Color Changes?

[boomer2726]

My husband and I have only had our Dragon for about a week now and he has begun to shed, which I know is good but my question is when my husband went to get him out this morning Boomer was under the basking bulb and it it about 10 inches away from him. But he was a really really dark color almost black like he was baking is this something that happens when they shed??? I noticed once we got him out his color started to fade back to that gray brown color. I know since he has shed for the first time he has some orange around his chin. I just wanted to check on the weird color change.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

They do color changes early in the day when they are trying to reach optimal temperatures. When they turn dark, they are trying to absorb as much heat as possible to get their body temperatures up. When they lighten up, they have normally reached peak temperatures & may be releasing some body heat to thermoregulate.
When they are shedding, their colors can look "off" due to the water beneath the skin & in between the layers of scales that are still developing prior to shedding which affects their color & brightness.

Tracie