Hello, my name is Elisa. I have a 2yr old beardie who I rescued a year ago. I won’t get into to all the details of his background but she smoked very heavy in her house all the stuff I was given from her reeked of smoke. She also only feed him once a week, by throwing 1/2 a dozen crickets in and lettuce. I have worked extremely hard to get him to where he is now. I have noticed his beard is getting grey on the side and I’m not sure what to do. Is it normal? Do I need to take him to the vet? Any advice/ wisdom you all have would be greatly appreciated.( he has a 55gal tank 80F on cool side 95-100F on basking side he has 2reptile hammocks and a ladder, 4 vines they are strung across his tank, and a rock he also has a 75wtt heat lamp and an 18” UVB lamp tropical sun I believe is the name? I have him out 1-2 hours he eats butternut/collards as a staple veggie and soldier fly larvae/ Phoenix worms as a staple protein he also gets hornworms Or butter worms as a treat when I have them)
Can you post a photo of him? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply. It's possibly just a patch that's getting ready to shed.
If you are using a tropical T8 UVB light in a 55g tank it might not be strong enough for him. I would consider replacing it with a T5 if possible.
Thank you i noticed After I came back from a trip it wasn’t there before that’s my only concern thank again around 4 weeks I’m positive it’s not a shed
Thank you everyone who helped the update is I talked with a women who owned a reptile shop and she beloved it was mites I have been giving Betadine baths and a few other things to help and it seems to be working well thank you again
Hi Elisa, I don't see any sign of mites there, beardie spikes often become discolored and/or have a bit of shed hanging on. Mites cluster around the eyes + nose for moisture and look like little round specks. The baths may just taking the excess shed off the beard .
Interesting, I don’t know a lot about mites. It could be that the picture is not showing very well. But in his bath he has had a lot of little specks a little bigger then black pepper. Could that be something else? I give him regular baths. I can try and post an other pic. When I give him baths in Betadine some of them go away. If you want a pic let me know. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this.
It's possible that the specks are just specks of dirt but I wouldn't totally rule out mites. Do you see them crawling anywhere on him at all ? And next time you see the specks in the water, get a paper towel to dab them up + have a close look.
Whatever it is I don't think it will be serious. You can post more pics as you see any change though or just to show off your handsome boy.
I do want to thank you for your help. I have some mites spray coming in 2-3 days. I have him in a travel tank for now, I put him in there today with paper towel as bedding. I waited 2yrs to get my dragon so I could do research, and make sure I could properly take care of him. I'm a little annoyed that I didn't come across anything about mites, so even if it isn't I will spray the mite prevent in his tank every once in awhile. I'm sad to say I would not be surprised if it was mites. I volunteer at a shelter where we do often get dogs with mange. I also take my beardie to I show I have a table at and everyone LOVES him so they could have carried it to him. I also have injured my ankle getting bucked off a horse so my general cleaning was pushed back ( it's just a general clean there was no poop just left in his tank). I will see if I can get some close up pictures tomorrow and look at the paper towels. Thx again