A little concerned

Well I have had my female 2 year old dragon for about 5 months now. About a month ago she started turning really dark periodically throughout the day and even at night. When I got her she was a really awesome white color. She still is that color but sometimes she goes really dark, it's quite hideous actually. Does anyone have a relavant explanation for this? I have read that they turn darker to absorb more light or heat. But why all of a sudden is she doing it now? Do all dragons exhibit this beahavior?

Have you tested her for parisites recently, or have any new decorations in their cage. Both of those could cause the stress shown by darkening up. and what is your feeding schedual. Has she ever been breed or may have slugs?

Never been bred. I haven't checked for parasites. Her stool is solid and holds its shape. No new decorations. She even turns dark while basking sometimes. Around noon every day I feed her fresh greens.(turnip greens, collards, and mustard greens) Every other day I give her a few dubia in the evening but her diet consists of mainly greens. Here are a few pictures. The one where she is in the shoebox is the day I first got her. The other is just now while she is basking. Sometimes she even gets darker than that.

What size cage is it and what lighting do you have, (watage also). you should take her to the vet though and bring a freash fecal sample in a ziplock bag. they can do the test in 10 min and provide meds appropriate for any seen, Min requirements for a adult beardie is a 40 Gal. breeder. sand can cause impaction in beardies when they ingest it with food. if her belly feels like their might be something hard (not poop) in their.
For a 40 Gal, req. a 10.0Uvb light and a 160 w heating bulb. she looks ok, but hard to tell if she might be bloated or she's just puffing herself up. I'd really consider taking her to a vet though. a fecal usually costs round 20-25 bucks. Don't go to Banfeild..IMO they don"t know their reptiles.
Also feeding schedual sounds perfect..do you give her calcium dust on her feeders? or at least once a week?

She is in a 40 gallon breeder. I have a 100 watt Powersun UV mecury vapor bulb. Yes I dust her greens in calcium twice a week and every other dubia feeding. Like I said she just recently started this. Like as I am typing this she is fine and not dark. Sometimes when I take her out of tank and let her on my couch she darkens.

Your care sounds good, but a Vet appointment is needed to tell more about why this is happening. One of my females will darken up when she has parisites. So that may be it. Also they can get parasites from crickets sometimes. let me know how it goes

Thank you so much. So I take it that the theory of darkening up to absorb more heat/light is not true?

No, to warm up they flatten themselves out and may puff up a bit

Originally Posted by DragonLover0423

Like I said she just recently started this. Like as I am typing this she is fine and not dark. Sometimes when I take her out of tank and let her on my couch she darkens.

Maybe shes getting scared when you take her out of the tank. Could be something vibrating or something on the tv that's bothering her.

Limit the amount of handling. Some dragons just want to be left alone. Signs of darkness is never good. Husbandry sounds right, find her a mate haha..

Well she doesn't have parasites according to her fecal. The thing is I haven't changed anything, food or routine wise since I got her. I handle her the same amount as when I got her yet she just started darkening periodically throughout the day. She even does it in her cage sometimes. I wish I knew the reasons.