Hot day, keeps opening his mouth

[Brokaylacham]

Today in California its super hot and my Ambilobe Panther chameleon (Three months old) keeps randomly opening his mouth? He is very friendly so he never does this? Is something wrong? Is it too hot?

 

[etclement]

An open mouth is a chameleon's last resort to get their body temp down, like sweating or panting but a bit more drastic.

 

[Brokaylacham]

Oh okay good, he's also really bright? like his colors are super faded like how it gets when he's about to go to sleep

 

[MSMorgan]

Turn you heat lamp off for tonight and take some temp readings. As mentioned above, gaping is a sign that your cham. is too hot.

 

[Brokaylacham]

Okay, what are temp readings? Also do you mean both lights or just one?

 

[etclement]

Just take the temps of the basking spot and around the cage. Make sure they're normal and not too hot. Temp guns are what I recommend to do this.

 

[Brokaylacham]

Okay thanks, I don't have a temp gun but I think he's better, I just turned on the air conditioning and now its at normal temperature

 

[etclement]

Okay thanks, I don't have a temp gun but I think he's better, I just turned on the air conditioning and now its at normal temperature

Do you have any way to measure temperature?

 

[etclement]

I also recommend getting a temp gun. They're super quick and useful when measuring. The one I got was like $15 on Amazon.

 

[Brokaylacham]

I'll keep this In mind! Thank you.

 

[jamest0o0]

Open mouth is also a sign of respiratory illness, but I agree with @etclement it sounds like heat. If the basking is too hot *usually* theyll just move away from it, but if the ambient is too hot that's when they start gaping a lot of times. Don't keep it in mind, measure the temps. You're slowly killing the cham if you do not.

 

[Brokaylacham]

Oh no! Totally totally, ill get a temp-gun. Yesterday people said it broke a year streak for how hot it was! The temperature is back to normal though.

 

[werecat]

Yes, I'm in SoCal and it's super hot... even near the coast. If you have AC that will help you control the temps on really hot days. I also found my young panther gaping and turned off the basking lamp.

In addition to the temp gun you can use a probe thermometer to measure the basking area specifically. Mine was getting way too hot these past few days.

Another thing to help with cool down is ice cubes on top of the enclosure. Not sure if it helps much but the cold water drips down into the cage. Might provide a little relief.

I hope this heat wave breaks soon!

 

[Beelinn]

I discovered mine doing that this morning. He's in his outdoor enclosure, so no lights or anything, just an open top. Thing is, the sun hadn't even come around to his side yet. But it is so hot, so that had to be it. It got to 98° today in the St. Louis area, so I'm guessing even in the shade, heat was an issue. I moved him to his inside cage for the heat of the day, then back outside as the sun was becoming less threatening.