Why are there not dark/black bearded dragon morph being made?

Question

iam going to try myself when i get old enough "selective breeding i know"but for now there trying to get all othere color even pink but why not black, just to think how cool that be

Answer 1

Oh, I can tell you for a fact that this is being worked on. Its going to take a few more years though....

Answer 2

I know one of the species of bearded dragon is already pretty much black, I want to say it's the western bearded dragon? Cant remember the scientific name. They cant breed this out of Oz though because of the strict rules for importing and exporting native/foreign animals.

An issue I'd see with black dragons is they wouldnt be able to control how much heat they soak in by lightening their color, if they are naturally dark they'd soak in a lot more heat, probably would need cooler temps. I doubt you'd see an actual Black bearded dragon ever bred outside of Austrailia.

As said, morpsh are just selective breeding, sadly a lot of the "selective" breeding is just inbredding, which leads to more unhealthy dragons due to genetic defects. One morph you will NEVER see for dragons is an Albino morph, someone in austrailia was able to breed true albinos (no skin pigment, pink eyes) but they all died. Being Dinural (daytime living) animals, they need to soak in UVB and heat, the albino coloring and effects made this near imposible, so sadly you wont find any albinos.

Answer 3

Hmm... theoretically it may be possible. But morphs are just selective breeding of color mutations or taking already existing colors (red, gold, etc...) to the extreme. Beardies don't have that much black pigment in their skin Most morphs seem to go lighter the natural coloration (albino, hypomelanistic, leucistic, etc...) rather than darker. Not saying it's impossible, but I can't really picture an all black beardie being born.

Answer 4

I'm sure that with a little genetic engineering it could be done, it is all a matter of switching on and off a few genes, and bam! a black beardie, but as mentioned in another post, his environment may have to be tweaked and I doubt he would live as long because of this to this. Maybe we will just wait until a "natural" fluke comes along.

Answer 5

I have personally begun to see Beardies with darker pigment such as brown and greys. I even saw one that the owner claimed was a black phase, but you never know. People like to talk a good game. But it is possible, if we can get a dragon with no pigment, I assume we can get one with complete pigment.