Hey guys, Heather here from Tye-Dyed Iguana and today
with the help of one of our breeder males we're gonna explain what it means
when your Bearded Dragon's beard turns black and some of the different
reasons why it would do that. All right, this is our very handsome breeder male
who's responsible for the birth of hundreds and hundreds of Bearded Dragons
at our store. Now, as you can see his beard is very jet black, his chest has a
lot of black splotching on it, and he looks very alert, very curious about
everything, very on - I wouldn't say on edge, but he's very, very alert and active.
So the first reason why your Bearded Dragon's beard may turn black, is that
it's breeding season and you've got a male and they want to breed with a
female. That black beard is a kind of a sign of dominance, and it shows that
they're ready to breed, that he wants to breed with a female, but unfortunately he
already bred with one, so she gets a break this week. So, yeah. Sorry,
no female for you today. But yeah, that's one of the reasons, and you'll also
notice behaviors like head bobbing, they'll bob their head a lot if you've
got him with a female. I mean, he'll just turn probably even
darker black than he is right now, but you'll notice head bobbing, beard
turning black, he even turns black on his back. It starts to creep down from his
head and of course the chest turns black too. So that might be one of the reasons
why. Now the second reason why we're gonna talk about is, what if you don't
have a male Bearded Dragon, what if you have a female and her beard is black?
Well, if you've got her with another Bearded Dragon - oh my goodness, he yeah,
he's head bobbing, so definitely showing that breeding
behavior. Anyway, as I was saying, if you've got her with another Bearded Dragon,
or she sees something that upsets her, she gets scared, she may turn her beard
black to show that she is angry. They'll sometimes do that to people too when they
don't want to be messed with, they'll turn their beard black, it's kind of like
a show, a sign of they're trying to intimidate you, they're trying to scare
you away. And they'll puff up their beard usually when they do that. Like if we put
him with a female that's not receptive, usually the female's beard will turn dark,
kind of black. They usually don't turn as black as these guys do, but they do turn
get some black coloration and they may even like posture, flatten their body,
beard up, like really puff up that beard, so. That's more of a display of
aggression, so. That's yet another reason why.
And of course males can do it too as far as aggression goes, especially they see
another male or if you accidentally put two males together, which you should
never do, they will definitely turn their beards black at each other and try to
attack each other. All right, so the third reason is kind of sad. If you've got a
Bearded Dragon who's acting really lethargic and lifeless, kind of really
tired and everything, and their their beard turns a jet black it's
usually a sign that there's something wrong with your Bearded Dragon.
Especially if they don't want to move around very much, if they're very
sluggish, lethargic, not really responsive very much, that beard will definitely turn
black as a sign of stress, extreme stress, so. That's definitely not good when that
happens, but luckily this guy he is showing no signs of being tired at all,
and he is very interested I think in his reflection in the glass over there,
so. Yeah, the third reason would be that your Bearded Dragon especially when coupled
with their behavior as far as being tired and lethargic goes, it can be as
sign of stress or sickness. But most of the time when you see it, it's either
aggression or a breeding behavior. Ain't that's so little buddy? You, you wish I
could put you with a female right now, don't you? Yeah. Yeah, and the cool thing
about it when their beard turns black for like breeding and stuff, it doesn't take very
long. Like they can be - he's usually a pure, but a very whitish
yellow color, not yellow really, a whitish tan color, and man he can, like a minute.
It only takes about a minute for him to darken up, especially when you put him
with a female, then it goes really quick. But yeah, it usually takes a while for
them to lose that black color when they calm down and stuff, and get out of that
breeding mode, so. Thanks for being our little model buddy, it was cool see your
black beard today, yeah. See you guys next time.