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This alteration/morph of genetics is described as the lack or absence of dark pigment (melanin). A dragon that displays this trait is a homozygous carrier of the trait. These are generally referred to as Hypos, short for hypomelanistic. A characteristic of the most common hypomelanistic dragon is clear nails on all 20 toes. This would be indicated by the absence of the black line through the animals toe nails. This is a recessive trait. This gene(s) does reproduce clear nailed animals when two trait carrying parents are crossed and has been proven so many times. These dragons do not develop this trait as they age in our experience. They are born with the lack of pigment, and it does not develop usually remaining the same. We have found that some hypos do tend to lose their patterning with some even losing their patterning completely. From our experience, these dragons are visibly different in coloration right out of the egg. You can clearly see the difference between a hypo, and non-hypo. The hypo animal will hatch most times very bright in color, sometimes even with a white appearance. These dragons also may hatch a beige or grey color with clear nails although not as common as the bright, vividly colored hypos. This would suggest that maybe the animals still do produce some sort of dark melanin and in our experiences, we would agree. From our experience most hypo animals having vivid color contrast and patterning lose this as adults (become pattern less). Marketed Leucistics are a form hypo. The definition of a Leucistic is to be colorless, pattern less, hypomelanistic animal with clear nails with black eyes. This should be true from birth into adult hood. It seems that there is no proof of producing a true leucistic bearded dragon. Most animals have some absence of patterning and coloration , and are sold as marketed leucistics. We have not seen proof of a true leucistic bearded dragon to satisfy us that it is not a color variation of the hypos. We would be interested in seeing a true leucistic animal, crossed to a true leucistic animal, which produces only leucistic animals in its offspring consistently. So again, this is why we are not satisfied that there is a true leucistic bearded dragon. Pastels are also a color variant of the hypomelanistic gene. These animals produce pastel colors, and have clear nails. Some breeders will produce what they call hypos, but do not have clear nails. Please be specific with a breeder when purchasing a hypo, to see that it has 20 clear nails. Animals without clear nails prove to be more difficult to produce more hypos than clear nailed animals. It has been our experience with some breeders in several instances that we have bought a dragon that was advertised as hypo, but did not have clear nails. Please be aware of what you are buying. Every hypo advertised on dragonfortress.com has 20 clear toe nails, guaranteed. We really enjoy this variation/morph because of the bright colors and interesting color combinations it produces. Please feel free to contact us with any additional information or questions at contact@dragonfortress.com Thanks! DragonFortress.com CLICK TO GO BACK TO GENETICS MAIN PAGE Last updated 7/27/2010 |