Water Dragon Lizard Eye Problems

Question
Hi. I have a Water dragon that I've had for about 3 months. For the first couple months he was active and bright but lately his color is dark brown and he sits around with his eyes closed sometimes opening his mouth a little. When I looked at his eyes closer they are goopy and he scratches at his head like a dog would, with his hind leg. I want to help Henry get better. Please help!
Thanks,
Chelsea.

Answer
Hi Chelsea, From your description of Henry's symptoms I would strongly suspect that he may have a respiratory infection. These type of infections tend to affect the eyes as well and cause open mouth breathing. Upper respiratory infections do not tend to resolve on their own without antibiotic therapy so I would urge you to visit a vet. What you can do in the meanwhile to help boost his immune system is to make sure he has access to adequate heat. He should have a basking area temperature of 90F while the rest of the cage is in the mid to low 80"sF. While he is ill the temperature should not drop below 80F even at night so you may need to use a red or blue heat bulb at night.
Just to be safe,  I should mention that there are currently some UV bulbs on the market that been shown to cause eye irritation in reptiles (but not open mouth breathing). They tend to be the coil or compact type fluorescent UVB bulbs. If you are using one of these it should be removed and replaced with a straight type UV bulb.  

I have included the link to Tricia's water dragon site, it has very comprehensive info on the care of water dragons.

http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/dragoncr.htm