not make him a particular morph. If two orange Beardies have a yellow offspring, even though the color is yellow, he is of orange lineage and will probably throw more orange babies than yellow. The yellow is a fluke. This is why people who breed for color charge more. They are selling animals that genetically carry more of a particular color giving a better chance that offspring will grow up that way too.

for more answers to common questions go to

Link

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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Thanks for all the info!

Brian Skibinski

Bennett,

Usually I agree with almost everything you post, but I have to disagree on your definition for color morphs. When people ask what type of morph is my dragon, they're asking what phenotype it is(what it looks like, color wise in this case). What you defined is the dragon's genotype (its genetics, could be the same as phenotype, but could be different). Anyway, I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, but this difference in definitions is what causes lots of problems with dragon owner satisfaction(people claiming they were sold a dragon as one morph and it then not displaying those same colors). As a general rule, dragon owners don't care what genotype a dragon is, they care about the phenotype. The only reason they should really care about the genotype is if they plan on breeding.

you could not be more right. yes that is grounds for a lot of arguments. As you said most people just want to know what their BD is by looks alone. For that matter though, you look at it and call it red, green, blue... whatever color it is. Calling a BD a Sandfire because of color has caused the term Sandfire to be like Kleenex and tissue. Yea, kleenex is a tissue but not all tissue is made by kleenex. Unless you start a pedegree system like the AKC has for dogs, you are going no place fast. Color alone is not a morph. If you have a red/orange BD (another point of contention), is it a Blood (Dragons Den), an Ember (Saphire Dragons), A Red Flame from Dachiu, a Florida Orange from me... without a pedegree who is to say? (not to mention new breeders making up new names every day.)

My impression is that a lot of people want a color morph. Not a lot of people are willing to shell out $100-$300 for that option. So they buy a BD, probably a normal or something that has color somewhere in the genetic background and when that color comes out with a splash of red by the ears or a yellow beard... they think they got something more than what they paid for. It must be a special BD cause it has color. So they are looking for validation.

This is not the case every time, maybe not even most of the time but it does happen and in my experience more often than not. This is just my opinion and I am glad you posted your opinion cause I agree completely. Unfortunately, when folks ask "what morph is this?" there really is no answer for them other than the one I gave with an explanation of genotype and phenotype. I would like to include what you said to help clarify things, as part of the explaination so I guess I will be revising my answer.

Thanks
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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com