Bearded dragon makes clicking sound

My bearded dragon is arond 10months, recently ive noticed he's making this clicking sound. Im not sure if he does it when hes annoyed or if maybe theres something wrong with him. i dont hear it all the time, he made the noise earlier when i picked him up, he didnt seem very happy, he puffed out his beard and started making this clicking sound. hes also made the noise when hes alone in his viv and not with his beard puffed out. He seems ok though, eating, basking and wandering around as usual. anyone have any ideas?

Do you see any saliva when he opens his mouth? I associate the clicking noise with a URI (upper respiratory infection). In slight cases it can be dealt with by upping the temps at night as well for a couple of weeks making sure your beardie is spending lots of time basking. In cases not so mild to severe it would take a vet to prescribe an antibiotic to do the trick. With URI's it's very important to catch them quickly.

This issue should be taken to a vet. It sounds to me like he has a URI.

What are his temps?
Substrate?
What type of UVB?
What are you feeding?
Do you mist? Bath?

Please be specific.

He is on Repti bark
He gets fed hoppers, collard greens, butternut squash and occasionally red bell peppers.
Ive bathed him once last week
Im at work at the moment so will get back to about tha uvb and temps but i do monitor them and they all seem fine.
ive booked an appointment at the vets.
Thanks

Repti bark is a TERRIBLE substrate! Remove it IMMEDIATELY and replace it with carpet, tile, papertowels or newspaper.

Temps should be monitored regularly. You can get thermo's that have a probe on it and you can lay them where you measure temps at so that you don't have to worry about it.

Is there a water bowl in the tank? Do you mist your beardie?

I mist him occasionally when hes shedding, I do have a water bowl in his viv. His uvb is is a reptiglo 10.0. He is now on Newspaper.
Thanks for you help.

I do see saliva occasionally its not thick or discoloured. Ive now booked an appointment at the vets, thankyou for your help.

That's good better safe than sorry a URI can take a beardie down quite quickly when not treated promptly. :wink:

Remember that if you are prescribed an antibiotic that it's best to also use a probiotic too it will help to replace the good gut flora that the antibiotics kill. This way it lessens the discomfort to your beardie and doesn't kill their appetite.

Reptiglo isn't a good bulb. You also may want to consider baths instead of misting and removing the water bowl. This causes high humidity thus causing a URI.

Please update us.

How is he doing?

I merged both your threads to make it easier for everyone to follow.

Please update us when you can.

Thanks everybody for you help and concern, his vet appointment is in 2 days. he seems t be doing ok at he moment, hes eating, basking and generally doing what lizrards do. i havn't heard the clickin sound for a few days now, hopefully ive caught it in time and he'll make a full recovery. ill keep you updated.

I took him to the vets a few days ago, originally the vet thought it was a URI so he was kept in for xrays to ensure it hadn't progressed into pneumonia. After viewing the xrays though the vet found that some liquid had formed round his abdomen that is pushng on his lungs as he breathes which is causing the clicking sound. so its not a URI. The vet took a sample of the liquid which turns out to be blood, its not pussy or septic so thats good but we've no idea how this has hapenend it could be that hes had a fall and knocked himself but this hasn't happened to my knowledge unless its hapened when im not about or it could be a growth. It is beng investigsted further and he may have to have an ultrasound, first though he has been referred to a specialist vet from our local zoo who is going to look at him in 2 days. Hopefully they'll find out the root of the problem. You wouldn't actualy know there was a problem by looking at him, he's eating, basking and moving about as always so it dosn' look like its causing him any discomfort. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for the update! I really hope that things work out for him. Please keep us updated. I am very interested to see what the vet has to say.