Shedding info for Newbies

[SHBailey]

Puff's third eye is almost invisible, especially compared to Richter's and other beardies I've seen pictures of.

 

[perlaarzola14]

Steve sheds in 3 parts head, tail and whole body including legs and hands.

I love his onesie!

And yes, Richter have a very noticeable third eye. He's always watching... :|

I have no recent shed examples

this is STEVE'S third eye..

ypu can bearly see it in the pic
but is there and is more noticeable in person

 

[Hellcat817]

I've been a beardie mom for about a month now, and Meridia's in torso shed now. She's SO pissy and prefers to be hand fed her crickets, but she really loads up on the salad while I'm at work. Her pattern as I've noticed is tail, head, legs, and torso last. She sorta looks like she's wearing a frilly onesie! She prefers to have a water dish in her tank to soak as opposed to coming out for baths right now, but I get the feeling that she's not gonna be a bath lover in general. This is my first dragon and I've found this site and especially the forum extremely helpful. It's eased my mind to read that my dragon's behavior is normal when she does things I don't understand. Lip smacking, for instance lol. Haven't figured that one out yet.

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Richter's third eye. Super prominent. Like a drill hole.

Alucard, my 3mo dragon, has her shed pattern as tail, and then everything else at once. Poor gal

Glad the forum has helped you out!
Alucard is also a lip smacker, but luckily they can't chap their lips

 

[SHBailey]

I figure the little maneuver where they briefly stick out the tip of their tongue (is that what you mean by lip smacking?) is their way of "tasting" the air, sort of like the tongue flicking a snake does. It's my understanding that they have a "Jacobson's organ" like a snake, so it's an olfactory thing -- most lizards and snakes have a way better sense of smell than us humans.

Lot's of beardies get grumpy when they're shedding too. That's pretty normal. :roll: We're actually pretty lucky that ours seems to put up with it fairly well, usually without any major personality changes.

 

[Lauralou90]

I am a complete newbie to dragon care and I find this site very helpful. Somewhere I saw someone say that the first she'd is a new owners nightmare and I have to say that I agree. My little guy has been gray for days and I have been so worried. I was afraid that he might not be getting enough UVB as he was not acting normal, his appetite was down, and he was turning gray. This website has helped me stay calm and watch for the signs of illness and help him along with his shedding. Today I had a very welcome site.

Thanks to everyone who offers their knowledge here.

 

[neilkd21]

Lol some great shedding pictures.

Our cheeky is currently shedding a collar and weirdly the top left part of his tail Lol, seen the tail shed in parts before but never a strip down one side.

 

[SHBailey]

Yes, it's a big relief with your first shedding experience when you start to see the skin actually coming off, so then you can be sure that was all it was -- why they've been changing color, acting like they don't feel good, etc.

Your little guy's new skin has very pretty colors and markings. He looks healthy otherwise too.

 

[Lauralou90]

Thanks. His energy has shot up and so has his appetite. The only thing he has left to shed is a small patch on the top of his head. He's so red now.

This is him yesterday

This is today

 

[SHBailey]

Cute little guy.

 

[Theelser]

I have had my juvenile beardie for almost a month now, we aren't sure if it is male or female yet since we are new to this and most people keep telling me they are too small to be able to tell yet.

MY question is, is it normal for their eyes to be closed for a long period of time during the day?
I read that it could be them going through shedding. My beardie has just shed their body about 2 days ago, but I didn't see their head start to shed, could that be it? If so how can I tell. I'm new to the world of bearded dragons and I feel overwhelmed Hoping I'm doing a good job of raising Ramen (that's what my sister named it.)

We purchased them at petsmart and bought their tank starter kit (Which I now realize was a bad Idea, it was full of all the wrong stuff and information ) And the ppetsmart assistants kept giving me mixed advice (They even recommended the substrate sand) and I was spinning in circles trying to get all of the proper information and housing tips together.
My beardie was doing great for most of the time we have had them until recently.

Wont eat more than 2-5 crickets a day but will eat plenty of salad. And is keeping their eyes closed most of the day, This morning they felt a bit limp and I just want to know if it's time to take them to the vet or if this is normal or a sign that they are still shedding. Thank you

 

[SHBailey]

It can be normal for beardies to zone out under their heat lamps with their eyes closed sometimes.

Do you have any idea how old yours is? Eating lots of salad is almost always a good thing, but how many crickets a day is age and size dependent for what is normal or good.

They can be a little "limp" first thing in the morning when you turn on the heat lamps because they're still cold and half asleep, but it never hurts to find yourself a good reptile vet and establish a relationship early on. Other than the expense, it never hurts to get a "wellness check" once in a while even if it turns out that there's nothing seriously wrong.

Also, I'm assuming that you just have one beardie, and that you're using "they" as a gender neutral singular pronoun. (Don't get me started on how I think it's high time the English language developed some real gender neutral pronouns... :roll: ) Otherwise, I'd probably be doing the lecture on how it's never a good idea to keep more than one beardie in the same enclosure.

Pet stores are notorious for giving bad advice and selling kits that don't include what you really need. You'll get better advice from the previously mentioned reptile vet.

 

[Theelser]

Yes I only have one haha, I can't tell if it is a male or female yet, they also didn't tell us how old they are.
But When we got them they were about 4 inches long if that helps anything, they are about 6 inches now.

Today they seem to be a bit worse. Wont eat or poop since yesterday so I think it's time for a vet check. Just to make sure it's nothing to be too concerned over.
But they seemed to have opened their eyes again so I'm not too worried

 

[SHBailey]

That's pretty little, so you have a young one. But at least he/she is growing. The vet can probably give you a good educated guess about the age, as well as maybe the gender.

 

[GizmosGrammie]

So I'm curious to know; do they stop shedding when they are full grown adults or do they continue to shed. The reason I ask is my 2 1/2 yr old beardie has just shedded a ton of her skin. For some reason I thought they quit shedding once they quit growing. Any insight would be appreciated.