Breeding??

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maan1123

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Hello there!! I'm a newbie about bearded dragons (I just got my first bearded dragon yesterday!) and I am really sorry if this is a stupid question, i'm just really curious about this :)

So, if I for example breed two normal dragons, will the hatchlings (or what the correct term is sorry) also all be normal? Or can two normal dragons hatch a leatherback for example? Or will they always lay normal hatchlings?

But if I breed a leatherback and a normal dragon, will they hatch both leatherbacks and normals?

Thanks in advance! (sorry for being so stupid)
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
Welcome!
Don't be so hard on yourself, it's not a stupid question :)

I haven't personally done any dragon breeding (it's already an over-flooded market) but there are many on this forum who have.
From what I've seen, like many species, it would depend on what is in the genes of the parents. Each dragon could be carrying certain genes that are not apparent in them that they are able to pass on to other generations, however with that I will back up and allow someone with more knowledge to cut in.
 

maan1123

Member
Original Poster
Thank you so much!! I have no idea what kind of genes he is sadly. I have to look into it as well! Thank you for taking your time :)
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
No problem! The dragon morph/breeding lingo can get very overwhelming for me, but basically there are how many different morphs (hypo, trans, leather back, dunner, etc) and het-morphs meaning the dragon does not display those morphs, but carries the genes of them and could pass them down.

I believe color is solely dependent on the parents, i.e two yellow citrus will make a yellow citrus, etc, but again, purely from what I've seen and no personal experience...
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, the previous poster is correct. As for leatherbacks, yes, one leatherback parent dragon bred to a non leather will produce leathers in every clutch [ batch ] of eggs that is laid.
 

Taterbug

BD.org Addict
Even simple heritable traits can be confusing, no such thing as a stupid question :) Most dragon morphs follow simple mendelian genetics - that would be a good start to learn more and there are charts and calculators to illustrate the modes of inheritance.

The been a while so I'm not very up to date on some dragons morphs but there are basically (simplified) two types of mutations : recessive and dominant. There are others too but dragons only have a handful of proven heritable mutations, check out ball pythons if you really want to be overwhelmed :) anyway each gene has two parts (called alleles) and babies get one part from mom and one from dad.

Recessive genes mean they only show (express) when its alleles are the same (homozygous). In dragons hypomelanism is recessive. If they have one copy they are "het" and there is no way to tell besides what genes the parents have.

Dominant genes show with only one allele is present (heterozygous), the other could be a recessive mutation or normal - you can't usually tell. There are different levels too (incomplete dominant, codominant and probably others) In dragons Leatherback is a incomplete dominant trait - only one parent needs a copy of it for babies have a chance to express the mutation. Incomplete dominate genes have different expression when they are homozygous and Silkbacks are dragons with two alleles for the leatherback gene.

Technically there is a chance (very tiny) that two normals could have babies with a new or existing mutation but it's very very very unlikely. This tiny chance is however how most color/scale mutations show up initially.
 

GnarlyDragons

New member
That is a great explanation of breeding genetics, Taterbug. And I'm very happy to see Leatherback referred to as incomplete dominance rather than co-dominance. I have a fairly average background in genetics which sparked my interest in breeding. It irks me that so many call it co-dominant. Similarly, I was misled when I did my research on the Dunner morph where the majority said it was a confirmed dominant morph. After breeding my Dunner with my Leatherback, I was most surprised to find normals in the mix. I have found very few sources referring to Dunner as a co-dominant trait, however I feel this too is incorrect and may actually be incomplete dominance. I'll be doing some more digging but is there any evidence to suggest that Dunner may also be an incomplete dominant morph like the Leatherback?
 
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