Bearded Dragon Terms

[ClementeDragons]

I am posting this up because when I first got started with bearded dragons I did not know what what allot of the terms ment.

I will start with the word HETEROZYGOUS(often Het for short)
Say two red bearded dragons have a clutch of all red offspring but one of them is the normal gray color. The one with the gray color is a Het for red and when bred it carries the red gene and is capable of producing red offspring.


The second term is HYPOMELANISTIC (often called Hypo for short) this term is used allot with bearded dragons. This term means lacking the black pigment in there skin. Go to www.dachiu.com/index.html Were they have what I think to be the best looking hypos out there Look at this picture (the one on the top is the hypo)


Brumation: It is like a semi hibernation where the dragons slow down and dont eat as much.

Clutch: A group of eggs that is laid at the same time by the same female.

Gravid: This is when females are carrying Fertile eggs

Vent: The cloaca of an animal; this is the opening. It is seen as a marker of where the body ends and the tail begins.

Slug: Some times people will use this term for infertile eggs

HOMOYZGOUS
Where the animal has the same genes for a trait.
i.e. the same gene for the same trait from both the mother and father

LEUCISTIC Lacking all color pigment

VENTRAL: The lower surfaces, or the scales on the belly

COPULATION: the reptile equvilant of mating

PARTHENOGENETIC: able to reproduce without the fertilisation by a male, particularly some geckos that produce female clones. although this does not apply to beardies, i believe it is an interesting term and one that may be useful to know

HEMIPENES: the 'sexual' organs

DIURNAL: active by day

DORSALLY DEPRESSED: Flattened from the top

TYMPANUM: Eardrum. Visible externally on many lizards

SPINOSE: Having spines



Let me know if you would like me to add any other terms

[spike]

So hypomelanistic means that they are not that duillish grey colour. It means that they are a more brighter colour......
i thought it was the opposite but you have explained it far better than what i was told

also
HOMOYZGOUS
Where the animal has the same genes for a trait
i.e the same gene for the same trait from both the mother and father

[Pooka]

Awesome topic Derek
I have wodered what alot of the coloring terms mean. How about explaining the differences between morphs/phases and also some basic info on the different designer color dragons? All I know about beared dragons is they are cute, seem social, I can get them for about $30 locally but online people want to sell them for 300-500 sometimes.... Did I mention I'm pretty dense about them?

[ClementeDragons]

I will explain a few of the morphs/phases tomorrow Im busy all day today.

[ClementeDragons]

Are there any particular morphs or phases that you would like to know about there are tons of different ones.

[Pooka]

I was just thinking that we should hear the differences between a morph and a phase and some of the more popular ones (maybe and example or two of each) As it stand both the term 'morph' and 'phase' say to me different color that I pay out the nose for. Thanks Derek

[Sterling]

These are from Dragons Den, just some examples of the different morphs:

Sandfire Morph:


Blood


Sunburst


Snow & Hypomelanistic


Salmon Hypos


Leucistic


Steven

[ClementeDragons]

Thanks for sharing those pictures I know those pictures like the back of my hand. Those pictures are why I got my blood and sunburst from him.

Got to this sit he has many pictures of different morphs

www.dachiu.com/gallery/pix.html

[ClementeDragons]

I think morphs and phases are pretty similar if there is a big difference I would be interested in learning it.

[Sterling]

yea same here! I got my Orange German Giant, Pyro, from dachiu dragons, shes nice!
Thanks for the link!

Steven

[ClementeDragons]

I added one more term Leucistic

[spike]

Seeing as this topic was brought back up, i thought i might add a couple of other terms
VENTRAL: The lower surfaces, or the scales on the belly
COPULATION: the reptile equvilant of mating
PARTHENOGENETIC: able to reproduce without the fertilisation by a male, particularly some geckos that produce female clones. although this does not apply to beardies, i believe it is an interesting term and one that may be useful to know
HEMIPENES: the 'sexual' organs
DIURNAL: active by day
DORSALLY DEPRESSED: Flattened from the top
TYMPANUM: Eardrum. Visible externally on many lizards
SPINOSE: Having spines

[tdanca7]

I am a relatively new owner of 2 bearded dragons.
I actually purchased them in the begininng of February of 2005. They were hatchlings and were quite small. One was bigger than the other, and they were probably from the same family because they were from a pet shop and they were in the same cage.

