Mountain horned dragon questions

Question

Skin problems? Or poss  

What is this?   Hi i have a mhd that was purchased about a week ago, yeaterday i went out for the day and left the basking light on, shes in a 20 gallon awuarium and the basking spot is supported by a 50 watt incindescent uvb bulb for heat, thetemperature of the tank is nirmally around 78 and i keep it at 78 at night, anyways when i arrived home he had this whiteish grey spot along his back, i cant find any information in this im hoping its shedding but this is my forst mhd so id rather know exctly whats going on, if you have any info on what this could be please let me know! Also she is a baby, possibly not ven a month old i that changes things and has been lethargic sice getting home and has not eaten much, here is a picyure of whats goig on, thank you so much

Answer
Hi Alana,

Thank you for the photos and I apologize for the delay. Your question went to my spam folder for some reason.

It does not look like shedding. The location, colour and size does resemble a thermal burn.

Is there a climbing branch quite close to the bulb? When you are measuring basking area temperatures you need to place the thermometer at the highest/hottest point that your animal can access. That may mean taping the thermometer to the branch temporarily to get the reading or using a temperature gun.

It seems to defy logic that an animal would sit and allow itself to get burned but  MHDs are humid mountain forest dwellers and not naturally exposed to concentrated, direct heat. He may lack the sensory input pathways to detect excessive focused heat. The same problem exists with reptiles and hot rocks. They don't realize they are being burned when they lay on them.

I have linked a site that discusses treatment recommendations. Good luck.

http://savethereptiles.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/treating-thermal-burns-in-reptil