What is this shiny spot on Jack's skin / scales?

[withouthavingseen]

Hi everybody!

I'm a new beardie owner and my juvenile, Jack, seems to have some sort of breakage in, or spacing between, the scales on his snout area, between and a bit lower than his eyes. I've got photos here from three angles. It's a little shiny. There's another that looks similar but much smaller between and above the eyes.

Other possibly pertinent facts:

Provenance: He was purchased at about 6 inches long, a month ago, and is now almost or about 7". I bought him from Petco, where he was kept in a cage with a dozen or so others.

Feeding: Also, I've just lately I found out that I haven't been feeding him enough - he's been getting 5-10 live small crickets daily, rather than the much higher numbers that I've read about today. I've been trying different fruits with him to no avail; just today I put some kale in his cage and watched him savage a piece - took two or three big bites out of it. That's reassuring.

Cage: His cage is kept at the recommended temperatures. I have a coil UVB bulb by Exo Terra rated at 200 "Intense" on their scale. I know the long Reptisun 10.0 bulb is recommended, but this is what I've bought, and it seems to provide good coverage over his little 10 gallon cage.

Stools: Normally, he's made some good sized poohs in his cage. I'm not sure whether he did yesterday, but I'm paying sharp attention to see whether he does today, especially after the much bigger feeding.

If anyone has any idea what those little breakages or the little malformation are, whether they are signs of anything, or need treatment, I'll be obliged for guidance. Thanks very much.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....Jack is very cute ! Sometimes a few scales don't shed off and stay until they flake off....that's pretty common. Sometimes you'll see the same thing on a little scar [ from a bite ] that has healed but then sheds differently for a while after. Is he housed alone ? By the way, with a 10 gal. tank it is pretty tricky to get the temps. right, with a cool side as well as hot side. As long as you can have one side at 100-105 and the cool side around 80 it's O.K., but it's important to be able to measure temps. accurately. But it sounds like he's a good candidate for becoming a veggie eater...try turnip, mustard, collard and the leafy dark greens from the bagged mixes. Fruits are not necessary because of high sugar content so no need to offer much of those.

 

[withouthavingseen]

Thanks for setting my nerves to rest.

Yeah, he's housed alone. Happily, I work from home for the time being, so I can check the cage pretty regularly. The hot side ranges typically in the low 100* range, and the cool side hovers in the 80s range.

Jack is housed alone. In a few months, I plan on investing in a larger, permament tank - say 50 or so gal. For now, this cage plus plenty of supervised outside exploration time, seems to be OK for him. When I first got him, he resisted being picked up, even to the point of making suicidal leaps and nipping at me. Over time, he's gotten much more chill about the idea, and lets me pick him up and take him out, never with more than a perfunctory little hiss. Usually not even that much. Since he's gotten comfortable with me, I take him out daily at least once for 30-60 minutes and let him run around while I play with him or do my own work. Since starting this frequent exercise, he seems to do things like throw himself at the glass or dance with the glass much, much less. That makes me very happy as well. The dance glassing is fun to watch sometimes, but nobody wants to think that he's driven his pet to suicidal jumps.