Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it a bad sign when the dragon is basking with it's mouth open? She's in a 4'X 2'X 2'. The temp under the basking lamp is 110. She is not directly under the lamp. Cool side is registering a temp of 83 degrees. She eats a lot of greens and has a water bowl. Should I change anything?

Thanks,

Mark

no this is normal. BDs gape their mouths open to cool themselves down when a bit warm. 110-115 degrees is good temps for basking spots. 115 being better for babies and juvis, 110 being better for adults. so yes this is perfectly normal, nothing to worry about
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Beach Beardies

2.4. bearded dragons
1.0. Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

I agree it's not a problem as long as the beardie can get out of the heat if it wants. I feel the basking spot should be 105 for adults. If you do 110 after a while you'll see your beardie won't like it that hot. I'm a little curious why your cool side is 83? That's a little high. My 4' x 2' x 2' are about 75 at the cool end.

I have two ceramic fixtures in the enclosure. One has a 50W Powersun That goes off at nite. The other has a 60W ceramic heat emitter that stays on 24 hrs. The dragons are in my garage. Previously, I was having a hard time getting the basking spot over 100 degrees during the day, so I kept the heat emitter on. I can set the heat emitter to go on during the night and off during the day or put it on a rheostat to lower the heat.

Thanks for the replies.

Mark

In my 4 x 4 tanks this time of year I have (2) 100W & (1) 60W incandescent bulbs under combination hoods suspended above. And a 50W spot bulb on a dimmer. I heat my house to 67 during the day. All of the heat is in the 1st third of the tank. I have no heat on the cool side and it stays about 75.

Ideally, the backgroung temp (air temp) on the hot side should be about 85. The surface temp of the basking spot 105 and the cool side about 75. Obviously, this doesn't have to be exact and in the summer my cool side temp rises as the house temp. rises.