Okay, I’m really worried now. I’m hoping this is not an emergency and our beardie is okay!
Out of the blue he keeps opening his mouth! I panicked thinking he was choking. But then he closed his mouth. But then he opened it again… We looked it up and found that some beardies do this to regulate their heat when basking (and he was in his basking spot at the time). He hasn’t moved from his basking spot. This began at approx 6 PM (it is now 9:27 PM). I watched him, and he seemed to stop, but he’s now doing it again. So, I’m not sure if he stopped or just figured “good, now you’ll stop staring at me. “ (of course I’m kidding. Then again? …)
Here’s what happened prior, and the conditions of his viv…
He’s 4” long (from what I’m finding out, he’s not much bigger then a hatchling). We adopted him on Saturday from a pet store. I’d been visiting him for 2 weeks prior and he’d not grown. Thanks to onlymediocre here we’ve made a couple of important changes (UVB bulb and night heat lamp).
He is in a 20 gallon tank, bedded on reptile eco carpet. He has a large branch, an house, and a mini-house (which I used to keep some water in as he seemed to like going in it on occasion, but took out the other day).
He has a reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb that runs the length of his viv. A 100 W powersun UVB lamp (also a red infrared heat lamp, but we’ve stopped using that).
The night before last the humidity went up to 45%. We had a small amount of water in his viv, and I took that out. The next morning it was 50%, and last night 60%. It’s been raining here. I decided to turn on the A/C (we don’t need it, but it would help to take out the humidity. A dehumidifier would be too hot for our home at this time of year). Now, as it turns out, we only had the digital thermometer at the resting end of the tank (was in the middle, but got moved temporarily and hadn’t changed it back that day). After turning on the A/C, the humidity went down to 45 degrees. Temp was approx. 85 degrees.
When he started to open his mouth, I moved the thermometer to his basking are to make sure the temp was okay. Temp was approx. 105 degrees to 115 degrees (depending on how close to light), and humidity is only 20% at that end.
(Yes, we just bought dial thermometer and hydrometer to stick on the back today.)
Diet: He’s been eating gut loaded crickets from the pet shop. They are small crickets. I introduced dandelion greens and collard greens. He began eating them on Monday after many tries (he never had greens at the pet shop.). I hand feed those to him.
Yesterday I introduced phoenix worms to him as a mid-day feeding (crickets in AM and PM, greens and a couple of hours later, phoenix worms). Yesterday was his best eating. He ate 6 crickets in the AM and 6 in the PM. He did not want his greens yesterday, but a couple of hours later he ate 9 phoenix worms (they are very small. I rinse the bedding off of them in water).
Yesterday we had a scare. When I fed him the Phoenix worms, after the 9th one he kept opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out. I got nervous then, and my son realized he had a hair hanging from his mouth, so he picked him up and gently pulled it out of his mouth. He, apparently, begun to swallow a large piece of it :O He was fine after that.
I have long hair, so it was my fault
I don’t know how that happened. I pull it back now, before I feed him.
This morning he ate 7 crickets. He did not want any of his greens this afternoon. He ate 3 phoenix worms. After he ate the three phoenix worms, I misted him (hadn’t given him a bath). I was told they enjoy that, and he is usually okay with it, and sometimes lick the water, but he didn’t seem to care for it this time.
About 15 minutes after I misted him (which is also approx. the same amount of time since he’d eaten the phoenix worms) is when the mouth opening started! Now he was in his basking spot.
Now, he was doing it moments before I fed him this evening. He did eat 5 crickets then went back to his basking spot.
Also, this afternoon, before the phoenix worms and open mouth incident began, he seemed to be developing stress marks, and I’ve no idea why. When I took him out to pet him, they lessened.
Just before feeding him tonight, when he was opening his mouth, the stress marks were darker. After eating, they are lighter.
His eyes and nose appear to be clear. I don’t see a discharge. He’s not as active as he normally is. He’s been basking most of the day. Since he began the open mouth, he’s been in the same spot. He came down to eat and catch the crickets. Cute, actually… he’s become accustomed to our moving his stuff about to catch the left over crickets when he is done. He just sat on his log while we slid it back and forth to catch the crickets, as if watching a show. LOL.
Is the open mouth normal? I have a pic of him with his mouth open, if that will help.
Thanks!
Oh, I did do one other thing… I turned his large log around, as I thought he may want to climb close to the heat source. So, I just turned it back in case that was bothering him. It’s a large log that twists and he can lie down under the light or at various points around it. He was *not* on the high point when he began the open mouth.
