Silkback bearded dragons are special reptiles that interested lizard pet keepers avail of to domesticate and keep as home companions. They are popular among reptile pet enthusiasts because of their eye-catching nature, and they are smooth to touch.
We want to inform our readers, who are potential silkback bearded dragon owners, that this informative guide can help them better understand these kinds of pets and what makes them stand out compared to the other types of bearded dragons. Silkback bearded dragons are, indeed, extraordinary reptile home companions.
Although they may have similarities with the normal bearded dragon, the most common of which is the central bearded dragon with the scientific name Pogona vitticeps, silkback bearded dragons demand a different kind of care. We explained this key aspect in this online discussion.
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Getting to Know the Extraordinary Silkbacks
Silkback bearded dragons are reptiles that lizard aficionados refer to as “silkies” or “silkbacks.” They are unique animals kept by their owners who want amusing, engaging and relaxing companions in their warm residences.
We agree that keeping silkback bearded dragons as pets at home can be enjoyable and rewarding because of their beautiful and smooth physical appearances. They certainly bring joy and calm feelings to their keepers.
We enumerated the following key attributes of silkback bearded dragons. We understand that these traits make these reptile pets different from the other bearded dragon kinds:
1. HISTORY
Silkback bearded dragons’ distinctive trait traces its origin to a single animal that spontaneously hatched with an unusual appearance in Italy. Nevertheless, the gene has spread through the global bearded dragon gene pool.
Therefore, we want to inform prospective silkback bearded dragon owners that keepers of these lizards throughout North America and Europe, including the United States and Canada, have access to these reptiles for domestication today.
2. GENETIC MAKEUP
When discussing the genetic makeup of silkback bearded dragons, these lizards’ unique physical characteristics exemplify an incomplete dominant mutation.
This feature means that bearded dragons bearing a copy of this mutated gene will exhibit physical disparities from those who lack such genes. Therefore, silkback bearded dragons have scales that are fewer and smaller than usual.
3. PHYSICAL TRAITS
Silkback bearded dragons look physically different from the typical bearded dragons because they do not have scales, protrusions, or tubercles on their ventral and dorsal surfaces.
Additionally, these reptile pets do not inherently show any unusual coloration. Nonetheless, silkback bearded dragons’ lack of scales often makes their color patterns look bolder or more vivid.
4. BREEDING PROCESS
Silkback bearded dragons are available for breeding. Interested producers of these reptile pets will need to produce an animal with two copies of the mutated gene.
This process is accomplished by breeding the following bearded dragons:
a) A leatherback bearded dragon with a silkback bearded dragon, which will produce approximately 50 percent silkback bearded dragons;
b) Two silkback bearded dragons together, which will result in 100 percent of the clutch being silkback bearded dragons; or
c) Two leatherback bearded dragons together, which will result in roughly one-fourth of the offspring being silkback bearded dragons.
After providing our readers with a profile of the silkback bearded dragons, we find it appropriate to give some helpful instructions regarding the requirements and care of these bearded dragons. We want to emphasize that silkback bearded dragons need a different kind of care.
5 Specialized Care Tips for Silkback Owners
We want to stress that silkback bearded dragons feature a significant difference that sets them apart from other bearded dragons. One of these salient disparities is the lack of scales.
Another notable difference silkback bearded dragons have compared to other bearded dragons is the care they require. These reptile pets demand specialized maintenance because of their different physical structure.
Moreover, many of these lizards are smaller, not as strong, and less vigorous than the normal bearded dragons. Silkback bearded dragons even present feeding difficulties.
These challenges often mean that these domesticated animals may fail to survive and eventually enter a declining wellness spiral. However, we want to advise owners of silkback bearded dragons that they can successfully take care of their atypical lizard pets.
The following are some special care tips that can deliver optimal outcomes:
1. Give a nutritious diet of leafy green vegetables and live insects.
Silkback bearded dragons will stay healthy if 80 percent of their healthy diet consists of turnip greens, squash, bell pepper, and dandelion greens. Moreover, 20 percent of their daily food schedule should consist of excellent staple feeder insects.
They include small locusts, Dubia roaches, and crickets. We want to advise reptile pet owners to sparingly silkworms, hornworms, and feed wax worms to their silkback bearded dragons and only serve them as an occasional treat due to their high fat content.
Wild insects should also be avoided because silkback bearded dragons may suffer from diseases, including parasites. Finally, we advise silkback bearded dragon keepers to always add multivitamin supplements to ensure the optimal wellness of their beloved lizards.
2. Provide the silkback bearded dragon with more fresh drinking water on a dish than usual.
We want to stress that silkback bearded dragons are more susceptible to fluid loss or dehydration through their skin compared to normal bearded dragons. It is because these reptile pets lack the scales that the latter possess.
Therefore, by providing silkback bearded dragons with more fresh drinking water than usual, they can stay properly hydrated most of the time. We also advise giving them water-rich vegetables and fruits.
3. Eliminate any possible hazards from the reptile pet’s artificial habitat.
During mating, silkback bearded dragons can easily become wounded due to their lack of scales that cover and protect normal bearded dragons. Male silkbacks often bite the females’ backs and necks they are mating with.
Although the female silkback bearded dragons would normally take these bites in stride, they are prone to suffer from severe lacerations. Thus, these lizard pets may suffer from significant pain.
A worse scenario is they may become vulnerable to serious and potentially life-threatening infections. Hence, we advise removing any potential dangers in the silkies’ tank to safeguard them from wounds, cuts, and other physical damage.
