Red scales under shed

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello everyone! Currently, what is going on with our year and a half adult male bearded dragon Zero is his scales under his shed appear to be red.

Recently he has been shedding under his tail for about two weeks now and I’ve noticed the scales underneath almost look red? I’ve never noticed this before. But then again I don’t check under his tail during every shed, it was just something I noticed. His scales look normal, they aren’t dry or crusty the only “abnormal” thing is the red hue. He does have the Australian dirt in his tank if that makes any difference. He is also a very orange, yellow, and tan little dude.

For his husbandry, he’s in a 120 gallon tank, his basking temp is 105 to 107 at 89 to 90 degrees while his cold side is 77 to 80 depending on the time of day with the outside heat. He has been eating normally and running around. He actually tried to eat his food bowl this evening because there was a bug on it. His bowel movements are normal as well. He just had one yesterday. His humidity is 30-40% dining the day and at night can get to be about 54%.

Any guidance would be appreciated! I have included a cute photo for tax as well!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It looks like that area still needs to shed. It is possible that it might be slightly discolored by the sand
though.
You could get some silver gel/cream or some aloe vera gel to put on that area just in case it might be
irritated from shedding.
Is his appetite doing well right now?
He looks very sweet in his blankie there too!

Tracie

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Hello,

It looks like that area still needs to shed. It is possible that it might be slightly discolored by the sand
though.
You could get some silver gel/cream or some aloe vera gel to put on that area just in case it might be
irritated from shedding.
Is his appetite doing well right now?
He looks very sweet in his blankie there too!

Tracie

Thank you so much for replying! I really enjoy posting on here. Everyone is so helpful, and I always feel bad sending the vet random emails about super mundane bearded dragon experiences haha.

My goodness. His appetite is amazing, he’s active, basking, being moody, all the bearded dragon things. He attempted to eat a bug this evening and was so ferocious he bit the bowl instead. His appetite is very much there haha.

The only thing is I was concerned about the pinkish scales with his shed as I’ve never seen that before and I could find anything on goggle. Google also likes to say everyone is dying with the worst case scenario.

And thank you! He is very much a cuddle bug!

 

[AHBD]

It does almost look like it's a bit sore. Can you post pics of his enclosure, showing the entire set up, including lights ? Is there by chance a heat rock in it or a heat bulb that hangs low that his tail might have come in contact with ?

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

It does almost look like it's a bit sore. Can you post pics of his enclosure, showing the entire set up, including lights ? Is there by chance a heat rock in it or a heat bulb that hangs low that his tail might have come in contact with ?

I can! I’ll attach a photo within the original post! He has his basking lights, his linear UVB. There is no way we would have a heat rock. He did have a plastic dig box in between his basking rock and his sleeping platform and his whole substrate was tile. But today we got rid of that and now have half Australian dirt and the other half tile. Unfortunately, we live in an apartment and we do not have to room to make and keep a giant tub of substrate, which is why we have the Austrian dirt.

Also regarding his lights, we know he doesn’t NEED two UVB lamps but we have an extra that is over the mesh and a jungle LED on the cool side to help keep the whole tank lit.

 

[AHBD]

Everything looks + sounds fine. It may be just as Drache said, just slight discoloration during shed. Wait + see how it looks after that part sheds.

 

[ZeroTheDragon]

Everything looks + sounds fine. It may be just as Drache said, just slight discoloration during shed. Wait + see how it looks after that part sheds.

That’s what I was thinking but I figured I would ask the experts/people who can also be in the same boat at myself. I appreciate you for getting back so quickly! It’s really nice to hear everything sounds normal. I really appreciate you and everyone’s help. Besides this and Reddit, our only advice is the vet haha

 

[AHBD]

Always glad to help if we can.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

We are all happy to help out. Reptiles always keep us on our toes, right? Sometimes, it's hard to know
exactly what is going on, but you should be able to determine if it's shed related pretty soon here.
Let us know how things are going!

Tracie