Normal and Dark color beardies?

[ford0180]

Hello all,

I cannot find anyone who breeds what I am looking for (a Normal x Normal bred bearded dragon with dark pigment and 'contrasty' coloration).
I've seen pictures of beautiful dark and tiger dragons with normal coloration and also some interesting blue, purple, and even faint green morphs that looked great.

Every breeder I come across does only the opposite of what I'm looking for: lemon, sandfire, red, orange, hypo, snow, white, translucent, etc... I prefer a beardie that has a more natural and/or dark coloration.

Does anyone know of a breeder that goes for dark coloration?

Thanks for the help!

Dan

 

[LaPrice]

we found a darker phase at a petsmart, but i dont reccomend there unless you know that they are well taken care of. Try respectible pet stores, we found our adult male at one (well it used to be but i think they fell on hard times and decided because he was aggressive that he wasnt going to get food, there fish looked good though) he was probably someones pet before college, and is a normal brownish grey color

 

[ford0180]

I saw some natural colored and healthy-looking babies at PetCo today. Does anyone know where PetCo gets their beardies, or if they are a legitimate place to get beardies?

 

[LaPrice]

from what i've observed at least with petsmart, they get them from breeders close to puppymill standards. I'm not sure if its true but its obvious the breeders only want money in these cases, i do know our petsmart sends them back or keeps them in the back untill there big enough to sell (which is 6 inchs i think)

Petco, usually has better animals than petsmart. This is my observation tho, more opnions guys?

 

[ford0180]

Thank you for the replies!

Petco had some nice normal beardies, though they were not very dark.

As far as I know, they looked energetic, alert, happy, and healthy; and must have been around 6+ inches long . However, I know that it is PetCo corporate policy to bed them on sand (calcium, I believe?). The workers seemed like they meant well, but did not know anything about the giant-horned mountain lizards or the neon tree dragons they had.

I'm wondering if I could buy one RIGHT when it gets to PetCo, and before it gets impacted. ...Or would they be unhealthy from the get-go?

 

[cmclay]

I got my beardie at petsmart, sadly. As long as you get them right when they get there you should be OK most of the time. I got him out quickly, he's healthy but missing a toe :/
My advice on getting the color you want, check around at pet stores, you will probably come across the type of beardie you want.
And if you go to petsmart or petco check the beardie very carefully, look for any missing toes, lumps, etc. They don't seem to take very good care of the beardies there

 

[LaPrice]

yea, ask when they get new shipments in and they should tell you. But the good ones keep them in the back before placing them up front, so they can adjust. I've seen babies on sand and repticarpet at both petco and petsmart, same with leopard geckos too.

If the baby your looking at is alert, plump-the good way and is at least 6 inchs then it should be ok. If you see some that look lethargic you can ask that they see medical attention, usually they'll do it after some threatening. I know petsmart has a 14 day garentee where if it gets sick they'll replace it for you, which is sad but they do treat the baby for whatever is wrong with it