What's he doing??

[honeybee1985]

Hi,

My cam Cassius has been seen a couple of times lately sitting in his basking spot with his mouth hanging open. Any idea why? He's eating normally and his tongue is in, he just seems to be chilling with his mouth open. Is this normal?

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Amy

Cage Info:

Cage Type - 2ft deep, 2ft5 wide, 3.5ft high, glass fronted with mesh sides and roof
Lighting - linear UVB light, on around 10 hours per day
Temperature - basking spot about 92 daytime, general viv temp around 85 daytime, 10 degree drop at night
Humidity - stays around 50-60%, goes up to 80 after misting which is done 4 times a day for 5 minutes.
Plants - large ficus plant
Location - middle room of home, lots of through traffic as it's near the kitchen. not near any air vents etc. Top of viv is around 6.5ft off the floor as it's on a cabinet.

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Adult male veiled (aprox 1 year), been in my care since christmas day 08.
Handling - I don't unless I absolutely need to or he initiates it.
Feeding - He eats around 3-4 silkworms daily and a few crickets.
Supplements - Calypso calcium supp, all crickets are dusted with this, nutrobal supplement dusted on crickets once a month.
Watering - Mist for 5 mins 4 times a day by hand, I have seen him drink but not all the time.
Fecal Description - Poop seems normal. White runny stuff, more solid black stuff. Never been checked for parasites by myself but appreantly was at the pet shop.
History - Not a clue. Rescued him from a pet shop and they didn't seem to know a great deal.

 

[dodolah]

Since chameleon doesn't sweat, basking with mouth gape open is their way to release some heat back.
Usually, that means the enclosure is a bit too hot.
I would lower the ambient temp to 80F.

Do you use one of those zoomed analog thermometer to read the temp?

 

[sandrachameleon]

Place a digital temp gauge at the bottom most branch, read the temp there.
Then read it in the middle of the cage, and then in the basking spot. 85F is too hot for the ambient (middle or lower part of the cage). Like dodolah suggested, 80F or even 75F is better for the lower/cooler end of the cage.

Does the chameleon make any odd noises when its mouth is open?

Is it doing this mostly when there is lots of traffic walking by him? Is his "chin" jutted out?

 

[BocaJan]

Turn the basking light off for awhile and mist her down good. She should close her mouth right away and be much more comfortable. You might have to raise the basking light a bit.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I agree that the temperatures are over all too warm.
A 92 degree basking spot would be fine if he could go somewhere else in the enclosure to cool down when he needed to.
85 is only 7 degrees less.
There need to be areas that are in the low to mid seventies.
I would reduce the wattage on the basking bulb or raise the fixture, as BocaJan recommended.
I believe he will stop "panting" once you have corrected the temps.

-Brad

 

[honeybee1985]

That explains it! Thanks guys I'll make sure the temps are lowered a bit. He doesn't make any starnge noises or jut out his chin so it's not an aggression thing (we know that side of him very very well - he's a grumpy little guy), the over all temp being too hot would make sense. Yeah we do use the zoomed thermometers. Only one at the basking spot and one at the bottom though. I'll go out first thing and buy another for the middle of the viv.

Thanks again for your help