You may hear the term “German Giant Bearded Dragons” often when looking for a credible breeder to purchase your new lizard. These “giants” are from a lineage selectively bred by German herpetologists, in which they primarily focused on producing very large versions of the P. vitticeps species. Due to their size, the descendants of this lineage are highly sought after in today’s pet trade. However, there is some controversy as to whether true heirs still exist, making those labeled and sold as such false.
While American breeders focused on creating spectacular color morphs in the early days of captive beardie breeding, Germans were busy creating something of a “super dragon.” There are two conflicting stories about how this larger version of the vitticeps was created. One story claims that German herpetologists found particularly large P. vitticeps specimens in the northwestern regions of Australia. They then continued to collect the largest of these lizards, export them to Germany and began to breed them. The second theory is that the same group of hepetologists crossed a P. vitticeps with a P. barbata. Neither of these stories can be proven or denied, but there is a general consensus that one of the two is factual.
These abnormally large dragons can grow up to 30 “long and 1000 grams in weight. Making them much larger, and almost half a foot longer than the average P. vitticeps. Along with size comes better health and stamina. Gravid females too They will lay larger clutches after breeding, with the largest on record consisting of 68 eggs! It was these events that led to the downfall of legitimate GG specimens in the United States.
The United States did not see this special breed until the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was then that German-born herpetologist Peter Weiss imported the giant lineage to his facility in Florida. Weiss is credited with producing the “giant” lineage that was made available to Americans.
Today, the true “German giants” are believed to have disappeared. At least in the United States. Due to above-average strength, health, and clutch size, giants were commonly mated with normal vitticeps to increase their stamina. thus diluting the bloodline with each generation. It is believed that some true GGs can still be found in Europe, but this has yet to be confirmed.
You will still see many breeders and owners claiming to have German Giant Bearded Dragons, but proof has yet to appear that these lizards grow to the “giant” proportions associated with authentic specimens. You will usually see images of dragons that are believed to possess this special lineage, but again, these are commonly from baby or juvenile lizards. Unfortunately, unless there are still some true heirs to the throne residing in Germany, it seems this “superbeardie” has been lost forever.