Hi. I am a little concerned about my new Beardie. He is about 5 months old and smallish for the age at 11" from tip of nose to tip of tail. About 1 1/2" Body width.
When I got him last week he was really bright colors...yellow with bright orangish patterns on his back. Yesterday and today he has darkened...a lot and won't lighten up. He is basically a brown color with different brown patterns now. He is very active, and still pretty skittish, but he is acting about the same as he did when I got him. I wouldn't think it would be relocation stress as he was normal looking the first week or so that I had him.
First thought I had was that maybe it was due to him getting ready to shed, but there isn't really any flaking skin except a teeny tiny bit behind h is hind legs (2 very small loose skin pieces). I gave him a bath and that didn't change the colors.
Other thought I had was stress. If it's stress, what might be causing it? Nothing changed recently. He is in my classroom at school but I have him behind my desk where he's not around all the kids....again this has been the case since I got him a week or two ago.
Setup in my cage (I know you'll ask):
27" wide by 16" deep enclosure (building him a larger one, but this seems an okay size for a small 11" beardie...he has plenty of space to run).
Brand New Reptisun 10.0 18" Bulb
Heat light with basking area at around 105 degrees F.
Feeds on Dubias (eats a ton of them)
Given a mix of endive and escarole twice a day. Eats some of the greens
Any ideas? Am I being overly paranoid? TYIA.
When I got him last week he was really bright colors...yellow with bright orangish patterns on his back. Yesterday and today he has darkened...a lot and won't lighten up. He is basically a brown color with different brown patterns now. He is very active, and still pretty skittish, but he is acting about the same as he did when I got him. I wouldn't think it would be relocation stress as he was normal looking the first week or so that I had him.
First thought I had was that maybe it was due to him getting ready to shed, but there isn't really any flaking skin except a teeny tiny bit behind h is hind legs (2 very small loose skin pieces). I gave him a bath and that didn't change the colors.
Other thought I had was stress. If it's stress, what might be causing it? Nothing changed recently. He is in my classroom at school but I have him behind my desk where he's not around all the kids....again this has been the case since I got him a week or two ago.
Setup in my cage (I know you'll ask):
27" wide by 16" deep enclosure (building him a larger one, but this seems an okay size for a small 11" beardie...he has plenty of space to run).
Brand New Reptisun 10.0 18" Bulb
Heat light with basking area at around 105 degrees F.
Feeds on Dubias (eats a ton of them)
Given a mix of endive and escarole twice a day. Eats some of the greens
Any ideas? Am I being overly paranoid? TYIA.