white tummy scales turning brown?

[EzzieM]

hi! My beardie's tummy has individual scales that are turning brown.
I check every day to make sure there are no crickets hiding somewhere in her cage, so it's not that, and everything in the viv is good, I did my research on that too. what else could it be?

she is preshed now, but the brown scales started happening before her shed. First it was one or two but now its a bunch of them and some on her tail. I didn't think it was a big deal until it spread.

pic:

 

[duke11]

Hi, I don't know exactly what is happening to your dragon, but just to be clear, I'd like to ask some questions.

What substrate are you using?
What UVB bulb are you using?
What are your temps (basking, cool side, hot side)?
What do you use to take your temps?

I know that when they're stressed, they're scales will start turning black. I'm not sure about brown though.

 

[EzzieM]

Substrate: Millet with a little calci sand (I mist and water out of tank so that it doesn't sprout, and change it every two weeks. It's the only substrate that she can burrow in and stay cool enough. the rest absorb too much heat and the tank is impossible to keep stable otherwise)

UVB:reptiglo 8.0 (there's three- she's in a 110 gal)
Temps: cool side: 80 basking: 100
Temp takers: both digital and dial (I'm paranoid)

as far as stress goes, she seems fine. behavior is completely normal, no stress spots or black bearding (unless she tries to chase my dog when she's out of the tank)

her scales look like they're "burnt" but there's nothing in her tank for her to lay on that would "brown" her scales like that. no heat rock, nothing. (see picture in original post)

 

[duke11]

Your setup seems fine. I can't think of anything that could be wrong with her! I'm sorry I'm not much of a help. I'll PM someone for you so they can help you.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Did you say that she had shed her belly or not? That looks like a shed that is getting ready to come on.
Your setup looks fine, no problem with that.
What is the humidity of the tank?
The only problem I see is if the millet & calcisand gets too moist & retains the moisture you could have a mold issue starting in there possibly.
I know our dragon's bellies start to look odd before they shed. How long has it looked like that?

Tracie

 

[Schwoob]

my beardies do that i belive its the scale sperating from the body it should go away after they shed, but keep an eye on it.

 

[EzzieM]

Hello,

Did you say that she had shed her belly or not? That looks like a shed that is getting ready to come on.
Your setup looks fine, no problem with that.
What is the humidity of the tank?
The only problem I see is if the millet & calcisand gets too moist & retains the moisture you could have a mold issue starting in there possibly.
I know our dragon's bellies start to look odd before they shed. How long has it looked like that?

Tracie

Yes, she has shed her belly and the brown scales are still there, some of them look shriveled now. I wasn't worried about it until she shed and it was still there.
humidity is around 30% (the hygrometer has 3sections 1 labeled desert, then moderate, then tropical. the dial stays in desert)
calcisand and millet: I don't water or mist inside the tank and I change the millet every two weeks. I check every day for moisture, sprouting or mold and have not had a problem with that at all yet.

 

[EzzieM]

so, uh.. I don't know if anyone is even following this one any more, but she shed her tummy again (kind of, the layer is detached from her tummy but is still connected to the part of her chest that hasn't shed yet at all.)

basically she just shed her tummy two times in one week... I didn't know they could do that... but the brown scales seem to have come off with the second layer.


should I be concerned about her shedding her tummy twice in one week?

OH! and she's stopped eating and started digging a lot... can't feel any eggs though.

shed and eggs at the same time?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That can happen sometimes if the skin doesn't come off fully with the first shed, another one will follow shortly afterward. Or, maybe not all of it came off the first time anyway.
So she is not eating right now?
Has she ever laid infertile eggs before?
How often do you supplement the calcium for her? Just incase she has eggs make sure she is getting calcium at least 3 times a week. If she is gravid you can increase it to 4 times per week.
Are all of her temps optimal for her?

Tracie

 

[EzzieM]

Hello,

That can happen sometimes if the skin doesn't come off fully with the first shed, another one will follow shortly afterward. Or, maybe not all of it came off the first time anyway.
So she is not eating right now?
Has she ever laid infertile eggs before?
How often do you supplement the calcium for her? Just incase she has eggs make sure she is getting calcium at least 3 times a week. If she is gravid you can increase it to 4 times per week.
Are all of her temps optimal for her?

Tracie

not really eating. I can kind of coax her to eat a cricket or maybe two if I hand feed them to her, but that's like... nothing in comparison to what she usually eats... she's ravenous!

She laid a clutch with the previous owner last year but she was too young and I was told that they didn't know whether or not they were fertile. they just threw the eggs away. (they had her housed with a male twice her size... so I don't doubt that they were fertile.) I got her from them about 3 months ago so even these ones could be fertile.

I give her calcium every time she gets crickets (which is every other day.) she gets mealies/waxworms or butterworms on the cricket off days. since it's every other day, calcium supplement is either 3 or 4 times per week depending on the week. she is offered "greens" first every day... she doesn't always eat them all.

Temps are optimal for "normal" (cool side: 80-85 basking 100-110) with both digital and dial thermometers because I'm paranoid. lol

woo there's so much more to females... lol I'm used to the boys

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

If you are pretty worried about her behavior & she is not eating, but you are not sure if she is gravid I would most definitely get an x-ray on her & maybe a blood test to make sure there is nothing else looming which could be causing her to be less active etc.
How is she doing today?
The temps are perfectly fine, & the digitals are great as well so no problems there. Does she bask regularly too?


Tracie

 

[EzzieM]

Hello,

If you are pretty worried about her behavior & she is not eating, but you are not sure if she is gravid I would most definitely get an x-ray on her & maybe a blood test to make sure there is nothing else looming which could be causing her to be less active etc.
How is she doing today?
The temps are perfectly fine, & the digitals are great as well so no problems there. Does she bask regularly too?


Tracie

She shed a ton last night, she woke up early to scratch herself (I came in and she was rubbing herself all over the rocks LOL) so I dusted some crickets, she ate about 30 large ones and some kale. she's been running around today and digging in the sand in her viv, so I also put her in a lay box but she didn't do anything there.
I set it up in her viv so she can get to it, I thought maybe she was stressed with me moving her in and out of it and just wanted to be left alone. (I check on her every half hour or so)

Yes, she basks off and on all day. Her tummy keeps getting fatter. :| maybe she's just not ready. lol *sigh* I am going to make an appointment for her tomorrow at work to have the vet take a look at her, I just wanted to make sure i wasn't just being a worrywart before I did that.