You may often hear the term “German Giant Bearded Dragons” when searching for a credible breeder to purchase your new lizard. These “giants” come from a lineage selectively bred by German herpetologists, in which they focused primarily on producing very large versions of the P. vitticeps species. Due to their size, 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 bogus.

While American breeders were focused on creating spectacular color morphs in the early days of captive beard breeding, the Germans were busy creating a kind of “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, exported them to Germany, and began breeding 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 disproved, but it is widely accepted that one of the two is factual.

These abnormally large snapdragons can grow up to 30″ in length and 1000 grams in weight. Making them much larger and nearly half a foot longer than the average P. vitticeps. Along with size comes better health and stamina. Gravid females also lay largest clutches after breeding, largest on record consisting of 68 eggs!

The United States did not see this special breed until the late 1980s and early 1990s. That’s when German-born herpetologist Peter Weiss imported the giant bloodline into his facility in Florida. Weiss is credited with producing the “giant” bloodline 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 lineage with each generation. It is believed that some true GG 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 that these lizards grow to the “giant” proportions associated with authentic specimens has yet to appear. You will commonly see images of dragons that are believed to possess this special lineage, but again, these are commonly of baby or juvenile lizards. Unfortunately, unless there are still some true heirs to the throne residing in Germany, it seems that this “super bearded man” is lost forever.