Yawning throughout the day

[travman1717]

My 5 month old ambilobe has been basking more than usual today and has been yawning frequently throughout the day. I also see he slightly opening and closing his mouth while
Rolling his tongue around inside. I figured that these might be signs of dehydration so I put a cup full of water with a pinhole in the bottom above his cage so drops could land on a leaf he has easy access to. The humidity level in his cage is 50% and the ambient temperature is 75. I'm not exactly sure what the temp is at his basking spot but I am using a zoomed 60w daylight bulb that is in a deep dome fixture atop the screen. His basking perch is 6" below the light. He isn't gaping constantly, but he will hold is mouth open every so often (every 15 mins or so) for maybe 15 seconds and then yawn real wide. I also so him licking branches a lot. Is this behavior that I should be concerned about and what can I do to fix this issue?

 

[Blink]

Gaping can be a sign of multiple different things... overheating, respiratory infection, etc. Please fill out this form so that we can better understand the situation: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[JaxyGirl]

My 5 month old ambilobe has been basking more than usual today and has been yawning frequently throughout the day. I also see he slightly opening and closing his mouth while
Rolling his tongue around inside. I figured that these might be signs of dehydration so I put a cup full of water with a pinhole in the bottom above his cage so drops could land on a leaf he has easy access to. The humidity level in his cage is 50% and the ambient temperature is 75. I'm not exactly sure what the temp is at his basking spot but I am using a zoomed 60w daylight bulb that is in a deep dome fixture atop the screen. His basking perch is 6" below the light. He isn't gaping constantly, but he will hold is mouth open every so often (every 15 mins or so) for maybe 15 seconds and then yawn real wide. I also so him licking branches a lot. Is this behavior that I should be concerned about and what can I do to fix this issue?

Hi welcome to the forum!! You should definitely fill out the "how to ask for help form" because it will tell us a lot of info so we can help you.
It sounds to me the he might be hot among other things. A male should have a basking spot of 85-90 degrees and a femal 80-85 degrees. When it's warm in the summer I use a 25-30 Watt regular incandescent bulb in the winter I switch to a 60 to 75 watt bulb.

 

[travman1717]

CHAMELEON INFO
-Panther chameleon, male, 5 months old. In my possession since July 21

HANDLING
- handled for the first time yesterday, no more than a few seconds to lift him off a house plant and put him back in his terrarium

FEEDING
-eats 8-14 appropriate sized crickets a day from a feeder cup. I put them in around 8am. I feed my crickets the flukers calcium fortified Cricket quencher

SUPPLEMENTS
-I dust the crickets everyday with Exoterra calcium w/out d3. Once every 2nd week with reprisal calcium w/ d3 and once every 4th week with Exoterra multivitamin.

WATERING
- monsoon rs400 automated misting system, every 3 hours from 7am to 9pm for about 20 seconds. I do occasionally see him licking droplets off leaves but not often. Every few days a place a small cup full of water with a pinhole in the bottom atop his cage and let it drip onto a leaf that he can easily access.

FECAL DESCRIPTION
- fecal matter that I have observed has been very normal according to what I have read. However I actually saw him pooping today and the white discharge was extremely watery (sign of dehydration?)

HISTORY
- he has not bitten or hissed at me, he is more of the skittish type but in recent weeks he has become much more comfortable around me. The past two days I have successfully fed him a couple crickets while holdin out his feeder cup.

CAGE INFO
-24x24x36 screen terrarium with glossy rainforest poster wrapped around the top 18" of 3 sides

LIGHTING
- reptisun 5.0 UVB bulb and 60 watt daylight bulb for basking

TEMPERATURE
-75 average daytime ambient, ~85 basking (no thermometer there, basking perch is 6" from top screen), 65 at night

HUMIDITY
Between 45-60% humidity measured by a hygrometer. Live scheffelera and two live ferns.

PLACEMENT
in corner of 10'x10' room, away from vents, small low powered fan that I used when air in room feels stuffy

LOCATION
upstate ny

 

[travman1717]

Also he went to bed very early today, around 5:30pm

And I forgot to mention the top of his cage is about 5' high

 

[junglefries]

Usually the sign of a near shed. They tend to loosen the jaw skin first.

 

[carol5208]

Yes it could be a pre cursor to a shed. If he does not shed soon though, there is something else probably going on. Does he ever hold his nose straight up in the air, especially while sleeping???

 

[travman1717]

Yes it could be a pre cursor to a shed. If he does not shed soon though, there is something else probably going on. Does he ever hold his nose straight up in the air, especially while sleeping???

He usually sleeps vertically on a stem so his nose is pointed upward, but not as if he's holding it up higher to allow for better breathing. He doesn't hold his nose straight up when he's awake

 

[MamatoElvis]

I know this doesn't answer your question but I did want to point out.
Supplement schedule should be
Calcium no d3 very lightly every feeding
Calcium w/ d3 2x per month
Multivitamin 2x per month

Gutloading with flukers is like gut loading with McDonald's.
You need to use something like cricket crack or bug buffet ( check the forum classifieds ) fresh foods apples, mangos, kale, dandelion greens, squash ( search gut loading on the forum )

Also one last thing. Misting for only 20 seconds at a time seems low. Sometimes it takes a long time for a chameleon to decide to begin drinking. I'd try at least a minute.

I'm by no means and expert and maybe a more seasoned member will comment but these are changes I'd make.