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Ampytale (this got...embarrassingly long. Text avalanche ahead!)
Shot in the dark - you're talking about Shimmer in your lair, and he has the Scales gene! Scales is a tertiary gene, meaning it acts as a decoration on top of the dragon's Primary (body) and Secondary (wings) genes. You can brew it with
Baldwin's Cauldron, starting at Level 7!
Genes come in the form of scrolls (listed under "Specialty" in your Hoard), and
here is an up-to-date list of where you can find all the genes in the game! You can also buy them from fellow players in the
Auction House, but beware of overpriced listings. Once bought, these scrolls can be applied to any dragon in your lair, provided they aren't incubating a nest or already have the exact same gene.
Every dragon has 3 colors and 3 genes; their Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. Every gene has its own
rarity, depending on where the gene is originally obtained.
Here's a user-run guide tracking the rarity of all the genes. If two parents have the exact same genes, then it's a 100% chance of all those genes getting passed down, and mutation is not a part of the game. It works the same for
breed rarity!
His father,
Snowfall, has Gembond, and his mother,
Duskfall, has Scales. As both are "Limited" genes, their offspring has a roughly 50/50 chance of having Scales or Gembond. Similarly, Snowfall is a Coatl - a Rare breed - and Duskfall is a Fae, which is a Plentiful breed. This pair has a 1% chance of hatching a Coatl, and a 99% chance of a Fae. Therefore, through the magic of probability, Shimmer is a Fae with Scales!
Though the color of your dragons will affect how a gene looks on them, color "rarity" is calculated quite differently. If you look at
Predict Morphology in the Scrying Workshop, clicking on a color will show you the full list of all the colors a dragon can be. Like Shinyumbreon said, all colors of a dragon are randomized upon hatching, but only within the smallest range between the parents' colors. For example, if you bred two dragons whose 3 colors are all either Spruce or Moss, the smallest range between them happens to be all the green colors on the wheel. Therefore, their hatchlings could potentially have any of those colors, including Spruce or Moss.
Within that range, all colors are decided completely at random; you're at the whim of chance. If you breed two dragons who both have the exact same colors, their hatchlings will come out the exact same; if you breed two parents with a wider range between their colors, it's all up to chance. All 3 colors are calculated separately, as well! If you bred a mother with Obsidian/Aqua/Obsidian, and a father with Obsidian/Fire/Obsidian, that's
57 possible Secondary colors the hatchlings could have, but the Primary and Tertiary could only be Obsidian.
Unlike a gene, the 3 colors of a dragon cannot be changed unless you use a
Tri-Color Scatterscroll to completely randomize all 3 colors. This should only be considered as a last resort for a dragon you absolutely adore, but can't stand the colors. Whether you're breeding or scattering, however, nothing makes a color any more rare than the color right next to it. Play around in the Scrying Workshop and see what colors you like best and work on getting dragons with them!
Like Shinyumbreon said, you can use the
Keelanrosa breeding card generator to easily find the possible gene, breed, and color outcomes of any given pair of dragons! Though it was a 50/50 chance for Shimmer to get Scales instead of Gembond, it was a 1-in-10 chance that decided Shimmer's tertiary color was Dust! Therefore, he has Dust Scales, a color and gene that he may pass on to his future children!
Some extra notes, since I know this is a huge hunk of text to read. Apologies if I'm being unclear, don't be afraid to ask me to explain something if I'm getting too confusing!
- Once you find some colors (and even potential dream dragons!), you can search for dragons like that on the Auction House! If you have a whole range of colors you like, you can even search by a set range of colors! If none are on the Auction House, you can always use Dragon Search to see if any dragons like that exist.
- Eye color is determined by the flight element of your lair, so as a fellow Plague lair, your hatchlings will all have red eyes unless you change flights!
- Unhatched Egg items are a whole new can of worms. They produce "first generation" dragons, like your progenitors (the two dragons that appeared when you started playing), whose parents are listed as "none." They're also born with completely random colors, which can either produce gorgeous and valuable dragons...or a complete mess.
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