Chameleon mouth open a lot
- Thread starter Nicholashubbs410
- Start date
Two things.. It could be that the temps are too hot or that he has a Respiratory Infection (RI). What are your temps? How old is he? Are you running a fogger during the day? An RI has to be treated by a vet with Antibiotics so it is important to figure this out quickly.
We need more information
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
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Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
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- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
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Nicholashubbs410
Member
I have a Mister King misting set up. It runs 6 times a day for 5 minute intervals. He’s 9 months old. Crickets as a staple food. But he also eats hornworms, and super worms. Basking temp is 85-90 degrees . Humidity fluctuates between 50-70 percent during the day. I don’t turn up the humidity at night. He’s had one successful shed since we purchased him. His breathing sounds a little raspy when he opens his mouth.
That is a ton of very long misting sessions during the day. You should listen to this podcast. Depending on where you live there are other things you can do to boost ambient humidity levels if needed without directly spraying the cage. https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-89-naturalistic-hydration-for-chameleons/
And I highly recommend a vet visit to a reptile vet. I suspect an RI. This is something you want to get treatment for ASAP.
Rst_Cham
Chameleon Enthusiast
Agree, definitely sounds like an RI. My cham just got treated for a mild one two weeks ago, luckily I caught it right away and took him in immediately.
You'll want to try to get to reptile vet with chameleon experience today, they can go downhill really fast with RI. My vet said that most people wait much too long to bring their chams in, so she sees a lot of very sick animals. RIs have to be treated with antibiotics.
You'll want to try to get to reptile vet with chameleon experience today, they can go downhill really fast with RI. My vet said that most people wait much too long to bring their chams in, so she sees a lot of very sick animals. RIs have to be treated with antibiotics.
Do you have a good reptile vet? We could get you a recommendation.
Or you can search these lists
Or you can search these lists
Nicholashubbs410
Member
Thank you guys for your advice. He does have stringy saliva, and raspy breathing with his mouth open a ton. I scheduled an appointment this afternoon for a reptile veterinarian visit. Hopefully the antibiotics aren’t too expensive but I will get what I have to. Vets are crazy expensive but he’s my little buddy. Luckily he hasn’t been exhibiting sure fire signs before today, So I think that I caught it in time. What is a good misting schedule?
It is best to do most of your misting during the cooler parts of the day, just after lights on and just before lights off with shorter mistings (10-30 seconds) 1-3 other times per day just enough to maintain minimum humidity and provide droplets for drinking. A cool mist humidifier can be used to raise humidity at night if necessary.
Nicholashubbs410
Member
What did you do to change your misting schedule?
Rst_Cham
Chameleon Enthusiast
I went over everything with my vet but my misting and fogging schedule and everything was fine. She suspects my basking temp was too low so she had me increase it and also had me turn off a little PC fan I was running for airflow, she said Colorado is too dry for that. She gave him injectable antibiotics and that took care of it.
