loveourbeardie
Member
As a new beardie owner, I am still getting used to some of the things that Leonidas does. Yesterday evening before giving Leo his bath I spent some time watching him in his viv, just because he is so very interesting :wink:. When I walked into my son's room where his viv is, I noticed right away that his mouth was open. I have never seen him chilling in his viv with his mouth wide open. I figured when he saw me he would close his mouth but he didn't. It stayed open while I watched him for about 5 minutes. My son said that he had it open when he got home from school too and that maybe he was too hot. Is it possible that he was too hot? The basking area was at 101 degrees. Is this too hot for an adult bearded dragon? I have also noticed that he spends more time in the cave area under the basking area than he does actually laying in the basking area. Leo has a custom built viv because when I was doing research on them before buying him, I learned that the glass tanks don't hold heat very well and although pet stores recommend a 50 gal for them, it is not big enough for an adult. His viv is made out of melamine and the front is 2 pieces of plexi-glass that slide open in both directions so we can get to him from anywhere. The enclosure is about 36" x 18" x 12". My husband made him a custom rock that covers the back and one side of the viv. The rock includes a ramp for him to get up to the basking area and several "cave" areas where he can get out of the heat. He spends most of his time in the caves is his viv, maybe too hot? Because of what it is made out of, little heat escapes the viv. Everyone I talked to about his viv said that it is a great enclosure for him because it wont allow much heat to escape but now I am worried that it is too hot. Or possibly his mouth was open for so long for a completely different reason? Also, he rubbed his face against the rock a few times and at one point he stuck his nose into a corner and it looked like he was trying to dig through the rock. His claws were scraping the rock like he wanted to dig through the corner. All of this is behavior I had never seen until last night. After his bath he acted normal again. Should I be worried? Here is the pic I took of him with his mouth open.
If you find him doing this on the warm side of his cage it is very normal. Beardies tend to gape their mouths to help regulate body heat, much like a dog would pant. My girl does the same thing! Hope this helps 
