Hello, I don't know if my baby beardie is gaping or bearding. When on my hand he will open his mouth and breathe heavy and it looks like his beard puffs a little but there is no black. He's not under the basking lamp, it's 75 degrees in my house. His tongue kind of sticks out too. Is this aggression or temperature regulation? Thanks.
He looks happy. The licks are him being curious about things. They usually open their mouth and gape like that to regulate temperature while basking but I've also seen them do it when they aren't near their basking light but they are usually content at the time. I keep an eye on alertness and beard color. If the beard is brightly colored, that's a good sign. If it goes jet black and you see this behavior it may be more defensive. Based on your photos he looks happy to me.