Help???

[AaliahReed]

We have a yellow phase Bearded Dragon,
and recently we noticed that his head and tail have gone very dark,almost black, he is eating, temp seems to be ok, he is not shedding,
he is 11 months old, and other than the darkening of colour seems to be in fine health

:bounce:

[Tim Winegard]

Well sometimes that black coloration is a sign of stress.
But for sure I couldn't tell you.
Hopefully hes ok

[eyespy]

I'd for sure get a fecal done to see if internal parasites are stressing him out. Offer him a hiding spot if he doesn't have one, and see if there are any changes to his environment that might be bothering him (can he see Christmas decorations that might be scaring him, for example).

You can try upping temps a few degrees to help him get through whatever is bothering him, sometimes if the temp or humidity in the room drop the dragon feels colder even though the cage temps read the same. Herps are far more products of their environment than we are and are sensitive to very slight changes sometimes.

[AaliahReed]

Hi everyone,
thanks for answering my post,
it turns out he was ..... wellll..... very lonely....
he now has a beautiful new girlfriend,hehehhe
and has returned too his former glory,....
it seems all he needed was a bit of .......
let's just call it company.....

[Tim Winegard]

Well that will make him happy

[eyespy]

Just keep a careful eye on her. He will want to mate frequently, which will cause her stress and might cause her to overlay, which significantly shortens a beardie's life. Female beardies in the wild usually only live for 2-3 breeding seasons because they put so much of their nutritional reserves into egglaying that they literally waste away. In captivity we can feed them up better but it is still hard on a little beardie girl's body.

I sure wish they'd come up with a decent form of beardie contraception. My Rodin is such a little horndog that I actually tie a bandanna over Monet's vent during playdates because she had 5 clutches this year and it had really taken its toll. I didn't want to risk her getting gravid again until her fat pads were back to normal, they had really sunken and she got soooooo skinny. But she scratches and headbutts the glass trying to get to see Rodin, she really loves his company.

I've got 2 juvenile females that I am trying to grow up to her size so she will have some company that won't be such a hardship on her body.