Open mouth breathing....questions...

[Beardiesrock84]

Hello world of Beardie lovers....
So My new rescue Gordo.... I have noticed him sitting in his basking spot and lately starting to open his mouth as he's sitting there, just open it and chill...I've heard this can happen because they are to hot? Or maybe its just a normal thing? I'm not sure and I was wondering if any of you knew? With all my readings I have found, I have his home set up correctly and at the right temperatures....Just curious if anyone had any info?

 

[Augie]

You are right - they typically open their mouths to release heat. What's the basking temp at? Do you have a heat probe and, if so, where is it at? And how often does he do it?

 

[Germ]

This is quite normal activity & is not cause for any concern at all if your basking temp is in the vicinity of 110F. It is one method that they use to thermoregulate their body temps slightly. I call it just being to darn lazy to move a little further away from the bulb . If they feel they are really too hot or uncomfortable at a given time & a cooler area (80-85F) is provided, they will move on their own. They know what they need at any point & time, much better than we do. Our job is to provide the proper options for them to choose .

 

[Beardiesrock84]

I have a heat probe and I set it under the light for about 30 minutes to determine what the temperature was and it read 107. I normally keep it in the corner a little further away from the basking lamp but I also have a thermometer at the back of the tank up top that I check as well.
As for him being to lazy to move...that totally makes sense. He loves laying on the rock formation I made him under his light, thats where he is most often or on top of his log, I have paid closer attention and after about an hour of him laying with his mouth open he will move to the top of his log in the cooler region of his tank.
I was just curious because he does it almost everyday and he does it quite often as well.

 

[Augie]

Yah I'm with Germ. As long as you're taking a temp reading where he normally sits and it's around the 105 degree range (because i think you said he is an adult in another post right?) you just have a lazy dragon. Mine seems to run over to the cool side and demand to be fed, so you take the good with the bad I guess.

 

[Beardiesrock84]

He is an adult, I rescued him and his assumed age is about 3 1/2 years. He's lazy unless he wants attention ahaha... Hes beginning to do alot of "dancing" when I get near the tank