Why did charles change colours as he grew up?

[NurseKrista1014]

Hey, I was wondering if all dragons change colours as they get older. I have had my bearded dragon charles since he was a month old and his colour/patterning was as bellow:

Now, this is Charles at 9 months- Notice the huge change in colour

If anyone knows if this is a typical bearded dragon thing let me know what you think about it, etc.
THANKS soo much

 

[Mistyck]

It's normal, IMO. I have seen some of the most bland beardies turn out to be stunners when they're grown up. Iccarus got some color to him, but not like some others that I've seen.

Iccarus at 6weeks (kind of bland):

Iccarus now (he has more orange to him):

 

[NurseKrista1014]

oh Ok thanks soo much. It never concerned me before but I was going through the pics of when he was 1 month old and I was like wow, hes soo dark and you can see patterning. Now he has like no pattern and a very light colouring which look like a pastel colour. I do know that his dad was a lavander german giant x sandfire and his mom was a citrus.

 

[TASTIGER]

heres a dramatic change
1 Month

1 Year

 

[NurseKrista1014]

Ohh my, that is dramatic ! So basically it doesn't really matter what pattern a hatchling has because they will look different later? Or is it just some cases where they change like that? n

 

[TASTIGER]

they keep their basic pattern but their colors can change dramaticly

 

[Fredsdad]

I hope Fred gets some color...he's just grey.

 

[DragonMorphs]

dragons tend to get there best colours when they reach around 9-12 months old, i have seen dark looking babys turn out bright red,

i saw this little guy when he was a baby and thouhgt he had potential

 

[lauraj1055]

My beardie did just the opposite.. He had tons of color as a baby, but now is just a 'normal' color at 10 months hold..

Phred at 5 months:

Phred at 10 months:

 

[Sierra1167]

It's interesting how it can go one way or the other. Mine both started out dark gray...very much like the ones you see at Petsmart. They are only 2.5 months old and they are pretty orange. Hoping they will stay like they are or even more vivid.

Here they are at 2 weeks old. (right before I separated them)

And here they are last week

 

[NurseKrista1014]

yeah Charles changes everyday, like in the picture above he looks more light and pastelish but today he looks yellow so like his mom who was a citrus.

 

[chickcasa]

Yep pretty typical. It always slightly disappoints me how much of their pattern gets less distinct as they get older. I did at one point have an adult, normal in color, that had a pattern that popped as much as a babies does. I would love to find another one like that!

~Katy