Lilly #2 gaping mouth under heat lamp?

[LBonawitz]

My boyfriend just pointed out that lilly#2 was gaping her mouth while sitting under her heat lamp, like collecting rays in her mouth. of course i used the opportunity to spray water in her mouth, but why was she doing that? thats the first time i've ever seen that

 

[Pure]

Your lamp is too hot. Young Chams don't know how to regulate temp very well so instead of getting out from under the light they Gap their mouths to cool off. Put a rheostat on the lamp or get a lower wattage bulb. 85 should be the max temp of the basking spot for a young veiled.

edit: Just remembered who you and lilly2 were. She's too sick to move out from under the lamp. The temp is still too hot.

 

[Miss Lily]

She is hot, and gaping is their way of cooling down. The temp in the basking spot is probably too high. What is the basking temp? I know my Lily would sit and gape when out in the sun, but she would not move into the shade even though she had some! They don't always realise that they should move when they get too hot. I had to physically move Lily's cage into the shade to cool her down! They can be very stubborn (or stupid - not sure which, lol!)

 

[gary1621]

Hmm i think stubborn anything that can do all that they can with their eyes and limbs has to be 'not stupid', hehe, i didnt want to say clever because i couldnt see Peanut working out a math problem

Im having the same problem with the gaping at the moment... have decressed the bulb twice from the one the rep shop gave me Got to find a 30W or 20W bulb tomorrow, i might look into a rheostat thing too... can we get them here in the UK or are they called something else?

 

[summoner12]

She was just warm. they open their mouth to equalize temps in the body. it normally means they are trying to cool off.

 

[LBonawitz]

okay. thank you. i moved her away from it. (its only a 60W.) but if shes too hot shes too hot. thank you for letting me know that.

Problem solved

 

[summoner12]

okay. thank you. i moved her away from it. (its only a 60W.) but if shes too hot shes too hot. thank you for letting me know that.

Problem solved

You don't really need to take it away... as long as she isn't burning herself, shes fine. You just need to take other factors like ambient temp into consideration. If she can easily remove herself from a hot spot but chooses to sit there then she might just be warming up. If the room temp is very warm than you need to turn the light off and cool the room.

 

[LBonawitz]

she doesn't really have to ability to move away from it. if i put her lower she can climb up, but to climb back down... she can't, its just too much for her at this point. her grip is far too weak. she still falls alot and hangs by her tail. i've tried moving branches to allow her to move around, but its the downward angle that trips her up.

 

[Pure]

If you search the forums for My Veilds life as a dog..or something like that. You will find a thread where the member put a hammock in the enclosure for the elderly Cham. Might wanna look into getting her something like that until she regains her strength.

Just a suggestion.

 

[LBonawitz]

ooh good thinkin' thanks!