Too close to basking lamp?

[flashburn]

So I came in and saw my dragon had climbed up his fake rock background and was sitting literally about 3 inches away from the bulb with his mouth wide open. I double checked his basking spot where he normally sits, and it was exactly 105 degrees. What's the deal? Do they just sometimes like some extra heat? He is only about 4 months old.

 

[daner923]

He probably wanted it a bit warmer. I wouldn't worry about it too much. You could try raising the basking spot to 110F at that age.

 

[flashburn]

Okay, thanks.

One other thing I noticed is that his body coloring is really pale right now, but all of his extremities are much brighter. It doesn't really fade either, basically as soon as it reaches his head/legs/tail it just changes from pale to darker coloring.

 

[daner923]

His body is getting ready to shed. They tend to shed in sections.

 

[flashburn]

Gotcha, thanks. I was actually just searching the forum a bit, and read basically the same thing, so that's good to hear. I just wish he would eat more. At best he is eating maybe 20-30 small crickets or reptiworms a day.