I've purchased a mature plant whose caudex was buried. A couple weeks after I got it home I repotted it and raised it several inches. There were no problems.

I wish we had some interesting plants at the local big box and chain stores. I daresay the only non nursery here that occasinally has nice stuff are the Trader Joe's grocery stores.

I have some adenium that has never been raised for over 5 years and I repotted and raised them 3-4 inches with no problem. You just have to be careful at the beginning to not expose them to extreme sun/heat right away or you will burn/damage the caudex. Mostly cosmetics.

I have seen the DR in Lowes and they do not look too good. They even had it just sitting indoors with minimal light. You just have to nurse it back to better condition.

Thanks- I may give this a try then. The fact that these plants were actually healthy (for a change) makes it an interesting opportunity. The colors were pretty basic (white, pink) but that is OK. I already have a nice red one.

Normally, I put some sphagnum moss around the plant after raising them in order to prevent sunburn.

I don't put anything around mine and I've never had an issue with sunburn. I'm in zone 7 so it's not like a zone 10 sun, but summer temps average in the 90's here.