Smaller than average scales?

Hello this is my first time posting on this forum even though I have read it for a while now. Below are two pictures of my beardie, Tank. I was wondering why the scales on his, (his is a general term, i am not sure about "its" gender right now) back don't look like his mothers, (who is a pet of a friend of a friend, who received her only to find out she was about to lay a bunch of eggs). He seems to act normal and eats his roaches and his greens but the scales on his back don't match the ones on his head. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Hi, welcome to the forum, and please don't ever hesitate to ask any questions you may have!

Your beardie appears to be a "Leatherback" bearded dragon, which means they actually have no scales on their backs, legs, or tails, only on their heads. So his mother was most likely a "Normal" bearded dragon, the most common skin/scale type of beardie, which are covered with scales all over....So somewhere in his lineage is a Leatherback, probably his father. It's completely normal, doesn't require any different care at all, and is usually considered a desireble trait, as leatherbacks typically cost more than normal scaled beardies.

Yes, he's a beautiful leatherback and as Ellen mentioned his mom would be a normal scale while his dad was a leatherback. BTW, leatherbacks have full body scales, it's just smaller scales but they cover the entire body. It's a silkback that has no scales, just skin from head to tail. Here's a pic of a silkie.


https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29976/full

And if you want someone to sex it for you, just post a pic with the tail arched high in the air , like an alert dog.

AHBD thank you, I honestly didn't know that about leatherbacks, I actually thought silkies were completely scaleless but with a different skin type. I had no idea that leatherbacks actually had "proper" scales at all, I always assumed they were just a different skin texture.

I learned something new today! Thank you!

You're welcome. And yes, the scales are very fine + close together, some leathers have very little or no actual side spikes while others do. But a silkie is just smooth skin, like a hairless rat.

Yeah, my 3 month old leatherback has very few side spikes, he's pretty "bald", lol. And I actually assisted on a tail amputation on a silkie (he was a huge male) and honestly I thought he was very pretty, but it was just odd to me, lol. I don't know how else to put it, but touching him was very much like touching a hairless guinea pig....odd.

?

Wow that's interesting stuff. I knew that there was a morph called leather back, but I assumed that because his mother was a normal that he would be a normal also. I was wondering with the smaller scales if the leather back morph was more prone to skin or scale infection or other problems. I lifted up his tail today and saw something that wasn't noticeable before, there were two distinct bumps by the vent, which unless i read everything wrong, which means tank is indeed a male. I was going to post a picture for confirmation but he wont hold still. He looks a lot like this one.
I was also wondering if there was a way for me to tell if he was drinking water on his own, because I have never seen him show any interest in his water bowl without me putting him in it.

Thanks for all the information!

Yes, he's a male. And no, leatherbacks are produced when one parent dragon is a l.b., but only a cetain percentage of the offspring are l.b.'s, the rest are normal scaled.

A silkback is always produced by breeding 2 leathers, [ there will be silks, leathers + normal scaled in each clutch ] and they are the ones that may be prone to skin problems because they don't have protective scales. Breeding 2 leatherbacks should be discouraged since silkies are prone to certain issues, although they can be raised successfully.

Oh my gosh! Such a pretty kottle leatherback

He looks a lot like my 3 month old Dee Dee Ramone... Except Dee Dee is getting a beer gut already...?

Wow. That big guy is only 3 months? Tank is about 6 months old and is much smaller than him, he eats between 15-30 Dubai roaches a day along with a variety of home grown vegetables and herbs, (He loves basil), could his size be due to dehydration because he won't drink his water on his own?

Your leatherback is gorgeous. I love their looks--such pretty creatures, and a joy to touch. I may see if I can find one when I'm at the Portland (Oregon) reptile expo this coming Saturday.

The silkies remind me of scaleless snakes--soft as silk, with the colors far more vibrant because they aren't muted by scales. I don't know if scaleless snakes are prone to skin problems like silkies, because I've never owned one, but I would suspect that they are.

Congratulations on your beautiful dragon. I am somewhat envious :mrgreen: .

IrishEyesMrsZ":2i4wbvfj said:

Your leatherback is gorgeous. I love their looks--such pretty creatures, and a joy to touch. I may see if I can find one when I'm at the Portland (Oregon) reptile expo this coming Saturday.

The silkies remind me of scaleless snakes--soft as silk, with the colors far more vibrant because they aren't muted by scales. I don't know if scaleless snakes are prone to skin problems like silkies, because I've never owned one, but I would suspect that they are.

Congratulations on your beautiful dragon. I am somewhat envious :mrgreen: .

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BTW, yes, I did find a pretty "classic"-colored Leatherback at the expo, and brought it home. Supposedly 7 1/2 months old, and as curious a little guy or gal as you could ever hope for. We named it "Latigo", since that's a kind of leather (hubby's idea), and I'm absolutely in love with it!

You'll have to start a thread for Latigo [ cool name ] so he can tell us al about his experiences.

AHBD":1mm6cbxe said:

You'll have to start a thread for Latigo [ cool name ] so he can tell us al about his experiences.

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Good idea. I might just do that .