Random rib cage contractions and wide open mouth.

[MGgoose]

My 3 month old ambilobe panther cham might be sick. He will randomly open his mouth all the way and his ribs and stomach will start rapidly expanding and contracting giving the appearance of a seizure. After he will go on as if nothing happened. Please help me out.

 

[imhotep]

Mee Too

my one month old ambilobes do the same thing ... mine seem to be gasping for air ... appears to be serious cuz their ribs flare out but then they just go on there way ... Is this a symptom of ANY sort ???

 

[Jac1582]

Are you sure it's not a yawn?

 

[MGgoose]

I'm not sure, I haven't heard of a chameleon yawn. But this doesn't seem like a yawn, this is fairly violent seeming. I will try to get a video of it but no promisies.

 

[Lovereps]

In addition to illness, it could also be that he is trying to scare you away.
Respiratory illness is often accompanied by excess mucus in the mouth or lethargy or daytime sleeping/napping or refusal to eat.

 

[MGgoose]

I looked up chameleon yawns and the mouth motion is about the same, but mine has a weird rib cage convulsion going on right after or durning.

 

[Elizadolots]

My first guess is he's trying to be scary. Their rib cages are much more flexible than ours so what looks very dramatic is, for them, not that big a deal.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Would need a film to be sure, but if this is just during/after the first basking of the day it could just be the 'morning stretch' - it can seem surprisingly aggressive.....

 

[Ashleigh]

Mine does this weird yawn in the mornings, usually more when he's trying to pop a shed. He opens his mouth as wide as it will go, puff up as big as he will go, and then wriggle around all weird like a snake almost....it's freaky looking when you first see it lol hopefully yours is just doing something like that and not sick

 

[imhotep]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQzi6XyhEPk&list=PL91FFD2A19BDE1508&index=5&feature=plpp_video


quick video

 

[MGgoose]

It isn't a morning stretch because it happens through out the day. It has been about 2 weeks since he last shed and his skin is starting to look shiny so that might be it. He is just a little 3 month old.

 

[camimom]

We would need to see a vid in order to determine what is going on.

 

[nickb]

I don't want to speak without seeing it... But my 10 mo. Old ambanja does it fairly often. My male veiled used to do it about the same. What you're talking about sounds like it could easily be a yawn. If it looks like he inflates like a balloon and opens his mouth as wide as possible and shakes a bit then that's probably it. All animals that breath oxygen yawn - little bit I learned while researching chameleon yawns

 

[MGgoose]

I am not going to be home long enough to take a video of him for the next few days but I will try to get one up by Friday.

 

[nickb]

Is this what he was doing?

 

[nickb]

Oops video didn't work

 

[MGgoose]

My cell can't transfer it to my computer at all so if you happen to have a video you think might be similar throw it out here.