Too hot

[vangarret2000]

I noticed when I stopped at home my cham was gaping his mouth a little and was basking. It was open wider then in the pic but he closed it some when he saw the camera.

I know they gap when they are hot. My question is if he was hot why wouldn't he just leave the basking spot? The rest of the tank was cooler. The basking area around him was around 88-90. The temp on himself was 95

 

[Kmw]

My panther gapes and gets too hot around 89 sometimes even. He also doesn't just leave the area sometimes.. maybe they want to be in the light and heat.. just not so hot? People stay in the sun even if its too hot often.

 

[Slug]

My Senegal is doing that right now as well. It is right under the new basking bulb I put in today, same temp as yours too. I turned off the old bulb to give it a better temp gradient in the cage.

Funny thing, once I added the new bulb, the cham couldn't sit still! It wanted to re-explore the whole cage, and even outside of the cage, including my arms and back.

Now if I could just get it to eat some food...

 

[ChamMan7]

A basking spot with a temp of 95 is way too hot. He may not move but you should drop the temp down closer to 85 or 86 so he doesn't over heat which is what seems to be happening to him.

 

[IronHulk]

Same exact thing today with my Male jackson's , I shut off his basking lamp today at around 2pm he closed his mouth, and at last check was sitting right under the cool mist....

 

[Solid Snake]

A frog placed in a pot with cool water, and set on a burner, will not jump out when it gets to hot. It will sit there and cook.

While chameleons do seem to regulate their own heat to some extent, it is my belief that primarily, they only know when they are too cold, as they cant really move much.

Mine do seek out shaded areas when it is hot, but there is a reason you cant have the basking area over a certain temp, because they will cook themselves.

Otherwise we could use whatever watt bulbs we wanted, 100w, 150w, 200w, and they would just hide in the cooler areas.

Its been hot almost everywhere these past few days.
On hot days, I have had to switch out my heat bulbs for lower wattages, as I just couldnt keep the ambient temp as low as it usually was.

Ive even had to turn the basking light completely off to get things livable for them.

 

[PantherEnvy]

You can adjust your temp lower by simply raising the lamp.

 

[Rango09]

Most reptiles not just chames, do not have that reflex or instinct like we do. When we get near fire our reaction is to quickly move away, they most of the time don't realize their skin is burning off. It is safer to have the lamp at least 3-4 inch away from the cage or the plant or whatever it is that he rests on :], or turn it off for a bit whenever you see it to hot!

 

[Slug]

Update!

It finally ate! 1 cricket is a a step in the right direction. I actually saw the tongue shoot out and get the cricket, then swallow it and all.

Good day overall.

 

[Elizadolots]

Yay!

Going back the original quandry, I think they have conflicting instincts...they want to stay in the light. The light helps them digest food. The light is good....but they are hot in the light, so they compromise by gaping to cool down. To me it means that the basking spot is a bit too hot. You really do want them to be able to bask in the light without being too hot.

 

[Swayne8998]

First, lower the wattage. Second, maybe try misting his cage with cool water every once and a while.