You may often hear the term “German Giant Bearded Dragons” when looking for a credible breeder to purchase your new lizard from. These “giants” come from a selectively bred lineage by German herpetologists, in which they focused primarily on producing very large versions of the P. vitticeps species. Due to their size, the descendants of this lineage are highly sought after in the pet trade today. However, there is some controversy as to whether true heirs still exist, making those labeled and sold as such false.

While American breeders were focused on creating spectacular color morphs in the early days of captive wattle breeding, the Germans were busy creating a “super dragon” of sorts. There are two conflicting stories as to how this larger version of the vitticeps was created. One story states that German herpetologists found particularly large P. vitticeps specimens in the northwestern regions of Australia. Then they continued to collect the largest of these lizards, exported 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 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 almost 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, the largest on record consists of 68 eggs!

The United States didn’t 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” stock that was made available to the Americans.

Today, the real “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 keep 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 pictures 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 this “super bearded man” has been lost forever.