Hi there,
I have noticed my beardie gaping more often and fear her humidity in her home may have been too high or something. I am buying a humidity thermostat today but hadn't had one before because it broke and she has just always been healthy but we moved to a carpeted old studio that consist of a lot of humidity.
She seems healthy but she does sometimes more towards nighttime glass surf and I found her standing completely straight up the glass wedged between her hammock and the glass. I took her out and she started gaping on the couch which had never happened before.
When I watch her breathing, it seems completely normal but sometimes when she eats, she takes a second and breathes hard (usually after consuming a large portion of live crickets or worms)
She is a full adult and her cage is kept clean. I have photos below of her nose shedding and what she looks like. I have a photo of her on my shoulder gaping (first time she has ever gaped outside her aquarium)
If you suggest it is a respiratory illness, would you suggest going with the treatment with colloidal silver, Serrapeptase, and a nebulizer? And if she IS healthy, would it be okay to still do that treatment? She has no runny mucus and she doesn't "cough" and rarely "weazes/breathes hard" . Please help! (Also noticed black near her head on the back side of her beard, shown in photos. Shes had that for so long. is is something wrong?) Thank you
She is a good sized dragon.
What type of thermometer are you using to measure the temperatures in her tank? She could
be getting too hot, possibly if she is gaping too much. Since you did get the one nose plug out,
the other one may be plugging her nose up to where she can't breathe as well as she normally
does.
Are you referring to just some darkness underneath of the beard, such as the skin below? That
could be just stress, yes. How much does she eat?
If she isn't coughing or wheezing, etc or have any mucous in her mouth nose, it probably isn't a
respiratory infection. If for some reason she might be developing one, nebulizing her with a colloidal
silver & serrapeptase mix wont hurt her.
Is she pretty active right now?