If you own a bearded dragon, or if you have watched bearded dragons, you may have noticed that these funny reptiles often keep their mouths open for long periods of time.
There is one very clear reason why they do this, however there are several other reasons why they might do this.
The most common reason that bearded dragons, and in fact most other reptiles keep their mouths open, is to do with the regulation of body temperature.
Reptiles do not sweat and so instead of sweating, they open their mouth once they reach their ideal temperature, this stops them from getting any hotter. It is very common to see reptiles such as bearded dragons, and even crocodiles basking with their mouths open.
Let’s take an overall look at why your bearded dragon might keep their mouth open, and if this behavior is not to do with the regulation of body temperature when basking, you can find out what else may be causing this and how you can stop this behavior if it is excessive.
Regulation of temperature
Many reptiles will have a unique trait where they use their mouths to regulate their body temperatures, however not all have this talent. Bearded dragons are one of the reptiles that do.
They are very intelligent reptiles, and they can display some fantastic behaviors that will assist them in overcoming a plethora of situations.
One of these is the body temperature regulation that they do, which is called gaping. This is when they open their mouths for long periods of time. You will often see large reptiles such as crocodiles do this on the sides of river and lake beds.
This is an act that helps them to regulate their body temperatures, and it will stop them getting any warmer than when they get to their ideal temperature.
If your bearded dragon starts doing this when they are in their basking area, under their basking bulb, then it is really nothing to worry about, and it is typically natural behavior in dragons.
Dragons do not have the ability to sweat, since that is how mammals will regulate their body temperature, reptiles need a different plan, and this is how they do it.
Tank temperature
While it is totally normal for bearded dragons to gape in their basking spots, it is still important that you ensure you provide your bearded dragon with the correct tank temperature.
If the tank is above the ideal temperature, then it will make it harder for your dragon to regulate their temperature, and they will spend much more time gaping.
You should also ensure that the tank is fitted with a cooling area that will allow them to cool down once they are at their ideal temperature.
Keep in mind that a Bearded dragon tank should have three temperatures, the basking area should be between 95 °F and 100 °F. The cool spot in your bearded dragon’s tank should be between 75 °F and 80 ° F. Finally, their tank temperature should be between 70 °F and 75 °F at night.
Basking and cooling
Not only do bearded dragons need a basking area, but they also need a cooling spot too, having both a basking area and a cooling spot will help them to regulate their temperatures.
Ensure that you have a cooling area, if you do not then when your temperatures are wrong your Dragon may start gaping excessively due to not having the luxury of leaving the basking area for a cooler area when it needs to do so.
Ensure that your dragon’s tank has the correct temperature ranges in both the basking spot and in the cooling spot. You should also ensure that the tank is at the correct temperatures at night so that your bearded dragon does not wake up too hot or too cold.
They need their temperatures to be accurate so that they can be both healthy and happy.
Why else?
Despite how the regulation of body temperature is the main reason for bearded dragons keeping their mouths open, it is not the only reason. There are a few reasons and situations that may cause your bearded dragon to start keeping their mouth open.
Let’s take a look at what some of these may be.
Beard stretching
Some bearded dragons might open their mouths to stretch their beard. This is a common behavior when the dragons are close to shedding their skin. However, they might also puff up their beard as well, in a further attempt to loosen the skin around their head and beard.
We all enjoy a good stretch, however, for bearded dragons it is different because this helps them shed their skin. Beard stretching isn’t always affiliated with shedding, though, sometimes they may just feel like stretching out their beard because they simply feel the need to do so.
Aggression
Bearded dragons are actually very placid reptiles, however, they do have the ability to become aggressive, and if they do, it is common that they will open their mouth as part of this aggressive display.
This is not the only way that they will show aggression, however, if they are acting aggressively you should look out for other behaviors as well. These will typically include; fast head bobbing, black beards, hissing, a puffed up beard, and a tall or big stance.