4. Provide low-level UVB lighting and a shaded area in the terrarium.
Since silkback bearded dragons lack the scales on their stomach or back parts that normal bearded dragons feature, it is possible that they cannot safely tolerate the same light intensity UV lamps emit, unlike the regular lizards.
Moreover, silkbacks tend to be more sensitive to light because of their physical features. Therefore, we recommend providing these reptile pets with lights that produce low levels of ultraviolet B or UVB rays.
This kind of lighting solution is different from the desert-style UVB bulbs often utilized in bearded dragon care. Furthermore, it is best to provide silkback bearded dragons with a shaded area in their terrarium.
This section of the tank blocks the light that the lizard may not tolerate well. It also gives the reptile pet a sheltered retreat, which can help facilitate its optimal wellness.
5. Perform a regular soaking routine and mist the reptile pet’s tank more often.
Silkback bearded dragons tend to shed skin more frequently compared to normal bearded dragons. We want to highlight that these reptile pets exhibit shedding challenges which new owners may find problematic.
Silkback bearded dragons tend to shed very poorly, for starters. Reptile pet keepers may witness large portions of their skin failing to fall away easily.
Meanwhile, large patches of skin will stay stuck to the silkback bearded dragon in some cases. One way to address the shedding issues of these lizards is by maintaining them at higher humidity levels compared to the normal bearded dragons.
Another method to help deal with shedding concerns is by misting these reptile pets’ artificial habitat more frequently. Plus, these kinds of silkback bearded dragon upkeep problems can be prevented by the employment of a regular soaking routine.
Following the abovementioned five tips are some of the specialized care practices that help silkback bearded dragons stay in tip-top condition.
Discussing the Challenges of Keeping Silkies as Pets at Home
Silkback bearded dragons are, indeed, significantly different from the normal bearded dragons. Many reptile pet keepers and bearded dragon enthusiasts do not feel motivated to have them as home companions.
Furthermore, some reptile pet enthusiasts believe breeders should stop producing silkback bearded dragons. They also discourage having these unusual lizards sold in the open market for hobbyists as these reptile pets present extraordinary maintenance challenges.
We agree that taking care of silkback bearded dragons can be demanding and taxing. It is mainly because of their different care requirements, considering that they lack scales.
Keepers of silkback bearded dragons need to perform the caring tasks a little bit differently, unlike many other common reptile pets that do not create any husbandry issues. Another point of concern in keeping silkback bearded dragons is their intense physical sensitivity.
These lizards are more sensitive to dehydration, light, and heat. They may also have problems with mating and shedding, and great care is essential during breeding trials.
However, we still suggest keeping silkback bearded dragons at home. Our recommendation considers the following key insights:
A. Silkback bearded dragons are ideal for experienced reptile pet keepers.
We highly recommend seasoned lizard owners to keep silkback bearded dragons as domesticated home companions. After all, we believe these kinds of reptile pet owners can recognize problems with a silkback bearded dragon more quickly than a novice or beginner.
Additionally, experienced reptile pet keepers can make the important adjustments to always keep the silkback bearded dragon in sound health, including providing their reptile pet with calcium supplements.
B. Interested keepers of the unique lizards should begin with a normal bearded dragon first.
It is best for novice reptile pet keepers who want to keep silkback bearded dragons as pets to start with normal bearded dragons first. We think this step is ideal since beginners may find it challenging to address the issues involved in caring for silkback bearded dragons.
C. Keepers of the normal bearded dragon should not jump into silkies owning right away.
We think it is best for experienced bearded dragon owners to master the husbandry of the lizards they have. Then, they can move on to keeping leatherback bearded dragons next.
We believe these reptile pet owners can then become skilled at maintaining these kinds of bearded dragons. Afterward, they can try their hand at caring for silkback bearded dragons.
By that time, they would already be able to handle any problems or issues that may arise concerning their extraordinary lizard pets.
D. Always solicit veterinary advice or attention when keeping silkback bearded dragons as pets.
Once a seasoned reptile pet keeper decides to own a silkback bearded dragon, we want to advise them to work side by side with their veterinarians. After all, these reptile pets are prone to get wounded and the development of infections.
Based on our views, silkback bearded dragon owning is worthy and recommended. Nevertheless, this kind of pet-keeping practice should be performed with the four abovementioned considerations in mind.
Silkbacks as Unusual But Worthy Reptile Pets
Normal bearded dragons are popular and enjoyable to keep as domesticated companions at home for tons of reasons. They make excellent pets for starter lizard keepers.
Additionally, bearded dragons are available in countless variants and forms. They permit reptile aficionados to enjoy purchasing a lizard in merely about every hue of the rainbow.
Bearded dragons also enable interested owners to get one of them that demonstrates unusual scalation. These lizards are comfortable to have around the house, docile, hardy, and feature the ideal size for a pet, making them preferred as home companions.
Nevertheless, silkback bearded dragons are the unusual kind of these reptile pets. They are different from regular bearded dragons because they lack scales and need specialized care or have uncommon husbandry requirements. Besides the Dubia roaches, silkies demand highly nutritious foods that enable them to stay in sound health.
Silkback bearded dragons are also recommended only for experienced reptile owners due to their demanding and different upkeep. But despite all of these disparities, which some reptile enthusiasts find discouraging, we still highly recommend silkback bearded dragons as ideal home companions.
They are eye-catching and usually feature the endearing demeanor of normal bearded dragons. All it takes to succeed in keeping silkback bearded dragons is to be prepared to give them the special kind of care they need.
With this consideration, owners can surely earn the enjoyment and rewarding feeling that comes with owning these unusual yet love and care-worthy lizards.
