Leatherback bearded dragons

[Angelsfan691]

I would really like to know from someone expirenced with breeding leatherbacks what the truth is i bought a male citrus tiger italian leather to breed to my orange red tiger normals but main concern is wanting some leather babies from this and i keep hearing different things about there being 2 different leatherback lines the italian and american and both being co dominant but some say american is recessive so i guess my question is how would i know forsure if my leatherback is italian or not and the breeder was telling the truth about it when i bought him please help!!

 

[foley5]

Do you have his papers with his bloodlines?

 

[Angelsfan691]

No papers just was told he was an italian leatherback and he does look like a leatherback just want to know josh from phantom dragons says both italian and american leathers are co dominant?

 

[Fuzzyviper]

American leatherback is just another name for the co-dominant leatherback gene, which is from the Italian line. I don't know why people are calling them that since it's the same gene. Maybe some kind of weird patriotism. Anyway, the truly American one is the American smoothback or "American smoothie," which is the recessive one. American smoothies were discovered/started here and both parents must have the gene to produce babies with the smooth back. If he is calling them Italian leatherbacks, I would assume they are the co-dominant by the name. Once they start tagging it with American, it would be more confusing. The only way to tell for sure would be to breed them and see how many come out with the smoother scales. The co-dominant should come out with 50% leatherback babies.