Let's talk about morphs

[SaintJimmy]

I love seeing different morphs of bearded dragons.

What's your favorite rare morph? Which morph do you think is the worst? Which "ugly" or "dull" morph do you think is misunderstood?

For me, my favorites would be anything regarding "blue" dragons, "black" dragons, pure "red" dragons, leatherback dragons, and silkback dragons.

I understand there are some cons to the silkback dragons, such as skin being ripped easily, difficulties during shedding, males injuring the females during mating, UVB burns, and heat burns.

Everyone loves to complain and say it's very cruel to have a silkback. I disagree. They are my favorite morph (second to leatherbacks). They are beautiful to me. I love the idea of a soft reptile! (They also remind me of the translucent chameleon morph)

I think it would be easy to accommodate a silkback without it suffering at all, using these steps

1) Use only smooth items in the enclosure (smooth basking logs, reptile hammocks, reptile carpet).
2) Buy products that will help ease the shed of the dragon's soft skin.
3) Bathe the dragon more often.
4) Get a 5.0 UVB instead of 10.0 and place it a bit higher than you normally would.
5) Use a lower wattage bulb for heating (instead of 70 or 60 watts, use 50) as to not burn the dragon, and to only have a 90-98 degree basking spot.
6) Be very gentle with it! Some people love to throw their dragons around, but it's not allowed with these guys.
7) Do not allow female silkbacks to mate, because you can still make silkbacks by breeding two leatherbacks or breeding a male silkback with a female leatherback. This reduces any chance of injury for a female.

What's your favorite morph guys? What are your opinions on morphs? What will be the next trending morph (and what do you think is the current trending morph)?

I'd love to chat about everything MORPHS!

 

[SaintJimmy]

So, no one wants to have a lengthy or intelligent discussion of morphs? Come on guys!

This site is for discussions too, not just "look at my beardie" & "What's wrong with my beardie".

 

[Tonja]

I don't know anything about morphs, hets, hypo or anything genetic. I think they are all very pretty creatures.
This is Emmett my newest beardie and I am hoping he will be yellow in coloration by the colors on his back although I know you cannot go by that in a baby. I got him on the 28th after my Geico passed away at just under 2 yrs old to an unknown illness.

This is Emily and she is almost 2 yrs old, was a chocolate and coral when I got her as a baby and now at almost 600 grams is a bright orange/red.

Geico was my first beardie, the one that passed on the 28th of Dec at almost 2 and was close to 700 grams. He was a very light tan with very little yellow and some orange at his ears.

All of them have red eyes, dark nails and are your normal run of the mill dragons but I love them like they are my kids. They are very well taken care of and spoiled beyond belief.

 

[toothle]

Toothless looks a lot like Emmett. Really don't know much about morphs. I hope Toothie will be a pretty orange. He has a hint of orange in his back colors when he gets all heated up. Beautiful dragons. Very sorry about your loss with Geico.

 

[Tonja]

Thank you Toothle...I miss my Geico. He passed at 11 am on the 28th . Emmett, my baby has yellowish tan along his back so I am hoping for a citrus yellow color since Emily is such a pretty red orange. Your baby is adorable in that picture.

 

[toothle]

Thank you Toothle...I miss my Geico. He passed at 11 am on the 28th . Emmett, my baby has yellowish tan along his back so I am hoping for a citrus yellow color since Emily is such a pretty red orange. Your baby is adorable in that picture.

Thank you Tonja. Guess we will have to wait and see what colors our babies will be.

 

[Tonja]

Yep we will have to wait and see. I thought Emily when she was a baby would be very dark with coral colored stripes boy was I wrong. She is the deeps red orange with burgundy on her ears and head. Colors I have never seen on a beardie. This is Emily as a baby

 

[toothle]

Hmm I wonder now. Toothless has some orange around his ears. This sounds Newbish but I thought maybe it was earwax. hehe man I feel dumb now.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Wow, you all have beautiful bearded dragons.

I think the baby pictures are especially cute!

What morph would a "normal grey" beardie be?

 

[toothle]

I really don't know about morphs, I think they are all pretty

 

[Tonja]

I know absolutely nothing about morphs or the genetics behind getting certain colors, patterns, breeding this dragon to that one to get this. I do know however a leatherback to a leatherback you get a silkie or a silkie to a leatherback produces a silkie. That's the extent of my knowledge on that lol. I know translucents have clear nails and black eyes I think that's right. I just know beardies are very gentle creatures and docile.

 

[Dash1514]

This is my beardie, Dash. Just got him yesterday and I love his current coloring but I am very intrigued/excited to see how he may change now that you've posted pictures of how much Emily changed over the years.

 

[Tonja]

He is adorable and looks like my Emmett except the yellow on Emmett is not as pronounced, his is lighter. Emily wont be 2 until August. She started out very dark, that picture was taken while in her bath as a baby. It wasn't till she was about 5 months old that her colors started coming into the oranges a bit. I have never seen the burgundy wine color she has on her ears and head when shes in sunshine outside...

 

[Dash1514]

Thanks, although I am slightly concerned about him right now. It is pretty cold here and tonight the temperatures are going to dip below -5F. I have a 125w Mercury Vapor bulb sitting on top of the tank (because i don't have a stand yet) and a heating pad underneath and the current temp on the basking side is hovering at about 90. Since he's still such a baby i'd really like the temp to be up around 115F. I'm wondering if i cover about 60% of the tank with a blanket to raise the temp if that is bad for him, any thoughts?

 

[Tonja]

I live in Colorado and last year we had temps of 20 below. I got some foam insulation from Home Depot and it was not expensive for a big sheet of it. I covered the window in the room my lizards were in and insulated 3 sides of their tanks. They did fine with a blanket covering them at night and by doing this I was able to keep their heat up on the basking area. I wouldn't use a heating pad at all in case it would malfunction or the temps in it fluctuate to high, Beardies cant feel heat from underneath and therefore may get burned. A blanket wont hurt them as long as they can get some air circulation. This weather is nuts right now. We are under snow one minute and it melts then warmer then snow again but I am very close to the rocky mountains on the front range so its expected here. Hope this helps.