beardie turns dark colors when on his fake branch

[reptile10futbol]

does anyone know why my 5 month old beardie turns dark when on his fake branch?

I purchase this poly-resin ornament from petsmart and my beardie loves it but the problem is that he turns dark when on it. he normaly is a light red orange and white color. Everytime I put the branch in his tank he runs and jumps on to it and within a few minutes he starts to get stress marks all over his belly and the colors on his head, back and tail start to turn dark. and when i take my beardie off and put him on his normal basking rock, his colors come back, but with in a few minutes he jumps back onto this fake branch and turn dark and black again. so now i dont put the branch in his tank anymore. so im wondering why does this happen?

here is the link to picture and information on the branch: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752670

 

[Gail]

He's probably just trying to soak up more heat/UVB by turning dark. I wouldn't worry about it. Going dark doesn't mean anything is wrong.

 

[reptile10futbol]

i have always put the branch on the hotter side of the tank near the basking light, and it is really close to the UVB light maybe 6-7" distance.

thanks for responding.

 

[LittleMama]

I don't know but mine is doing the same thing. He's 5 months old. It almost seemed to me that he couldn't get down from it. Mine is the same brand, smaller ornament. I actually took it out because it was stressing ME out.

 

[reptile10futbol]

I don't know but mine is doing the same thing. He's 5 months old. It almost seemed to me that he couldn't get down from it. Mine is the same brand, smaller ornament. I actually took it out because it was stressing ME out.

yeah that was my first theory, so then i layed down the ornament so that it would not be as tall but same thing happened. Next i would observe my beardie to see what would happen when he gets on the lower parts of the ornament near the ground but same problem happened. Now i think it happens because the branch is hollow in the inside and when my beadie goes on it, it loses heat on the areas he is touching. is your ornament hollow in the inside?

Now i dont use it, because when beardies get stressed they are more prone to illness. i would recommend that you do not use it anymore.

 

[LittleMama]

Mine is hollow too. I took it out yesterday. This whole enclosure thing is such trial and error....

 

[bdalton]

Mine used to do that too on the stick and someone told me sometimes they try to blend in with objects and with the stick being dark brown....? I dont know if this is true, but just trying to send along my hopefully accurate info