HELP. New Cham had mouth open.

[lurker9090]

Randomly walked past and saw he had his mouth open. He wasn't gasping for air though. I worked at a pet store and would always see bearded dragon thermoregulating by gasping, he wasn't doing this. Around 10 minutes before I sprayed his enclosure down. Currently Im doing a misting in the morning, once mid day, and once at night. Im doing the mid day misting because I haven't gotten the fogger yet (will be soon). I also have a dripper running all day/night.

Hes 3.5 month old Ambilobe panther. I just got him 1-2 weeks ago. He has been so good, eating his variety of insects well (soldier fly/larva, gut loaded crickets, trying to introduce silk worms+ some horn worms however he is a little scared of those)

I am so terrified.

Yesterday I was feeding him his crickets when one fell in a glass of water I had at the bottom. (I just have it to help keep humidity up and to catch dripper water). Well one of the crickets fell in the water, I picked up the cricket and gave it to my Cham. I realized after the water had a poop in it. I am terrified. Would this get him sick?

I have uvb 6.0, jungle dawn led, and 60w incandescent bulb 7inches away from his back.

 

[Gloriawood]

First of all, welcome! You are in a great place for advice. What are your temps at? I’m not familiar with panthers and I’m still learning about my guy (a veiled). Mine recently has been doing this and turns out that he was just a bit hot. They will also open their mouths when they are near a shed to loosen things up.

I’ll let more experienced keepers give you advice, but I’m sure they will want to know your temps and humidity.

 

[Sherbertsmysunshine]

He could have been startled when you walked past him. how long was his mouth opened for? have you been handling him recently? if so, how often do you?

 

[elizaann2]

They can do this when startled as mentioned above or to cool down. What are the temps at?