seemingly causeless stress marks

[charizard]

Charizard is an extremely chill guy, lazy but not lethargic. Since he settled properly into his home with us after initial moving stress died out, he hasn't shown signs of stress marks or discomfort for well over a month or two, but this morning he randomly got stress marks towards his lower stomach. They're not too dark at all, but still noticeable since usually his stomach is entirely patternless. Note his beard hasn't changed colour and the marks don't cover his belly fully, just the lower area. His behaviour is normal. The only things that I can think have changed are:

- minor tank changes (shifted his hammock and hide a little to make his basking spot easier to access since he's grown), but this was a couple of days ago and he hasn't had any sort of reaction to it
- he grew out of his 'constantly shedding' phase a few weeks ago and is now shedding for the first time since then (he's around 6-7 months old we think)
- I introduced a humidifier to my room, which I think is most probably the cause because they appeared around an hour after I introduced it (it didn't cause any dew on the inside of his tank, the air just got a little more humid)

Because of the last point I quickly removed the humidifier, his colour lightened back to usual but the marks still remained on his belly, even though it's been about 10 hours, and I would've thought his belly would have returned to normal by now. Could shedding be the cause of stress, or is it merely boredom and that's why the marks seem to calm down when I take him out of the tank for an hour or so? I don't think the tank itself is an issue though, because he never gets stressed just by being in there.

Update: I did take him out of the tank and spent some time chilling with him and the stress marks have cooled a little but I just wanna figure out the problem to see if it's something I can expect with shedding or if it's a result of changes I've made.

Setup - arcadia t5 uvb, standard uva-output reptile lamp
diet - crickets, bok choy, red bell pepper, occasional superworms etc.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Sometimes my dragon Taco - adult, with me since he was 3 months old, no known health issues, setup is on par - also has them. Also sometimes during the day for a while despite seemingly nothing has changed. Then the stress marks are gone after some minutes to hours.
So I think they can occur from time. Shedding also can cause stress marks.

But of course, it is important to figure out if there is really nothing that needs to be changed.

If longer, like you said 10 hours, I'd also check if it's nothing in the room your dragon is in. It might not even be something you have changed, but something he has recognized suddenly. For example, Taco doesn't like a squirrel-shaped black iron nutcracker - it likely reminds him of an angry animal, maybe dragon on his hind legs, black beard.

A humidifier

I introduced a humidifier to my room, which I think is most probably the cause because they appeared around an hour after I introduced it (it didn't cause any dew on the inside of his tank, the air just got a little more humid)

makes some noise, that could irritate him. Also it might be visible for him - the device generally, and the "steam" coming out of it. I'd check by removing the humidifier for now. Normally there should be no urgent reason for it to be there all the time, and if you suspect then it's really the humidifier and you would like one for you, you could try maybe hiding it from him, or try running it very well visible to try if he gets used to it.

 

[charizard]

Sometimes my dragon Taco - adult, with me since he was 3 months old, no known health issues, setup is on par - also has them. Also sometimes during the day for a while despite seemingly nothing has changed. Then the stress marks are gone after some minutes to hours.
So I think they can occur from time. Shedding also can cause stress marks.

But of course, it is important to figure out if there is really nothing that needs to be changed.

If longer, like you said 10 hours, I'd also check if it's nothing in the room your dragon is in. It might not even be something you have changed, but something he has recognized suddenly. For example, Taco doesn't like a squirrel-shaped black iron nutcracker - it likely reminds him of an angry animal, maybe dragon on his hind legs, black beard.

A humidifier


makes some noise, that could irritate him. Also it might be visible for him - the device generally, and the "steam" coming out of it. I'd check by removing the humidifier for now. Normally there should be no urgent reason for it to be there all the time, and if you suspect then it's really the humidifier and you would like one for you, you could try maybe hiding it from him, or try running it very well visible to try if he gets used to it.

Thank you. I'm going to keep the humidifier out for now - it was a little too dry for him earlier so I added it in - but coming to think about it he could see the steam as it was pretty close to his tank and he was definitely squinting at it lol, and it made some noise like you said. He's been out for a wander and some beard scritches and the marks have magically gone away. Fast asleep on my bed now. I'm gonna watch him tomorrow to see if they come back without the humidifier there. If they do then it's probably his shed. Will update. Thank you

 

[ChileanTaco]

@charizard
Some animals also have, by instinct, a fear of things that smell or look like a fire. A humidifier would fit well into "looks like fire" (smoke).