Dachiu

Ill do my best to answer many of the questions that were posed to us - but I do not have answers to all of them.

We own one female Silkback that we imported from Italy in Oct. 2006.

Our adult animals are housed in melamine enclosures with 2 fluorescent bulbs (one is a 5.0) and a low watt basking bulb (15-50 watt depending on the season). Our cages have also been modified to allow for increased airflow and the humidity in our house runs usually around 50%. All lights come on in the morning and due to the low wattage basking bulbs being used, the cages warm up slowly - as does the room temperature. Anywhere between noon-4pm we usually shut off our heat lights. Since the ambient temperature in the room is higher and the fluorescent are fairly close (approx. 8 inches) to the animal - if they choose, they can remain on the basking area and maintain a higher body temp. Our adult dragons respond well to an average body temperatures of around 90-92 - with an occasional peek of 96 range. We choose to gradually warm our dragons to a peek temperature and then slowly allow their temperatures to drop back down to ambient - this works well for us. Using this method also allows for a slight increase of overall humidity in the cage - we do not bump the humidity in the cage by spraying. In general, the cage humidity is usually slightly lower than the room humidity.

This is very close to the same set up we have raised our silkback in. So when her husbandry is compared to the way many people tend to house their dragons - there are variations. Would we suggest using a high output UVB source? Nope. But we don’t recommend them anyway.

Bearded Dragons and Frilled Lizards
Does allowing our dragons to bask at high temperatures for a long duration every day actually promote health? Is this natural? In the USA, prolonged, higher heat is usually used - causing drier conditions. So when we say that we offer “slightly increased humidity” it is in comparison to popular husbandry practices.

Bearded dragons do not need a 110 basking temperature to properly digest their food. Our dragons digest their food and poo just fine at lower temperatures. Could you keep a Silkback at a higher temperature and avoid problems? I don’t know. There was a study done on heat transfer which compared a scaleless gopher snake to a normally scaled gopher snake and not much of a difference was noted between the 2. http://compphys.bio.uci.edu/bennett/pubs/4.pdf

“Optimal” care/husbandry for bearded dragons (as a whole) is based upon opinion. Optimal care varies with the individual dragons needs/preferences and it is our job to provide what in our opinion is optimal care. We feel we have done this across the board with all of our dragons - those with and the one without scales…

As for the lack of scales making her too fragile to act like a normal beardie without causing herself injury - No. She is not falling apart. Yes, her skin is soft and smooth and not covered in scales, therefore more fragile than that of a scaled animal. She acts like any other bearded dragon and has not accidentally caused a skin tear yet. She still watches everything going on in the room, chases her crickets and roaches, splashes around and blows up like a bubble in water to float.

We have not bred her and therefore cannot comment on how the skin has held up through a breeding season. But she was caged with another animal when younger - and received a bite on her tail. The bite was a good one and broke her skin - but she healed just fine and the bite mark is barely noticeable. There were no infections involved. Based on this incident, one would assume that physical breeding could cause harm - especially if the male is aggressive. ((There are other ways of fertilizing a female that offer no direct contact - this has been proven by many. Plus, a Silk does not need to be bred to create another Silk.))

Her skin, when shedding is thinner than a normal dragons shed and does not seem to have the elasticity of scaled shed. Close attention must be given to the skin around the digits and tail to prevent rolling or constriction like Seamus said… During her shedding process, we will occasionally dampen a paper towel and leave it in her cage.
Another concern of ours was the pads of her hands and feet. She has not formed, and probably cannot form, any calluses in this area and therefore pressure sores were a concern. We have seen none as of yet.

The physiological aspect of scales concerning water retention was also addressed in the gopher snake study. ((Im sorry, but the only information I have found in reference to scalelessness is in snakes.)) http://compphys.bio.uci.edu/bennett/pubs/4.pdf
Our silkback is not dehydrated nor does she drink much when offered water. When she is soaked in water for a bath, she does not “prune up” like our hands do.

Differentiation of the epidermis during scale formation in embryos of lizard
( http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pic...1&blobtype=pdf ) is another article that is loaded with information on scales and their formation.

It seems to me that Ruby’s skin does not complete the folding process… nor I suppose, does the keratinization process finish - Whatever it is exactly that happened, it has not effected anything else that we have noticed. She is now 17 inches, has nails and teeth and her skin is not overly sensitive to touch when handling. She is a happy, outwardly healthy bearded dragon - minus scales.

We are not producing Silkback dragons and are at close to 2 years away from even being able to do so. We haven’t even gone through a whole cycle with our female silk. We have quite some time between now and then to continue with our observations.

Hope this addresses some of the concerns.
Rob & Vickie