Your dragon is unlikely to show all of these behaviors, however if they have their mouth open in an aggressive manner then it would be unusual if they did not display at least one of these other aggressive behaviors as well.
Ensuring that you provide your dragon with a home that has plenty of hiding places will limit their aggressive behavior. Typically, aggression will only be shown when they feel threatened, if they can hide, they will feel safe, and they won’t need to turn aggressive.
Competition between dragons
In relation to our last point, if you have more than one bearded dragon in the same habitat, this has the potential to cause some issues, as bearded dragons are not very social animals, and prefer to live alone.
If a bearded dragon has to share their living space with another bearded dragon, this will often result in a battle for power and control.
One dragon will usually try to be the dominant one and gain power over the other, and this is when we see them opening their mouth aggressively. It is kind of like a display to show how big, mean and tough they are.
If you have two bearded dragons, of whom are housed together, then you should separate them as soon as you can before this turns nasty.
Whichever one loses their dominance will end up becoming stressed which can lead to stress marks, and losing their appetite, eventually they may not even be allowed to bask by the dominant dragon, which can lead to health issues.
You may even need to split your dragons up into different rooms, because if they can still see each other the battle for power may still continue causing stress to your dragons, and to you.
As a very last option, if you do not have room for both of your dragons in separate tanks in your home, or if it is not doable for any other reason then you may have no choice but to give one of the dragons away, as they simply will not be able to live together.
It might seem cruel, and it may be painful to do at first, but keeping two dragons together if one of them is very dominant can be very damaging to the health of the other, and it is better to give one away to a new home than to see one of them suffer in their health from living with the more dominant dragon.
Competition between pets
Strangely, it is not only other dragons that your bearded dragon may struggle to get along with. If you have other animals in your home, such as dogs and cats, it is not unheard of for your bearded dragon to become aggressive toward them too.
Your bearded dragon may not be comfortable with other larger animals in the home, especially if they are new to the home, as they may be frightened or intimidated by them, as they may look like predators.
While some dragons will be afraid and run away to hide, other dragons may become aggressive towards them.
If this starts to happen, and you notice your bearded dragon opening their mouth aggressively towards your other pets once in a while it may not be an issue as it may simply be that perhaps your dog was too giddy and your dragon did not like it, or your cat did something that made the dragon feel uneasy.
However, if it is every time that your other pet is in the room, then you may want to take action as there will be constant stress going on for your dragon and for the other animals in your home.
There are not many things that you can do in the case that your bearded dragon simply does not like your other pets. Your first option is to stop your other pet coming into the room where your bearded dragon is.
This can be hard, especially if you keep your bearded dragon in the main family room of the house.
You could also decide to move your dragon to an entirely new room in the house, where your pet is less likely to go. If your dog does not sleep with you, then moving your dragon into your bedroom might be a good idea.
This can be hard again depending on the size of the tank, and the move might stress out your dragon a bit, however this temporary relocation stress will not be as long term as the stress caused by the aggression toward your other pet.
You will have to find a solution that is best for you and your pets, the main priority is that your dragon and your other pets are all happy and safe. If there is a dislike there, it is best to remove them from each other’s way, so they can both carry on living their lives in your home in peace.
Small objects
While it might seem odd when first considered, it is totally possible that your bearded dragon could be opening their mouth due to children’s toys or small objects, such as socks and the like. Simply, your bearded dragon could be acting aggressively toward these inanimate objects.
To us, this is a weird concept because we know an inanimate object is, well… inanimate. However, dragons don’t know this, and they could easily mistake a small toy for a predator, or competition.
This will make them act aggressively and keeping their mouth open is part of this behavior, they might also puff their beard up and hiss at the inanimate objects too.
Similar to toys and other inanimate objects, if you just went to a china shop, or an auction, and you bought yours a nice new ornament, your dragon may also find this threatening. It is important to note how much dragons really do not like change.
They are not a fan of changing situations, and it can really stress them out, so, even though you like the ornament, they may be skeptical of it and try to intimidate it for a while at first.
