Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone.

I've had my bearded dragons for about a month. One of my bearded dragons will sometimes sit with his mouth open for a good period of time. My girlfriend is pretty concerned about it. Is this something they do sometimes or something to be concerned about? At first it looks pretty bizzare, but if it is normal behavior then so be it. The picture attached is what i am talking about.

Also, the same beardie eats a lot of food. Which i don't mind but am concerned it is not healthy for him. He eats until he is full and almost round-ish. He gorges on the crickets and quickly. In 15 minutes or so he will eat himself to laziness. Should i ration the feeding out for him?

Also, I've heard about arm waving and bobbing of heads. At what age or when do beardies start doing this? It sounds very interesting. Is it males do one and females the other?

Thanks all

Josh

They do it to dissipate heat. If he's doing it under his basking light, it's not a problem. If he's doing it on the cool side of the tank, then his enclosure is too hot.
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0.9.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.1 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise
0.0.1 Bearded Dragons

The mouth open thing is called "gaping" and as eminart said they do it to dissipate heat. Some dragons love the heat and will sit in the hottest spot and gape all day while others will move to a cooler area temporarily.

You shouldn't try to ration food. Just make sure it is the appropriate size.

At about 6 months males will usually start bobbing their heads, but it really depends on how quickly they mature. They arm wave from hatching. I bet they've done it but you just haven't seen it.

I have some concerns on your set up though.

You have 2 dragons in one enclosure. When you choose to do this there must be a large enough basking area for 2 comfortably or 2 separate equal basking sites. He is on the top of the branch with his mouth open because he doesn't want to move and give the other dragon access to the best basking site. This is unhealthy for both dragons. His domination of the best basking site is allowing him to digest faster and then eat more so he will grow faster. If the dragons become 1 and a half inches apart in length then they must be separated right away or you risk injury to the smaller dragon.

It looks like you are using Calci-Sand or some other pet store sand. The only acceptable sand is childrens play sand and it should be sifted through a fine screen first to remove any pebbles. I personally don't use sand until dragons are 12" long.

Thanks for the info guys. That gaping thing makes sense as he is usually doing it under the basking light.

Ok, I will work on two basking lights or two high areas under one.

Yes, that is calcium sand. I liked the white look of it.. What is recomended other than childrens play sand?

This is from another forum and is well written.

There are substrates that are good to use and some that should be avoided at all costs.

Good Substrates

NEWSPAPER. Double check what kind of ink your local newspaper uses- most use soy-based inks (good)

KITCHEN TOWEL. This is a great substrate for babies - it's what I use until they reach 10" long

NON ADHESIVE SHELF LINER. Can be used by itself or with paper towels, carpet or a combo of them. Wipes up easily and has become very popular in use for young dragons. Many owners are using this then adding the carpet or paper towels as they grow older, including a sand box or sand pit for adults.

WASHED PLAY SAND. Once your BD reaches 10" you can safely put it onto particulate substrate- just make sure the brand of play sand is not too dusty - that's why you should get washed

RABBIT PELLETS. Several reputable Breeders use this as a substrate. It's essential that you remove faeces as soon as possible if you are choosing this

CAREFRESH. Ronnie Buck of AB HERPS, has experienced good results with this

SAND/PEAT or SAND/SOIL mixture---more diggable and seemingly more like their native soil than pure sand is, although I personally keep the sand dry so diggability is not an issue. Make sure that the soil is clean- I recommend baking it first.

BAD Substrates!!!!!!!

The following are bad for one main reason - impaction. A lot of stores may try and tell you that they are suitable, they may even be using them themselves, but they are wrong. Each of the following have proven to cause impaction and death to Bearded Dragons (as well as other reptiles) and should be avoided like the plague. If you suspect impaction in your dragon, post on the list and members will help you with some information

CORN COB. It's hard to pick which of the following is worst but I think this one is it! Hard, large and indigestable for Beardies

WALNUT SHELL. It looks harmless enough, but the edges are very sharp and it could kill your dragon very easily. There have been documented impaction deaths in BD's from this. Also goes under a variety of brand names, so check package labelling carefullt before listening to and buying from pet stores.

CALCISAND. The problem with this product is twofold. First, they like the flavour of it and may eat it if they are lacking adequate calcium in their diet. Second, it can clump and form an indigestible bolus in their digestive tract.

REPTI BARK is also a no no - it is very fibrous and could easily end up causing impaction and has been known to end up lodged in the vent.

Any of the wood shaving like cedar or pine should also be avoided - cedar had dangerous aromatic oils and pine can get impacted if ingested.

ORIGINAL LIZARD LITTER made from the kenfa tree and JUNGLE BLEND or something like that. It's real fibrous and also can cause impactions. It may be the same thing that claims to be made of 100% renewable resource coconut fibers (pulverized), and "exists as an alternative and digestive material to peat moss, vermiculite, sand and soil". Frankly I doubt the digestibility claim- especially for Bearded Dragons, which have short digestive tracts

ONE OTHER WARNING, BE VERY CAUTIOUS USING BLEACH ON THEIR ENCLOSURE OR FUNDISHINGS, in not rinsed really well, the heat from their lights can cause toxic fumes from the bleach

BDlvr, I found your insight into the domination aspect of the basking area and subsequent gaping really interesting.

Speaking of interesting, and on topic for the original post, we have a Rankins dragon, cute little guy on one side of the room. We have a female bearded dragon on the other side of the room and the first time we saw the Rankins do the arm waving thing at the beardy I just couldn't believe it. It's SO cool! Absolutely fascinating to watch their behavior. But that's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. We tried to get a little video of it but it didn't turn out very well.
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0.1 Lampropeltis Getula Floridana
1.0 Elaphe Guttata Slowinskii

I love the arm waving thing. It's a shame but none of mine do it as adults. Have 9 babies on the way so there'll probably be a lot of it soon. lol.