Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thought I would spark up a discussion about something I have noticed. It seems the trend in breeding dragons is to go for a rich, full body colored baby. I've noticed many of the top breeders offer absolutely gorgeous babies, but they tend to have a "faded" look as they get older. Although this conclusion is admittedly only based on the few dragons I have raised as well as looking at pictures, I have yet to see any evidence otherwise. Dragons seem to be getting lighter and lighter because hypo crosses show great color early on, but, as they grow end up with a faded, "dusty" look. What are everyone's experiences in raising "screamer" babies? Personally, I feel the parents give the best idea about what the dragons will eventually look like, rather than the babies color. What does everyone else think?

The problem is, psychologically it feels great to get such a great looking dragon right away. I would have a hard time forking over $200 for a dragon that would (hopefully) eventually get bright but looked drab when I bought him. Maybe it is more of a trend in Internet sales as the buyer can't be sure he is getting the dragon he ordered and unscrupulous sellers could falsely advertise their dragons. Any thoughts?

Peter

getting a high colored baby i would say your chances are probably better of having a high colored adult, but color is never a guarantee thats for certian, some dragons colors do seem to "fade" as they grow into adulthood and some drab babies grow into high colored adults. The parents are probably a good indicator of what the adult color will be like but then in some cases the baby grows to be something totally different then what the parents are like. Certianly there is no black and white here, a lot of grey it seems, i guess if someone wants a guarantee on color,they would have to buy an adult, buying a baby it seems you always are taking a chance, a much smaller chance buying a baby with high colored parents but still ya just never know.........i think that as well environment has a very very large part to play in what the outcome is, husbandry etc in my opinion will have an effect of course... cant have good color without good health...but that just goes without saying i would imagine.. ok.. i ramble =) hopefully others have an opinion on this.... [im certian they will =) ]

I agree with Reiko......you never know what you are going to end up with.....better genetics, high colored parents do lend toward a favorable outcome.....but I too, have bought several highcolored red babies who faded out with time into adulthood. But on the other hand, I've never had that happen to yellows(at least yet), and less to oranges than to reds. So, it may have something to do with the red color, as orange is a combo.....who knows though....it would be interesting to do a study.

Well if you are buying any type of a hypo cross, generally you are getting into dragons that are going to be a bit lighter, or faded. Part of the reason crossing them into some other dragons, would be to lighten certain colors, and possibly keeping others. No matter what you buy, its a gamble, but as reiko said, your best chances are normally with dragons that show color as babies. Just look at this pic of a hypo cross. Dad was full body reddish/orange, he was a redflame sandfire, and mom was a full body light orange/tan kind of color, she was a hypo orange. Ideally this dragon is a great example of what can happen with a hypo cross, she never is dark, and her red/orange color is prominant down her back with some light orange/tan/peach full body color. She was not really a screamer, but my girlfriend liked her, so I had to keep her, lol. No matter what........its a chance with color.

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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

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~David - KDRKreatures
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TheClassyLizard

Thanks, thanks thanks...........but she isnt going anywhere right now, lol. As a baby she wasnt a real screamer but I think she has been developing into a very nice dragon. chris

I guess part of the fun of dragons is you never know what you are going to get. I'll have to do a little more research in order to come up with a conclusion about my speculations.

On another note, I have a young dragon named Pyro that I have no idea how he will turn out. He has basically every color on him: yellow, orange, red, white, purple, brown, gold...the contrast of colors is very striking (more in person than in a picture) Any breeders have an idea of how he will turn out? (not sure exactly what the parents looked like) I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Here he is:

but Carrick grew into the beautiful dragon he is today.

but Carrick grew into the beautiful dragon he is today.

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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

I'm actually finding it less with the hypo crosses and more with the 'reds'. Screaming red babies that turn brown and dull as adults.
It is always a bit of a gamble!
dana

Not that I've ever seen an ugly beardie, lol. But if the baby has high color, even if it fades some as an adult it will always be "above average". Way too many normal/tan babies advertised as "sandfires" that will color up later, end up never coloring up and are average looking tan or gray adults. As to the adults being a good indicator, I would add a caveat. I have two spectacular reds that give fairly modest looking babies, not bad but not great. If you bought them based on the parents you'd pay plenty. I have another little hypo salmon female that looks pretty plain, she has a few pink highlights and an orange beard. Match her to the right male (an above average red hypo) and the babies are screamers and stay that way into adulthood. I also have a few "normal" pairs that I breed for pet shop wholesales. A few of them throw out beautiful yellows (25% of the clutch) that I end up keeping for retail sales.

Bottom line...I have great parents that give "dull" babies and "dull" parents that give great babies and everything in between. On a whole, good color parents will give good color babies, but there will always be exceptions. My advice is if you want good color buy a three or four month old (or older) dragon. At that point they should be fairly similar to their adult looks. Costs more...but guaranteed results. Other than that do what I do, buy 10 promising (re:costly) hatchlings, raise them until they are 6 months old, keep one or two and sell the rest ; )

Regards,
John