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Ok, a relatively basic question for any beardie guru, I'm sure - but bear with me since I'm relatively new to this... My main point of curiosity is regarding cross-breeding color morphs... That is, if I were to breed a male leucistic bearded dragon with any high-end color phase like a sandfire, what would I get? I understand the leucistic gene would go recessive to the offspring with no visible manifestations but what would happen regarding the color of the other parent? Would the sandfire coloration show through on all, or some, of the offspring while the leucistic gene laid dormant?

In short, I guess my question is: would you end up with het offspring that look normal due to an offsetting of color phases or would you end up with a double-whammy - say, a sandfire bearded dragon that is het for leucistic? Thanks!!

The color trait from the sandfire would show through on the babies. The leucistic trait would go recessive. So yes you would get dragons with color that were het for leucistic. The concern I would have there is that leusistics are not true leucistics. They have been more selectively bred for lack of color. By breeding animals of color back into them you would possibly be diluting the "lack of color" appearance. Most people are breeding leucistics to snows or normals because of their lack of color appearance.
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Merci... Yeah, I understand the concern. It was really more of a hypothetical to get a better grasp on the genetic interplay but I appreciate it!!

The problem is, that its not just one set of genes that's determining the color for bearded dragons. There are several genes and even as important, husbandry and environment also play a very sizable role in determining color for BDs. A good example to think about this is CC (Carbon Copy, the cloned cat). Though CC was cloned, the cat did not have the same stripe pattern as its "parent." This is because the expression of a cats furr pattern is not only determined by its genes but also by its environment (what climate it was raised in, diet, etc). The same holds true for BD dragons. The incubation process, the babies diets, and other factors are all going to alter the BDs color and general appearance.

Color changes with many factors and it changes over time as well. I agree that the color a BD SHOWS is based on many outside factors, but as far as I know, their base color is genetic. It can be enhanced with food and husbandry but not changed.
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

I'm assuming that your question is in regard to my previous post. My color theory is based on basic science (its obvious from observation that BDs colors are not determined by a single gene since they do not follow the chi square formula). As far as the changes in color, as you stated the color can change over the lifetime of the dragon. It has been my experience that light source (what type of bulb versus daylight, diet, and many other factors) will help determine the color of a dragon. It is also important to note, that like most reptiles they can change from light to dark quite readily based on their mood and heat requirements (i.e turn dark when they want to absorb more heat).

As we've discussed before, the phenotype of dragons can vary wildly within a single dragon clutch. The genotype will not be as varied. When people ask about the color of dragons, they tend to be thinking of the phenotype (what the dragon looks like) and not what genes the dragon carries (genotype).

test
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

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