open mouth

[Spags]

Why is my chams mouth open?

I recently redid my cham tank (like an hour or two ago) and upgrade his lightbulb from a 45 watt to a 60 watt because the temperature in the tank was only at 70-71 and 74 in basking spot. He is 2 months old and is about 3 inches long now he is sitting in the basking spot with his mouth open like pretty wide. is this alright the temperature is 72.5 in the shadier spot and probably 77-80 so is it ok that he has his mouth open or is that a way to tell me its too hot.

 

[Kayroxyoursox]

I think from what I read it's pretty common for them to do that when they are basking and taking in heat. I'm not that experienced with them either though so I would wait for some one who is smarter than me to give some input.

 

[carol5208]

Are you sure your temp gauge is reading right? He should not be gaping at that temp. How close is your branch to the bulb??

 

[Spags]

Are you sure your temp gauge is reading right? He should not be gaping at that temp. How close is your branch to the bulb??

I have at least 4-5 basking places the lowest being around 6 inches from the top and the closest being 2.5 inches. If he is hot why is he staying on this basking spot. My gauge is electronic and I have the exact same one for my hermit crab terrarium and it is currently hanging out the front of the tank due to renovation purposes and it is reading the exact same temperature as my house thermometer is reading

 

[Spags]

Wait wait

so he stopped gaping and never left that spot so i think he is all good. It might have been because the tank was very under heated before and this difference might have been unusual to him.

 

[sapphira80]

so he stopped gaping and never left that spot so i think he is all good. It might have been because the tank was very under heated before and this difference might have been unusual to him.

I think you're probably right. My chams sit in their basking spot and gape occasionally, and they're fine. I think occasionally it's fine as long as they aren't doing it all the time or at the bottom of the cage gaping. My veiled chams yawn too and occasionally do weird stretches.