Okay, freaking out, again. Was just about to hit send and mention that I’ve not noticed him doing the open mouth for approx. an hour (that’s not to say he wasn’t, but every time I looked over he wasn’t.). He just started to do it, again
Out of the blue he keeps opening his mouth! I panicked thinking he was choking. But then he closed his mouth. But then he opened it again… We looked it up and found that some beardies do this to regulate their heat when basking (and he was in his basking spot at the time). He hasn’t moved from his basking spot. This began at approx 6 PM (it is now 9:27 PM). I watched him, and he seemed to stop, but he’s now doing it again. So, I’m not sure if he stopped or just figured “good, now you’ll stop staring at me. “ (of course I’m kidding. Then again? …)
Here’s what happened prior, and the conditions of his viv…
He’s 4” long (from what I’m finding out, he’s not much bigger then a hatchling). We adopted him on Saturday from a pet store. I’d been visiting him for 2 weeks prior and he’d not grown. Thanks to onlymediocre here we’ve made a couple of important changes (UVB bulb and night heat lamp).
He is in a 20 gallon tank, bedded on reptile eco carpet. He has a large branch, an house, and a mini-house (which I used to keep some water in as he seemed to like going in it on occasion, but took out the other day).
He has a reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb that runs the length of his viv. A 100 W powersun UVB lamp (also a red infrared heat lamp, but we’ve stopped using that).
The night before last the humidity went up to 45%. We had a small amount of water in his viv, and I took that out. The next morning it was 50%, and last night 60%. It’s been raining here. I decided to turn on the A/C (we don’t need it, but it would help to take out the humidity. A dehumidifier would be too hot for our home at this time of year). Now, as it turns out, we only had the digital thermometer at the resting end of the tank (was in the middle, but got moved temporarily and hadn’t changed it back that day). After turning on the A/C, the humidity went down to 45 degrees. Temp was approx. 85 degrees.
When he started to open his mouth, I moved the thermometer to his basking are to make sure the temp was okay. Temp was approx. 105 degrees to 115 degrees (depending on how close to light), and humidity is only 20% at that end.
(Yes, we just bought dial thermometer and hydrometer to stick on the back today.)
Diet: He’s been eating gut loaded crickets from the pet shop. They are small crickets. I introduced dandelion greens and collard greens. He began eating them on Monday after many tries (he never had greens at the pet shop.). I hand feed those to him.
Yesterday I introduced phoenix worms to him as a mid-day feeding (crickets in AM and PM, greens and a couple of hours later, phoenix worms). Yesterday was his best eating. He ate 6 crickets in the AM and 6 in the PM. He did not want his greens yesterday, but a couple of hours later he ate 9 phoenix worms (they are very small. I rinse the bedding off of them in water).
Yesterday we had a scare. When I fed him the Phoenix worms, after the 9th one he kept opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out. I got nervous then, and my son realized he had a hair hanging from his mouth, so he picked him up and gently pulled it out of his mouth. He, apparently, begun to swallow a large piece of it :O He was fine after that.
I have long hair, so it was my fault
I don’t know how that happened. I pull it back now, before I feed him.This morning he ate 7 crickets. He did not want any of his greens this afternoon. He ate 3 phoenix worms. After he ate the three phoenix worms, I misted him (hadn’t given him a bath). I was told they enjoy that, and he is usually okay with it, and sometimes lick the water, but he didn’t seem to care for it this time.
About 15 minutes after I misted him (which is also approx. the same amount of time since he’d eaten the phoenix worms) is when the mouth opening started! Now he was in his basking spot.
Now, he was doing it moments before I fed him this evening. He did eat 5 crickets then went back to his basking spot.
Also, this afternoon, before the phoenix worms and open mouth incident began, he seemed to be developing stress marks, and I’ve no idea why. When I took him out to pet him, they lessened.
Just before feeding him tonight, when he was opening his mouth, the stress marks were darker. After eating, they are lighter.
His eyes and nose appear to be clear. I don’t see a discharge. He’s not as active as he normally is. He’s been basking most of the day. Since he began the open mouth, he’s been in the same spot. He came down to eat and catch the crickets. Cute, actually… he’s become accustomed to our moving his stuff about to catch the left over crickets when he is done. He just sat on his log while we slid it back and forth to catch the crickets, as if watching a show. LOL.
Is the open mouth normal? I have a pic of him with his mouth open, if that will help.
Thanks!
Oh, I did do one other thing… I turned his large log around, as I thought he may want to climb close to the heat source. So, I just turned it back in case that was bothering him. It’s a large log that twists and he can lie down under the light or at various points around it. He was *not* on the high point when he began the open mouth.
Okay, freaking out, again. Was just about to hit send and mention that I’ve not noticed him doing the open mouth for approx. an hour (that’s not to say he wasn’t, but every time I looked over he wasn’t.). He just started to do it, again
