hi guys I was wondering if you could help me. this morning when I woke up temps were a little low so I put him directly under one of the heat lamps to warm him up. for atleast about 20 min now he's been sitting on his log with his mouth wide open. i know sometimes they do this to regulate their body temp, but should I be worried at all?

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You got it! He is most likely just regulated his body temps. Although they may do this sometimes if the have a respiratory infection but if you havent noticed it lately thats probably what hes doing.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

When they start overheating they will gape ....check the temps to make sure they arent too high....he should move back and forth on his own to warm up and cool down....

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

I'm no expert, but ours do the same thing sometimes. Sometimes they are too hot and other times they just like hanging around with their mouth open..I really freaked about this also. Check out the caresheet for more information about temps and housing.

http://www.herphabitats.com/reptile_...ded_dragon.htm

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Colleen

yeah I thought that is what it was. i think since it just started getting pretty cold here his temps have been a little lower than usual. do u let your temps drop at all during the night time? we have two heat lamps and a overhead lamp, i turn the overhead lamp and one of the heat lamps off at night. i leave a red heat lamp on and the temp gets a little below eighty. i think I am going to go get one of the ceramic lamps that dont put off any light and replace one of my heat lamps withone of those. what do u use?

As long as the temps dont drop below 60 your in good shape.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

ok, yeah I think the temps are pretty good now. i think it might have gotton a little too chilly for him last night though b/c just a little while ago I noticed that he had thrown up. it was a pile of some crickets and a wax worm. i read in another thread that if temps are high enough that they might not be digesting food well enough, and I think that was his food from last night. should I be worried at all? or should I just keep a better eye on the temps right now? i'm a little confused too how most people have said that he might be gaping b/c the temps are too high but then throwing up is caused by low temps causing poor digestion. well if anyone could give me some suggestions that would be awesome.
thanks
.erica.

If the temps are too low the dragon cannot digest properly and if he is over heated he will gape to cool off.
I would suggest getting a digital thermometer that has the min/max feature. this will tell you the hottest and the coldest it has gotten in the tank.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I turn off the lights at night as the house heating system is set for 70 degrees and it never get lower than 70. I use timer that allow 12 hours on and 12 hours off cycle. It will be more of a challenge again this winter, but we seemed to manage just fine last winter. As for the gasping, sometime I'll just look at them and think you dummy if your hot just move to the colder spot. I think sometime they just to it to make us worry.

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Colleen