Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello again. My dragon sets with his mouth open all the time. Well not all the time but when we look in the cage. And if he is out. We have had him over a month now. The vet says that he thinks it is just because he is still getting used to his environment and he is on guard. Does this sound normal? Does any other cwd owners have this. As a new reptile owner i automatically think of respiratory problems. It is hard when you have never owned a lizard before and dont know what is normal and what is not. Thanks billie

I don't really have an answer for you but my water dragon is doing the exact same thing and i'm panicking as well thinking respitory problems. I just brought her home thursday and she is very brown compared to the one that i bought on monday. She sits with the mouth open a lot of the time and is not freindly like my other dragon as soon as anyone comes in the room she hides in the back of the tank or at least flattens herself right to the ground. My other dragon was freindly right away is she sick do you think or just shy, that mouth open really worries me. She didn't even eat until saterday, but she ate 4 crickets yesterday though so thats good right?

Mine also flattens itself on the ground. I dont know if this is some kind of submissive behavior? Or fear? Or normal untill they get used to their new home. My dragon had parasites and has been treated. We need to take in another stool sample this week and make sure that they are gone. I am worried about the brown color of mine, too. In the pet shop he seemed neon green to me and now he is mostly brown. I have everything set up properly and he now has a lot better setup than in the pet shop. I am at a loss, too. Hopefully someone will give us some answers who has some experience with them. Thanks for responding.

When I first got my girl, she would go crazy any time someone entered the room. She would run and hide in the back of the tank. Sometimes she would even go as far as playing dead dead in the water by sumberging and holding her breath for up to a half hour. It took a few months, but she got over it and now has absolutely no fear of people and will even eat from tweezers.

LOL I started feeding mine from tweezers cause i dont like touching the creepy crawlies that well yet, spyro eats from the tweezers (I think he would eat from anything) but the other one is really shy i was really relieved today when she ate for me today, 4 crickets too, I'm such a proad mother this morning.

If it's only when you look in, your vet is probably right. I wouldn't worry, they get stressed at first, so i wouldn't worry. They all have different ways of showing it, so they all wont do that. I got another baby WD like last week, and since it's a new cage, she seems kinda scared, so she used to jump on my arm and hold on tight, it was funny, lol. So i had little scrathches on my arm, lol.
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~Julie~

I was wondering if this is a sign of dehydration? I've had my water dragon for a couple days now, and he's opening his mouth, as if he's hot or something. However, I really can't imagine, as the conditions are about perfect. And he has plenty of water to play in or drink. Any more thoughts?