Yawning question

Ok, Maria my pastel, who weighs 238 grams now Yay!, has been yawning occasionally. When she was in her little 6qt tub I never noticed it, but it was translucent and I might just have not seen as much. Temps are 89-90 hot side, hot spot is 89-90, cool side 78. Ambient is 76-78. Humidity ranges 40-50. I have to mist every few days. She is in a glass tank 20L, I have a piece of glass covering the top. Heat UTH on thermostat, infrared bulb to raise ambient, on thermostat. Temps and humidity measured with acurite, spot checked with infrared.

I’m not seeing any mucus in her mouth or anything. Am I seeing the start of a RI? Or just a BP thing? She last ate Friday. Her second f/t meal at that! Defecating regularly, shed 11/18.


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They do that to realign their jaws after eating. All the time I'm not sure about.

there's a few possibilities:

• something stuck in her mouth, like substrate
• can't quite align her jaw (usually after feeding)
• mucous or something else in the mouth or throat

if you're really worried, you can hold her and open her mouth to check (use a clean credit card). if the mouth looks a healthy pink and you don't see anything else, i'd just monitor her and watch for any signs of worsening.

My beep yawns as well :) She'll yawn when I hold her, 2 always twice for some reason and then nothing. And Similar to you, I worry and listen for wheezing, watch to see if she's elevating her head, check her mouth for mucus bubbles and watch her in her enclosure for unusual face rubbing or mucus trails on the side of her tub, all is well. I've only had my beep for about 5 months, and based on my experience so far, it sounds like usual beep behavior.

How often is occasionally? And have you noticed any other behaviors associated with RI, such as holding her head up (stargazing) or heard any popping noises?

If not, it may be nothing. Their scent glands are located at the top of their mouth, which is where their tongue rubs against after they've flicked it. Yawning eliminates the middle man, but doing it often is concerning and could mean something.

If you want to make sure it's not a RI you can take her to the vet and ask for a culture. I'd wait for another sign of RI first, as unnecessary vet visits can cause stress.

Yawning occasionally is nothing to worry about. What is occasionally though?

Unless it's fairly frequent and more than just a yawn, I wouldn't sweat it.

I’m seeing it about once a day, maybe once every other day. No face rubbing. The rats are in the same room as her, and 3 females have given birth this week. So maybe she’s smelling them. She’s definitely in hunt mode right after each one has given birth, so maybe it correlates with that. No popping or wheezing or whistling sounds. She’s not holding her head up except when she comes to the top of the cage looking for food - when I come near the cage lol. I’ll have the hubs help me check her mouth when he gets home. I don’t see anything when she yawns, but we did switch to Reptile Prime, maybe she has a piece stuck in there.


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Originally Posted by Rvnhawk

I’m seeing it about once a day, maybe once every other day. No face rubbing. The rats are in the same room as her, and 3 females have given birth this week. So maybe she’s smelling them. She’s definitely in hunt mode right after each one has given birth, so maybe it correlates with that. No popping or wheezing or whistling sounds. She’s not holding her head up except when she comes to the top of the cage looking for food - when I come near the cage lol. I’ll have the hubs help me check her mouth when he gets home. I don’t see anything when she yawns, but we did switch to Reptile Prime, maybe she has a piece stuck in there.


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Thats nothing. Mine all yawn everytime they come out of their hide hahahaha


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I agree with Mr Sully.

Thank you all for putting my mind at ease. Just with recently changing her to her “big girl cage” and it being cold here, although her cage temps are normalized, I just wanted to make sure it all seems to be normal BP behavior. I’m not seeing signs of RI otherwise. I just need to get my humidity up a bit, because she should be getting ready to shed soon - she has had a growth/weight spurt, so it’s about time.


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