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.

 

[Chance307]

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.

Im using this one now:

I used to have a 75W from the same brand but it was not round like the one in the picture, it was flat. Is that a beam bulb? That's the one he had when his mouth was open.

 

[Chance307]

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%).

I stopped misting twice a day, and only do it in the afternoon. Humidity went down to 52. Is that okay?
Switched my basking bulb to a 50W

 

[BleuSaphir]

You can omit the heat bulb until winter time. If he still opening his mouth?
My Veiled is a lot more older and I do not use any heat bulb due to being summer and experiencing heat waves. My room gets already hotter in the summer time. Therefore I have omit any heat bulb actually throughout the year. I have notice when temperature is above 81, it definitely time to spray the enclosure and leave the door open to allow cooler air exchange via swamp cooler or let the AC on to cool down. Which ever for me.

 

[Beman]

Im using this one now:
View attachment 364274

I used to have a 75W from the same brand but it was not round like the one in the picture, it was flat. Is that a beam bulb? That's the one he had when his mouth was open.

Correct the flat bottom bulbs produce a focused heat which can be hotter and intense. 75 watt also can be a little too high in most cases unless the fixture is lifted well off the top of the cage. The new bulb should work better. Now you said the ambient temp in the rest of the cage was 77 but your air conditioner in that room keeps it 70. So a few questions here because you want ambient temp in the cage to be lower closer to 70 to low 70's that way they can move in and out of temp gradients. Basking try to keep more at 78- 80 for baby. He is still quite young so they can be more sensitive to hotter temps.

So with the new bulb where are your ambient temps sitting?
Is the screen sides of the cage open for air exchange?

Having basking where it needs to be for babies is important as they are taking down a lot of food and need to be able to digest it. Due to this you will see babies basking much more than an adult will.

 

[kinyonga]

You said…”He drank water from the dripper...well, he shoots his tongue at it. Is that considered drinking?”…he would likely get some small amount of water if his tongue is getting dripped on…but it would be better if you could drip the water, at the rate of one or two drops per second, on the very end of his nose so he could drink the water in.

These might be of help to you…see how the chameleon is drinking from the dripper?

 

[LizardLurkin]

I used the method in the video @kinyonga shared, and it's super simple and effective.
Old photo, but you can also get a little cute with it, depending on what sort of plastic containers you have laying around.

Temperature probes will end up giving you a more accurate reading than a temp gun. I have my basking light fixture hooked into this helpful little gadget. You can control the temps with it too, as it dims based on your selected temperature.

 

[Chance307]

Correct the flat bottom bulbs produce a focused heat which can be hotter and intense. 75 watt also can be a little too high in most cases unless the fixture is lifted well off the top of the cage. The new bulb should work better. Now you said the ambient temp in the rest of the cage was 77 but your air conditioner in that room keeps it 70. So a few questions here because you want ambient temp in the cage to be lower closer to 70 to low 70's that way they can move in and out of temp gradients. Basking try to keep more at 78- 80 for baby. He is still quite young so they can be more sensitive to hotter temps.

So with the new bulb where are your ambient temps sitting?
Is the screen sides of the cage open for air exchange?

Having basking where it needs to be for babies is important as they are taking down a lot of food and need to be able to digest it. Due to this you will see babies basking much more than an adult will.

Thank you!!
So I've had the 50W for a few days but his climbing had increased a lot more. So I tried a 75W again, but the same style as the 50W (not the flat 75W I had before) and everything seems to be okay now. He hasn't opened his mouth or climbed.
I just got 3 waterproof switchbot thermometers/hygrometers. But im still trying to figure out where to place it exactly. I know it should be by his basking branch and in the lower end of the enclosure, I just need to see where it wont bother him cause he does get scared of everything still.
All screen sides of the cage are open tho, yes!

 

[Chance307]

You said…”He drank water from the dripper...well, he shoots his tongue at it. Is that considered drinking?”…he would likely get some small amount of water if his tongue is getting dripped on…but it would be better if you could drip the water, at the rate of one or two drops per second, on the very end of his nose so he could drink the water in.

These might be of help to you…see how the chameleon is drinking from the dripper?

Thank you!! I have moved the "hose" of the dripper to a different area so he can access it easily. Just waiting to catch him drink