I was visiting my 5 inch beardie in the pet store the other day, and noticed a bunch of black squiggly stress marks. I've heard of this on beardies when first purchased, but never on ones in the actual store. It's a great pet store, and the set up and everything looks fine. He looks absolutely healthy otherwise. Is this a problem? Should I be worried? I am getting him in a week. He is my first bearded dragon and I really want him to be healthy. Thanks for helping.
I wouldn't worry about stress lines too much. They are common on young dragons and tend to go away. If he's alert and looks healthy otherwise, he's probably fine.
Stress marks are not always actually caused by stress.
When a beardie basks, his back tends to get dark in order to absorb much heat, and the tummy darkens to match. That might be all.
A dark, flared beard is more indicative of being upset.