Let’s start…..it will be long
“You have to remember that we are comparing it to our husbandry practices here in the U.S. For the most part, people try and keep hatchlings and juveniles at 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit. You stated that you keep them the same as your other bearded dragons, which is at 34 degrees Celsius on the basking spot. This converts over to 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit. That is substantially lower than what most keepers have their basking spots here. Our equivalent would be around 40-43 degrees Celsius. The adults are kept at closer to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take a few degrees. (38 degrees Celsius). So, while there are not differences in your husbandry practices between a regular dragon and silkbacks, that would not be the case here in the U.S.”
Yes but as far as I now the temp you mentioned in usa are done to massimize growth rate, as a matter of fact in this way bearded dragon reach adult size in 6 months. Things like that are done to be able to have babies grow quickly to be sold as soon as you can. But from some research in Australia bearded dragon reach their sexual maturity in 1-2 year. This does seems to me natural!!!!!! And my animals need at least one year to be young adult and sometimes I do wait 2 year until I breed them….
Second point: you are making confusion with temp of the environment and body temp. there are lot of research on several species that they reach a body temp higher than the one of the ambient (for example vipera kaznakovi who live near Siberia and it can reach really high body temp, or Mediterranean tortoises that they are still active in October even if the temp is low, they just need a bit of sun to increase body temp…if you want I have thousand of example). The “lower” basking temp does not mean that they do not reach the right temp but they ay take more time. The high temp some usa breeder keep (I know some who don’t do that) is because in this way the animals reach the right body temp first and then they can give food more times (we talk about 4-6 times per day). BUT these breeder told me that they need to spray the animals several times per day to avoid overheating and dehidratation….YOU NEED TO SAY THE WHOLE STORY NOT PART OF IT
”I also wanted to address the UVB. Many keepers use either 10.0 fluorescents or MVB's, which give out a significantly higher amount of UVB. Would the increased UVB have a negative impact on the silkback's skin? For example, I have a Reptile UV Mega ray MVB and the reading on my uvb meter is about 148 at the point where my dragon is receiving the uvb rays. They do well with this”
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?? put me fact on it, not presuming it.
“ It is also important to know how far the silkbacks are from the uvb source. According to the manufacturer of the 5.0, they should be 10-12 inches, or 10-25 cms from the uvb source. The uvb they receive is minimal. Again, this is very different than what many keepers and breeders practice in the U.S.”
First of all my 5.0 lamp are 12 cm over the animals for 14 hour. Second of all there is a currently going research on 10.0 uvb lamb all over Europe (I have talked with some vet) because they are assuming that if the animals are kept too close to this kind of lamp they could create problem to the eyes of the animals starting from congiuntivitis and in the worse cases cancer (the research is still going i know some result as pers. comm). If you go on the zoomed site on the lamp section you will read that the 10.0 are builted for tall terrarium and they suggest a distance between the lamp and the animals of 45cm. so who is wrong???? don’t forget that in nature they can adjust by themselves, do we give the same opportunity to our captive animals?????
“question regarding the humidity. I had heard that electricity is very expensive in Italy and air conditioning is not very common. So, I was wondering if you have air conditioning where the silkbacks are kept? If not, do you live in a humid region? Most of us here have air conditioning, so even in places where it is very humid (like NC & AR), the dragons habitat is usually kept at a much lower humidity level. So, I was wondering what the humidity level is in the silckbacks enclosures.”
First of all I live in rome which is not that humid, second of all the cages are inside rooms which are completely isolated (and that was costing me lot of money). Inside my room I have 40% of humidity. When the weather is right I take them outside and every night I put them back. I do not have any air condition for them…. they are desertic animals.
”but I just wanted to point out that there are several differences between your recommended husbandry for silkbacks and regular bearded dragons”
This is your opinion, at the moment I keep normal and silkback in the same way…and at this moment my RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
”how closely related the dragons were that created the silkback mutation. You have implied they were closely related, but I was wondering to what degree? Were they siblings? I am trying to get a grasp on this and also would really like to know how long ago the mutation occurred and how many generations have passed. Were the leather backs that originally created the silkbacks closely related? If so, is it possible this mutation is a result of inbreeding and not a co-dominant gene? Has it had time to be proven out as a co-dominant trait?”
i think I have already answered this question 3 times already…""puppytoes: as i told you there is a distance but i am aware that it is a small distance...it's a new thing and i do have 4 generation now. i have tested the genetic of silkback in the third generation of leatherback."" . but I can add more, silkback is not a mutation over another mutation. But it is the super form of a codominant gene. And this year I proved it out because I have bred my silkback male on a normal female (unrelated) and it gave me all the babies being leath. And this is the last confirmation you could have. I suppose you may need some info on genetic and I suggest you to read the chapter in the N.E.R.D. site. For your info I add some link that can be helpful
http://vmsherp.com/LCGenetics301.htm this is a section who explain easily the transmission of characters and the definition
http://www.geneticswizard.com/ this is a site where you can easily test any cross you want to do and it will give you the result in %
wendi I am sorry I am answering in this way but it seems to me that you are not doing constructive criticism but you are trying to find any fact that can help you to say silkback are not healty. if for any reason you need that (and I don’t understand why) please tell me and I will find a way to help you.
alessandro
, that was to let you understand that, and i suppose lot of people, when i have bought my first pair of bearded dragon i wasn't aware of the imbreeding problem. i have bought a trio and then i bred them, and i have sold the babies 
. only later with the increase of knowledge i have understood what could be the problem and i went over to buy another trio to cross with the other, and that was my start as a breeder (15 years ago). but inbreeding problem, i have read somewhere, they will be visible anly after 3 or 4 generation (i need to find this paper, take it not for sure). 
