Translucent Bearded Dragons for sale in the UK
About the Translucent gene
Translucent, shortened to trans by nearly everyone who breeds it, is a recessive mutation that strips white pigment from the skin and, in many animals, from the iris. The animal reads slightly gummy, and the colour underneath sits more intensely than on a normal dragon out of the same line.
Appearance
It is at its plainest in the hatchling tub. A young trans shows a blue belly, sometimes a blue wash above the eyes as well, because the dark lining of the body cavity shows through thin skin. That blue usually fades as the skin thickens and some adults keep a trace of it, so a grown trans is harder to call than a baby. The side spikes tend to run clear, and the beard scales can look see-through. Solid black eyes are the other hallmark and the less reliable one: plenty of trans dragons have them, plenty have normal eyes, and eye colour can shift over the first few months before it settles. How strongly the translucency reads varies from animal to animal.
Genetics
Recessive, so Het Translucent, 50% Het Translucent and 66% Het Translucent animals all look like an ordinary dragon and rest entirely on the breeding records behind them. An animal carries two copies and is translucent whatever its eyes are doing, or it is not, so a partial trans label describes weak expression and carries no genetic meaning. No allelic partner is recorded. Trans is most often stacked with Hypo: Hypo Translucent, written hypo trans on listings, frequently carries Leatherback as well, and Translucent Leatherback and Hypo Trans Zero are both in circulation. Paradox, the dragon that develops random patches of colour with no pattern to them, follows no simple inheritance and turns up in trans lines.
Known issues
Whether pairing two visual trans costs hatchlings is argued between breeders. Some keep visual trans apart, citing higher hatchling losses and deformities, above all where the parents are closely related. Others pair them routinely and report no difference in the offspring. If the trans you are buying came from two visual parents, ask the seller how closely related those parents were.