Posted by:
Tygerr
at Mon Mar 26 09:23:37 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Tygerr ]
It sounds like you need to get yourself a more accurate thermometer. The gauge I saw in your pic looked like an analogue thermometer, and those are usually not very reliable (although it might have been a hygrometer, but the analogue versions of those are even more inaccurate).
Make sure you have a digital thermometer, preferably one with an external probe that you can set up directly under the basking spot. Even better would be to have an infrared thermometer so that you can measure the actual surface temp of your basking cham.
You said, "his basking area is 80's he sits there most of the time but with his mouth open".
They usually gape when they are hot. It helps to dissipate heat, in the same way a dog pants.
So neither impaction nor dehydration will cause this, but a hot basking spot would. Low 80's doesn't seem very hot, and that's why I question the accuracy of your thermometer.
However, even when the basking spot is at the correct temperature, the cham will gape from time to time. If the cham is constantly gaping though or gaping even when they're not at the basking spot, then either the basking area/enclosure is too hot, or there are other problems (for instance, chams sometimes gape when they have respitory infections).
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- Help! - grimsin, Sun Mar 25 10:26:09 2007
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RE: Help! - update - Tygerr, Mon Mar 26 09:23:37 2007