Discolor head

[Phlip5150]

So my Tegu always had this little bald spot on the top of its head. But after its last shed I noticed two brown colored scales that used to be white. I don't think it's a burn mark because the basking/ UVB light was between 11" to 12" away. Any ideas?....

 

[rantology]

If it's gotten worse I would see if you can take them to the vet to ensure that it's not some kind of infection or skin disease. It almost looks like a missing scale, but that upper scale discoloring is concerning! What kind of UVB light do you use? I've heard, on occasion, stories of UVB/ mercury vapors going bad and blasting out too much UV (burned bearded dragons) - it would be weird if that were the case and it's only damaging a specific part of the head though...

 

[Phlip5150]

It's 100w 10.0 bulb with built in uvb

 

[Phlip5150]

It's always had the missing scale. What was concerning me is the two discoloring scales.

 

[Debita]

Could it just be the developing scar from whatever the injury was before? It does look as if there's something under the scale where the pink has formed. After they shed, the skin seems to be more tender - it could just be revealing a closer look of the original injury. My male is 4 yrs old, and I've had him for 3 yrs. He goes through some skin changes/patches off and on. They seem to heal on their own. Once he ripped his nose up trying to get out of a travel carrier, and it looks really good now, a year later. I would say that the process was extremely slow. A few times that I thought the healing was done, and that I was stuck with a pinkish scale that wasn't there before, but now a year later looks completely back to normal. Of course, if it grows, that's another story.

 

[Phlip5150]

Could it just be the developing scar from whatever the injury was before? It does look as if there's something under the scale where the pink has formed. After they shed, the skin seems to be more tender - it could just be revealing a closer look of the original injury. My male is 4 yrs old, and I've had him for 3 yrs. He goes through some skin changes/patches off and on. They seem to heal on their own. Once he ripped his nose up trying to get out of a travel carrier, and it looks really good now, a year later. I would say that the process was extremely slow. A few times that I thought the healing was done, and that I was stuck with a pinkish scale that wasn't there before, but now a year later looks completely back to normal. Of course, if it grows, that's another story.

Thank You so much for the info. My Wife catches our Tegu scratching at the light while I'm at work so I'm thinking it burned itself. Poor thing....

 

[Debita]

Oh - good news. I mean, that it could just be an injury. They do a lot of stuff when we're not looking!

 

[Phlip5150]

Oh - good news. I mean, that it could just be an injury. They do a lot of stuff when we're not looking!

That's for sure lol