colouring changes - BD

[laiq]

Another newb question (sorry), but does a BD's colouring change as they get older, and when does it stop?

When I first got ours 4 weeks ago, only one of them had a slight hint of red on it, and now his head and forelegs are becoming quite red in colour, and the other, which had no hints of red at all is beginning to develop red near his/her ears...

[animal addict]

Their colours get brighter wth each shed - I guess when they get to sub adult age then thats about the time when their true colour comes out properly - my 9 month old ha changed much with her last shed so I think this is the colour at her best now - itsexciting watching them develop isnt it? I love it when mine shed esp as it means they re growing too!!

[HadesDragons]

Some colours (red in particular) become more prominent as they get older. At the same time, some colours often become more diffuse. It's not uncommon for babies to hatch out with really well-defined markings, then for the markings to fade as they develop colour all over their bodies.

To illustrate this, here is one of my beardies at around a week old:



This is the same beardie at a year old (the top one):



The colour is much more widespread and saturated, but you lose the definition on the markings. The baby also developed nice orange outlines around some of the paler patches on its back; these faded with age as the solid gold colour developed.

Beard / face colours generally start developing around 3-9 months of age, but can take until 18-24 months to be fully coloured.