Should I be concerned of color changes?

[Roah]

I've only had my sulcata for a few months so I'm still new to everything. I have two concerns:

1. He has recently started getting lighter brown/white coloring on the edges of the middle lower scute. This area was all dark brown about a month ago.
2. The area between his back scutes seem to be deeper than the scutes around the front of his shell.

Are these both normal or should I be concerned?

Thank you all for any help!

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, it's worrisome. It looks like you may have a light over him in his shelter????? The new growth is being burned. It's very dry and hard.

 

[Roah]

He actually doesn't have a light currently. The previous owners had a red light above him in his hideout, which we only continued for a few weeks before it got too hot to keep it on (we are in southern CA so it's been in the high 90's - low 100's). This color has only started within the last 3 weeks and he hasn't had the light for about two months. He has free range of the yard so he spends a lot of time either out in the full sun or hiding behind bushes and under shaded trees. He also run sprinklers during the day on a portion of the yard, which he seems to enjoy, so he gets plenty of water.