White, discolored head

[relentless]

My roomate and I have been taking care of a couple of old beardies that we adopted from someone who no longer had the time for them. I have a 2 year old beardie named Ace, who I raised from a tiny baby. He's awesome, and quite a fine lookin' dude, but the older 2 dragons are quite haggard after living/fighting together for what we figure must be 10 years(although we're not exactly sure). I've taken it upon myself to try to fatten them both up a bit and give them vitamins and stuff, at least their last few years could be more enjoyable, right? Anyway, Voltron, the male in the tank, has always been a huge character...always runnin' around, bein' bossy, bobbin' his head, etc, but after his last shed, 2-3 weeks/a month ago, we noticed his head had turned color to this wierd pasty white, with a slight light greenish undertone. At 1st we chalked it up to shedding, but then we really took a good look and the white has almost completly taken over the whole top of his head. It seems to go right from his mouth to almost the back of his head. It actually, originally, looked like his back was dark and wet and his head was dry, but that wasn't the case. He still chases after crickets and eats his veggies, but he's definatly not himself...he's slower, and he's kinda clumbsy, or wobbily. Most of his behavioral change has just recently occured, which made us realize it probably wasn't just left-over shed.

Unfortunatly I don't have access to a digital camera at the moment, so I guess I'm just forced to ask if this sounds like anything any of you have ever experienced with an aging dragon? Could it just be the sign that he's too old and he's about to leave this world?

 

[dragonkeeper3]

Does it look like it could be some kind of fungus growing under a retained shed or anything like that?
DK3

 

[SunshineLollipop]

sorry haven't any helpful tips - wanted to see what the answers are as I have a 2yr old female with similar except it's not growing - did think of fungus but decided it was a shedding thing. Hope someone has some answers & hope u don't mind me butting in

 

[relentless]

Does it look like it could be some kind of fungus growing under a retained shed or anything like that?
DK3

No, there isn't any kind of edge around it like there would be with shedding. I'm wondering if it's old age kickin' in, but I don't know many people that have had dragons that got old...half the time I end up takin' 'em! I had one old dragon that eventually passed in his sleep, but nothin' like this happened to him.
So, this isn't a known common problem with Beardies?

 

[dragonkeeper3]

I've dealt a lot with reptiles and I don't remember such a thing. My first reaction at this point would be to treat it with a mild fungus treatment and see if that doesn't help. I don't know of any otc fungus treatments that would be safe to use. I'd send a message to one of the other well known members like Tracy, she might know something. Maybe you could try and put some shed-ease on it and see how that goes. If it is old age could it be a bad retained shed? From the sounds of it my gut tells me that it would be a retained shed that got bacteria under it but I don't know. I'd have to really examen it to know for sure. I hope this helps and all goes well.
DK3

 

[relentless]

I've dealt a lot with reptiles and I don't remember such a thing. My first reaction at this point would be to treat it with a mild fungus treatment and see if that doesn't help. I don't know of any otc fungus treatments that would be safe to use. I'd send a message to one of the other well known members like Tracy, she might know something. Maybe you could try and put some shed-ease on it and see how that goes. If it is old age could it be a bad retained shed? From the sounds of it my gut tells me that it would be a retained shed that got bacteria under it but I don't know. I'd have to really examen it to know for sure. I hope this helps and all goes well.
DK3

Hmmmmm....thanx. I'm gonna try to get some pics if I can. It's hard to describe what it looks like....very pale grey almost...strange. The female's in the tank and doesn't have the same problem?