Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I am a new owner of my very first Mali. Tonight I noticed when I came home from work that she wasn't as active as other nights. She was laying under her heat lamp and had her mouth open while breathing a really strange breathing pattern (heavy and short, fast breaths). I am not sure if this is something I should call the vet for. I am really nervous that this isn't normal. Could she have been overheating? The temp is 98 right now. Has anyone seen their Mali do this breathing thing before?
Thanks

my mali does this too. At first i thought something was wrong just like you. But what i've learned is this could mean two different things, either your mali is getting too much heat or not enough of it, my mali does this after basking for about 10minutes in the hottest area of his cage then he gets off and then comes back again, so i'm not to worried about it now, just make sure he has a hot temp area of about 120 and an area to get away from the heat, it's hard to get temps down (trust me i'm still trying to get them just right) but you'll get it. Hope this helped! Good luck

,aaron

Thank you Aaron! You just saved me from not sleeping tonight. I think she was too hot. I have the thermometer where she is sleeping however I don't have a thermometer under the basking lamp. I doubt it was too hot... I can put my hand down on the sand, under the lamp and it feels nice and warm. Not hot to my skin like burning... I am going to use the thermometer that I have on the cool side to test the temp out. You are a lifesaver!!! Thanks again!

I'm glad i can help, if you have any other questions i'm more than happy to try my bestto answer them. My email is Brolymonkey90@hotmail.com