As well as this, toys and clothing are typically moved around rather quickly, so they do not cause an issue for a long time.
However, ornaments and more stationary items are often placed in one spot and will stay there, so if you suspect that a long term item may be causing an issue for your bearded dragon, you may want to consider moving it to stop your dragon stressing out over it.
The position of the tank
Where you place the tank for your dragon will have an impact on how they feel, and for this reason many owners might like to place their dragon’s tank near the window, it can give them so much light, and they get stimulation from the outside world, never bored.
Seeing clouds move and the trees outside can help to stimulate their natural habitat.
However, it can also be a scary place as we know if your dragon starts to get aggressive towards what it is seeing outside the window, then it is probably seeing things that are making it nervous.
Other animals such as cats, birds and so on may make your dragon feel a bit threatened and as a result they will act aggressively towards whatever they see outside. They will start opening their mouth as a display of aggression towards whatever they are seeing outside.
If this only happens every once in a while then it is nothing to worry about, however, if it is a constant occurrence, or if it happens daily then you might want to move them to another place.
It can be useful to put a dragon in a window facing your yard as they will still get the outside stimulation, but they won’t see as many scary things such as neighborhood animals, cars, and there will probably be fewer loud noises too.
Mating rituals
One thing to consider in all this is that it may not be anything to do with the thing that your dragon is acting aggressive towards.
For example, if you have a cat, and before they got along just fine, but now suddenly your dragon is acting aggressively toward your cat, it may actually just be their hormones raging.
Much like humans when hormones come in their droves, dragons get side effects, and one of these can be aggression. They will seemingly open their mouths for no reason at all.
Sometimes they may even get aggressive with you when you go to handle them, it is just their hormones going crazy.
They may also be territorial and aggressive when people or pets go near their tank, as they are in an instinctual mode hardwired by their natural heritage. Many animals experience things similar to this, and it really is nothing to worry about.
There is also nothing you can do about this if this is indeed the cause, you just need to sit back, relax, and wait for their hormones to take a chill pill and your scaly buddy will be back to normal in no time at all.
Respiratory problems
Finally, we want to finish with the least likely but possibly most important option.
A vast majority of the time when your dragon has their mouth open they are regulating their body temperature, other times it may be displays of aggression if they see something they don’t like, or if they are fuelled by hormones during THAT time of the year.
However, it is also possible that it could be a respiratory infection. If a bearded dragon gets one of these infections, it is usually a result of the humidity levels in the tank.
Dragons are used to low humidity as this is what they are accustomed to in the wild, and this means if their tank has high humidity levels then this can cause issues for them.
The best way to monitor the humidity levels in the tank is to get a hygrometer, which will allow you to accurately check the humidity levels in the dragon’s tank at all times.
For reference humans need humidity levels to be between 30% and 50% to be at their very best, this is healthiest for humans. However, bearded dragons require levels between 20% and 40%.
If you can control the humidity levels in your home, you and your bearded dragon could compromise and try to keep the home at around 30%, but the lower, the better for your dragon.
You need to be aware that things such as a bark substrate, or even decor in the tank could raise humidity as these things can hold moisture. If you are struggling to keep the humidity levels down. Smaller water bowls can help, and keeping them away from heat sources will help too.
Keeping the levels low should be easy, but it depends on your home and where you live. If worse comes to worst, you can try out a dehumidifier, which can stop the problem entirely.
If your dragon does get a respiratory infection, you should take them to the vet to get checked out.
To Conclude
We have touched on every reason as to why a bearded dragon might be keeping their mouth open. Usually it will be due to a regulation of body temperature, but it can also be aggression, hormones, or even a respiratory infection.
Overall, you need to monitor the temperature and humidity levels in the tank and if you see any weird behavior, figure out what is upsetting your dragon and deal with it.
As long as you do these things, all should be well and if their mouth is open, they are probably just regulating their temperature.
If you are still worried, it is best to seek out a veterinarian for a professional opinion.