my veiled is walking around his cage with his mouth open but as soon as he sees me looking at him he closes it. he he establishing his territory or is he hot its only 83 in the basking zone and 74 on the other side of his home
Gaping like that is usually a sign that you chameleons is hot.
Do you have a lazer temperature gun?
Take the temperature of his body, and not the air temp around him.
Basking temperature and air temperature can be totally diferent depending on how close your basking bulb is to the highest branch in the cage.