Veiled cham has his mouth open

[Chance307]

Hi!
This is my baby veiled cham Pablo. Today he started to have his mouth open during basking.
Is this normal? Is he hot? The basking temp where he's at measured 81F.
This is the first time he's doing this since I've had him. He's been with me for almost a week now.
The rest of his enclosure is measuring 77F. I live in South Texas and its pretty damn hot down here. However, my room has a portable AC that is set at 70F.

 

[kinyonga]

Turn the light off for a bit and see if he shuts his mouth. Let us know.
Does he shut it when you’re not near him?

 

[Chance307]

Turn the light off for a bit and see if he shuts his mouth. Let us know.
Does he shut it when you’re not near him?

He left his basking spot and its closed now. He actually shuts it when I'm near him and after a few minutes when I'm gone its open again.
His lights will go out in 25mins and he's heading to his sleeping spot atm.
He drank water from the dripper...well, he shoots his tongue at it. Is that considered drinking? I read about them licking the leaves but I'm still new in the cham world

 

[MissSkittles]

Little ones can get overheated, which can lead to dehydration. He looks pretty young and depending on your home temps, may not even need a basking light just yet. A basking temp of below 80 would be best. What are your humidity levels like? Ideal is between 30-50%.

 

[Chance307]

Little ones can get overheated, which can lead to dehydration. He looks pretty young and depending on your home temps, may not even need a basking light just yet. A basking temp of below 80 would be best. What are your humidity levels like? Ideal is between 30-50%.

Hi!!
My humidity is usually between 50-60. The lowest I've seen so far was 49.
I just changed his 75W incandescent bulb from Zilla to a 50W from the same brand when his lights went off. Rn the temp is 74F and 64% humidity with his lights off.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi!!
My humidity is usually between 50-60. The lowest I've seen so far was 49.
I just changed his 75W incandescent bulb from Zilla to a 50W from the same brand when his lights went off. Rn the temp is 74F and 64% humidity with his lights off.

If you are able to reduce your humidity, that would be much better. High humidity plus high heat greatly increases the risks for and can cause respiratory infections. How are you measuring humidity - with a digital or analog gauge? Digital with a wire probe end is better, both for measuring humidity and temps. The temp gun is ok, but can’t measure the air where your cutie will be…only surfaces. I would suggest raising your basking light off of the screen, which will help reduce temps a little. With little ones it’s best to do that anyhow as they like to walk upside down along the screen top and can easily get burned. While not very pretty, I just use little wire baskets from the dollar store when I need to raise my lights. It only needs to be a few inches. Also, make sure that the distance between your uvb light and basking area is 8-9” (assuming you are using a T5 with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%).

 

[Beman]

Hi!!
My humidity is usually between 50-60. The lowest I've seen so far was 49.
I just changed his 75W incandescent bulb from Zilla to a 50W from the same brand when his lights went off. Rn the temp is 74F and 64% humidity with his lights off.

Are you using a focused basking bulb? If so it is going to produce hotter temps. For basking you want to measure it with a gauge that has a probe you can hook in at the branch below the heat fixture. Temp guns are not going to give you an accurate temp at basking. Standard incandescent white bulbs are better as they do not produce a hot beam like the focused ones do. Instead they heat up the area.