My water dragon opens his mouth a lot, sometimes real wide like he's yelling. I've seen pictures of other water dragons doing that so I think that is normal. But he also opens it a little bit sometimes when he's relaxing, and when he is sitting on my shoulder he makes a small clicking noise when he does it. But then again we as humans do the same thing sometimes. His chest moves pretty heavily sometimes but not always, and when he sleeps, his chest will stop moving completely for about 10 seconds on occasions then will start moving again. His temps and humidity are good and he is full of energy so I'm not sure if this just normal behavior or something else.

Hmm, sounds like normal WD breathing behavior to me...except for the clicking...do you ever hear any wheezing when he has his mouth open? Any runny nose or mucous being discharged from his mouth or nostrils?
Also, how well is the ventilation in his enclosure?

Yea the clicking is like....you know sometimes when you open your mouth sometimes makes a slight click with your tounge? It's very slight. But I don't hear any wheezing and I've put my ear right up to his mouth trying to hear it but nothing. No discharge. Sometimes when he opens his mouth I'll see a strand of saliva, but nothing major or funky looking. As far as ventilation, I have his lights on the right side and most of the rest of the top is covered with plexi glass to help hold humidity.

Could very well be a respiratory infection; both the gaping and clicking noises are symptoms. The only gaping that is normal is when the dragon does is beneath a heat source (i.e. a heat lamp).

What are the temperatures in the enclosure? Bump up the temperatures ASAP and keep a close eye on him. If the gaping and clicking does not get better with the higher temperatures, you will need to take him to a reptile vet to get antibiotics - that is if indeed it is a respiratory infection as I would suspect.

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0.2.0 Physignathus cocincinus (Chinese water dragon)
1.0.0 Elaphe guttata guttata (corn snake)

0.1.0 Felis catus (domestic cat)

1.0.0 Poicephalus meyeri saturatus (Meyer's parrot)

0.0.3 Chromobotia macracanthus (clown loach)
0.0.3 Balantiocheilos melanopterus (bala shark)
0.0.1 Hypostomus plecostomus (suckermouth catfish)

Temps are around 79 on the cool side and 90 on the other side. I'll get an extra bulb and fixture tonight.

How good are those zoo med heat emitters? Or would you suggest getting another basking lamp instead?

I use the zoo meds (250s and 150 watts) in several of my larger enclosures and have had very good luck with them.
I like them because I don't have to worry about the heat when the lights are off.
However they do get extremely hot and you must make sure that there is no way that the animal can come in contact with it. Or ANY flammable material for that matter.

I would also recommend getting a thermostat to control them.
You can get both online far cheaper than in the petstore.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

You mean it has a timer on it?

No he means a thermostat, kinda like what you have on your house's AC/Heat. You set it at the temp you want, the thermostat turns on the heat source if the tank is colder than the desired temp. Once it gets above that temp, heat source is turned off. It takes all the guess work out of it for ya. You get to just sit back and relax.

I would suggest double checking temps to begin with to make sure it is working properly. You should also check every once and awhile on the temps to make sure that the Ceramic Heat Emitter hasn't "burned" out without you knowing it. Since it doesn't produce light, you won't know until you notice that it isn't producing heat anymore.

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Indeed. A thermostat makes things so much simpler. This is the one I use. You just plug your heater into it, set the temperature and you are good to go!
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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Sweet. They got those at petsmart for 27.99

Yea that's what I meant, I was getting thermostat and thermometer mixed up heh. So I can set it a 100 degrees and it will regulate itself by turning on and off as needed.