Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few days ago I noticed, when coming home, that my Veiled, Dr. Gonzo, was gaping for no reason. I'd just thought that maybe he might have been spooke by the vibrations of a plane flying over head (can shake the house pretty good sometimes) Anyway, for the past few days he's been gaping everytime I come home, the same exact time everyday. That's the only time he does it.

I checked in his mouth and didn't see any signs of mucus bulding up. About 6 or so months ago, I had to take him in because of another URI that I caught early and it was absolutely fine 10 days later after using som Baytril. But the last time, I noticed a slight build up mucus in the back of his throat. This time there's nothing. And he's doing the same exact thing as before, though, which is gaping for a while everyday around 2:30 in the afternoon.

There's no weezing, no popping, no drool or bubbles or even saliva strings when he opens his mouth. But there wasn't any last time either.

Anyway, I can almost rule out the cause of an unsanitary enclosure, because I clean it ALL of the time!

I spot clean his cage everyday or every other day (depending on if I see any poop or dead bugs in there or not) and once a week I do a thourough cleaning, meaning I take all the plants out anc clean them off and then remove the PVC bottom and scrub it down with quatricide (or a water/dish soap/bleach solution if I'm all out) to disinfect it. After the scrub down, I rinse it in the sink and then again in the dishwasher. And once every 3-4 weeks, I clean the ENTIRE cage, meaning just that. I brush down the cage with the bleach/soap/water with a soft dish scrubbing brush in the back yard and then I hose it off for about 10 minutes. It takes me an entire day to clean the cages (I actually request Sundays off of work so I can clean my animals cages and/or study. no kidding)

Here's my set up:
- One 100w Powersun in Zoo-Med ceramic Dome
(basking temp is 100-105*F, he likes it hot)
(surrounding temp - 76-80*F)
- Two 46" tall ficus trees I put in one pot
- One 36" tall schefflera
- One 36"-45" tall Dracaena (depends on the stalk)
(one of the 5 Dracaena stalks is his basking site)
- One 24" tall Boston Fern
- 2x2x4ft screened enclosure
- Misted 4-5 times a day
(hot water occasionally treated with Electrolize, no D3. I only use purified drinking water from our water cooler)
- Fed three 2" long, beefy Silkworms and 10 3/4" Crix every day
- occasionally fed Butterworms, Mealworms/beetles, giant Mealworms, and waxworms/moths
(all food dusted with Herpivite and Repti-Cal D3 once every two weeks)

I think I got everything

I'm sorry for the long post, but I'm a little concerned. Two URI's in less than 6 months isn't normal. Any suggestions on what might be causing it, because I have no clue. I clean the cage all the time, he doesn't seem stressed at all, he gets a good amount of water, eats like a maniac and drinks like a fish, he's got PLENTY of foliage. I just don't know. The only thing that I could think of as being stressful on him is I moved the plants around in his cage to all him better access to the basking site . . . Other than that I just don't know.

Could it be a case of "Hey, everybody gets sick now and then" ? lol

Thanks for the help and again, sorry for the SUPER long post.

I can't take him in, because my vet is on vacation and won't be back until the 26th. I don't really want to see another vet because he's the only one I trust with my herps. The guy's brilliant when it comes to animals, but herps especially. And he keeps chams so that's a plus. I still have some of the antiobiotics from the last time that haven't expired yet, so I'm gonna use that for now until I can see if my girlfriend can schedule me an appointment. She's a vet-tech there. She stole the job from me! lol!

Anyway, if it progresses, I guess I've got no choice but to take him to the other herp vet in the city . . .

Curiouser and curiouser! (quoting alice from alice in wonderland. That's right people, I went there.)

If he's doing it at the same time every day, that may be the climax of heat in your house. Where do you live?

Are you sure he isn't doing it while you're away and you just catch him doing it at 2:30?

The lack of other URI symptoms could just mean he's trying to cool off.

Let us know his colours at the time, the temp at the time, humidity at the time, and maybe even his behavior at the time (may not have anything to do with it but give it a shot).

Hi there,

I would guess that overheating is the problem here. Sometimes chameleons will keep their mouth open to cool off. You mentioned that you are using a 100 watt powersun, which gets very hot! Record the temperatures around the time that you notice his mouth open, and compare them to when he seems most comfortable.

We also use the powersuns w/ our large cages, but we have them shut off mid afternoon. In addition to the powersuns, we have a reptisun 5.0. The reptisun will stay on for the rest of the day.

Keep us posted.

Vincent

-----
Farrah & Vincent
Email: Screameleons@yahoo.com
Phone: (571) 437-0642
Website: http://www.Screameleons.com

I live in Daly City, California where it's mostly foggy as hell and pretty cold for California. Rarely does it ever get in the high 70's. Fortunately our room is right above the water heater so it's usually around 76-80 degrees in there.

I thought of overheating as well, but I took the temp gun out and used it (it gets warmest around 2-3pm here) and the temperature peaked at 106*F yesterday on the basking site. usually It's around 100/102, but every now and then if rises or falls below that.

I thought it was a little high, though, when I first got the new setup, so I distanced the bulb from the cage more so the basking site was a little cooler, but when I do that, he just clings to the roof of the cage to get warmer. I guess he just likes it really hot, because I finally have it set up to where he's comfortable on his basking branch and isn't upside down with his belly pressed against the top of his cage. lol

I've had it set up this way for a long time and he's been fine with it and showed no previous signs of overheating then. You'd think he would have shown them before, too. just all of a sudden he gapes.

I'll see what he's up to when I get home today.

Get your timer going so it turns off all of the lights around that time for maybe an hour or two. The best sytem is to have the incandescant (basking) bulb on one timer and the fluorescant on another. If you have a 2-in-one then....poo. Just have everything turn off for an hour and hopefully he wont go to sleep.

My chams have gone to sleep while i re-routed their power supplies (new power bars etc) and it was 2 pm. hehe