Why is my Chinese Water Dragon opening his mouth when hes not thirsty or hungry?

Question
Hello, Thomas I hope you can help me. My question is I own a Chinese Water Dragon for 2 months now and he's been healthy and growing fine. About four days ago he started opening his mouth for no reason (but I thought hmmm he might be hungry and want me to feed him by hand, considering he is fed by water bottle most of the time.) Anyways like I said about 4 days ago he just started opening his mouth for no reason and I did try to feed him by hand (a worm) and he ate it, so Im thinking this little spoiled dragon wants me to feed him by hand. But thats not the case, since then he will open his mouth and I try to feed him by hand and he refuses it. So my question is why is my Chinese Water Dragon opening his mouth really often and about every 5-10 minutes? Ive tried to even offer him new foods by hand and in his feeding dish but he refuses it? Also I just bought 1 dozen small crickets (because he's young and does'nt like the big ones yet. So all these crickets went and hid in a peice of wood in his tank and I dont really know how many of them he ate. I took the log where the crickets are hiding and got them out of the log and blocked the space their getting into and they found another hiding place. Ive never had any crickets do that before. Im concerned, even though he's drinking water and still is very active even when I hold him since 7-6-06 he's acting ancy ususlly he's quite a relaxed guy. Could you please help me?   Sincerely Michelle Simmons

Answer
Hi Michelle,
the only thing that really concerns me about the open mouth is a possible respitory problem,this can happen if the temp and lighting are not sufficient,make sure that you are usinga uvb full spectrum bulb for lighting,and that your tank temp is around 90-95 degrees at one end and 70-75 on the other,with a heat rock or pad ,or an incandecent light for heat if no pad or rock, if your tank is to small to split the heat range simply lower heat in the evening. also diet,crickets and earthworms,frozen thawed pinkies,meal worms, but also make sure he/she gets a daily batch of greens ,like cholard or dandy lion and also non citric fruit, like peaches n pears.make sure all of this is going on and that there is no runny nose or mucas in the mouth,if no.. he is probibly all right,if there is and it continues take him to a vet that will handle reptiles....

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             if i can be of more help....and if you feel ive been helpful let me know thru expert comments.


                      thanks for the question
                          tommy