I am trying to take good care of them. I have read books and every book offers different information. I have went online and again, there is alot of different opinons.

I am assuming my dragons were born in early January and they are approximately 7 months, maybe 8 months, less than a year.

Last month the bigger one started showing the head bobbing and his neck got big and black. The smaller one waved her arm. I was still not sure if I had a male or female. I asked the pet shop if they thought that they were breeding or just showing who was the boss of the cage.

The pet shop said they were to young to be mating and if I thought they were showing too much aggression to separate them.

I have watched them carefully and really felt like they were mating and sure enough, the little one laid 14 eggs, right in the cage.

My husband removed the eggs and we were going to attempt to make an incubator for the eggs and the local pet store told us to put the eggs back in the cage and turn them often.

I know now the local pet store does not know what they are talking about because my dragons were obviously mating and I think out of the 14 eggs, 2 of them are not yellow and look like there could be pink lines in the eggs.

I am very concerned for my dragon. I would love to raise hatchlings but I know she is too young and I do not want to separate the 2 dragons because they seem to love each other.

I keep them in the living room so we can monitor them closely, but my first concern is too have healthy dragons.

Can you give me some tips and what should I do with the eggs? Some are small and some are bigger. The 2 biggest eggs are the ones that do not seem to be yellow when held to the light. They are all very soft to the touch.

Do I need to separate them so that she does not get pregnant again? I do not want her to suffer. She looks thin, I fed her after the eggs were laid and she ate about 20 large crickets. She looked better after she ate and is basking in her light.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Tina

[Sterling]

Ok, you NEED to seperate them as soon as possible! Obviously they are male and female and should not be kept together other than short periods for breeding. I dont know if they are siblings because just because they were in the same cage, they could be from totally different parents. Lets hope that they were not siblings because the babies will be messed up! That is not good!
You need to get an incubator as soon as possible! The eggs should NOT be kept in the cage, they should be properly heated and should NOT be turned! That will drown the baby, it theres a baby inside.
Once again, you need to seperate your 2 dragons because the male will continue mating with the female and that is going to seriously hurt your female! You should feed her some silkworms, waxworms, and crickets to fatten her up. You should be giving her calcium with the crickets/greens because she lost a lot of that calcium when she layed the eggs.

Please read this caresheet and FAQ page, this will tell you what you need to know about caring for dragons, its really good!
www.diamond-gems.com/caresheets.htm
www.diamond-gems.com/faq.htm

If you have any more questions, PLEASE ask! You really should have started a new thread(topic) for this but theres nothing you can do now.

[tdanca7]

tdanca7 said:

I am a relatively new owner of 2 bearded dragons.
I actually purchased them in the begininng of February of 2005. They were hatchlings and were quite small. One was bigger than the other, and they were probably from the same family because they were from a pet shop and they were in the same cage.

I am trying to take good care of them. I have read books and every book offers different information. I have went online and again, there is alot of different opinons.

I am assuming my dragons were born in early January and they are approximately 7 months, maybe 8 months, less than a year.

Last month the bigger one started showing the head bobbing and his neck got big and black. The smaller one waved her arm. I was still not sure if I had a male or female. I asked the pet shop if they thought that they were breeding or just showing who was the boss of the cage.

The pet shop said they were to young to be mating and if I thought they were showing too much aggression to separate them.

I have watched them carefully and really felt like they were mating and sure enough, the little one laid 14 eggs, right in the cage.

My husband removed the eggs and we were going to attempt to make an incubator for the eggs and the local pet store told us to put the eggs back in the cage and turn them often.

I know now the local pet store does not know what they are talking about because my dragons were obviously mating and I think out of the 14 eggs, 2 of them are not yellow and look like there could be pink lines in the eggs.

I am very concerned for my dragon. I would love to raise hatchlings but I know she is too young and I do not want to separate the 2 dragons because they seem to love each other.

I keep them in the living room so we can monitor them closely, but my first concern is too have healthy dragons.

Can you give me some tips and what should I do with the eggs? Some are small and some are bigger. The 2 biggest eggs are the ones that do not seem to be yellow when held to the light. They are all very soft to the touch.

Do I need to separate them so that she does not get pregnant again? I do not want her to suffer. She looks thin, I fed her after the eggs were laid and she ate about 20 large crickets. She looked better after she ate and is basking in her light.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Tina