Odd Behavior

[KatelinLovesCommah]

Today I came home to find Commah (4 month old Vield) sitting on his basking spot- directly under his UVA/UVB bulb- with his mouth wide open. I know they do that to cool themselves off- so I immediatly checked his temps. On his spot it was 90 degrees, the day cool area was just around 80 to the south of his cage. The humidity was ALITTLE low, but not dry by far.
I feel like if he was too hott he could have moved away from DIRECTLY under his light. Is this "normal"? I'm worried about him.

Thanks all.

 

[ChameleonMom]

It is normal to a point, if you can call purposely overheating yourself 'normal'...lol. In a perfect world a cham should move to a lower gradient to cool down but they don't always do that. I would perhaps give him a bit of extra water and keep an eye on him. Don't worry, it can be normal in its abnormalty!

 

[FrankTheTank]

My iguana would do that. I just would move his lamp so it wasnt directly over a branch, and that seemed to solve the problem

 

[DavidBuchan]

I think most of us have seen them do that, so it is normal. It would be best for a 4 month old to have a slightly lower basking temp (about 85F) for just this reason. When he gets older he will understand better about walking away from the lovely heat bulb when he's had enough.
An ambient temp of 70F in the cooler corner is enough.

 

[KatelinLovesCommah]

alll youu guysss.

Thanks so much for all the advice!

 

[coldbloodedAL]

What are you using to monitor temps?

Some thermometers and hygrometers can be very inaccurate

 

[lovepicasso]

My 4 month old veiled will sit below his basking bulb, 90 degrees and will open his mouth wide....than he will move down a limb or two to get to a little cooler spot....I'm sure yours will do that when he is ready to cool off.