My Water Dragon has one watery eye

Question
QUESTION: My water dragon is a few weeks from being a year old now. She has one watery eye. I gently touched the liquid with my finger and it's brownish. She scratches at her eye sometimes like a dog would scratch it's head. I think she may have scratched her eye but there's no visible wound. The watery eye is less round on the surface from a side view than the normal eye. It may be due to the liquid on the eye though.

I use one of those coil UVB lights, 100 watt heat lamp. The hot side is 95 degrees, the cool side is 75 degrees. I use a humidity/thermometer to measure the cage conditions.
Please help, I've taken her to the vet 3 times and can't do another $80 bill. I have eye ointment that was given to me by the vet though.

ANSWER: Hello Chase,

First things first, what brand of coil UVB lights are you using & how close it is to your water dragon?  What type of basking light are you using in conjunction with the UVB?
Please remove the coil UVB as soon as you read this message before it is too late for her.  Practically all of those lights are emitting low wavelength frequency of UVB which is close to UVC emission & are very harmful to your reptile.  
So, when you do remove the UVB just use the basking light for a couple of weeks to allow her eyes to start the healing process.  She most likely does not have an eye infection but eye irritation from the UVB coil bulb.
The only 2 flourescent tube UVB lights that I recommend are either the Reptiglo 8 or the Reptisun 10.  Please steer clear of the Reptiglo 10, the ESU/Zilla flourescent tube bulbs, & any compact or coil lights, ok?
What type of thermometer are you using to measure the temps & humidity?  A digital probe is the best.  If they are accurate with what you are measuring, then 95 is a little high but 75 is ok.  I would aim for 88-90 for the basking temps.  What is the humidity though?  It should run around 70-80% or so.
Please let me know how she is doing.  

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for warning me about the coil light. Although I'm sure you do it mostly for the lizard not me.

The UVB was a little over a foot from the water dragon. Same with the heat bulb.

This is the exact UVB light that I use.
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/compact_fluorescent_bulbs.php
A Repti Glo 2.0 coil bulb.
My vet. recommended coil bulbs but she doesn't seem to more about a lizard than a simple pet store handout would tell you.

I took the UVB off about 15 minutes ago and she is more active already. Before she was droopy like she had Metabolic Bone Disease.

This is the exact heat bulb that I use. (the 100 watt one)
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/sun_glo_tight_beam.php

This is the exact Temp/Humid gauge I use.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6021+6541&pcatid=6
Although I question the design of it, since black traps more heat than my green lizard then it really doesn't make sense about why they made a heat gauge black.

A couple more questions if you will be so kind.

- Are there any clamp lamps that can hold one of those tube bulb UVBs? Because Mr. Roys (water dragons name) has a 40 gallon with a screen cover, I don't use the screen cover since it's a snap on not a slide on and the clamps wont work if it's on.
This:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6028+6164&pcatid=6
is the best I could find for the UVB and can easily be placed on the screen but then I wouldn't have a way to use the heat light since I only have clamp lamps.

last question

-Since I'm going to leave out the UVB for 2 weeks and get one of the tube bulbs you recommended, should I be concerned with any calcium deficiency or other health problems if I leave out an artificial light source for 2 weeks? Also should I continue to give her calcium supplements with her food since from my understanding water dragons need a UVB source to process the calcium.

Thank you greatly for you time and knowledge.

ANSWER: Hello Chase,
Luckily, the reptiglo 2 coil is not a real strong bulb, so that is good news to hear for me anyway.  However, the way that the UVB refracts from those lights is that it glares & bounces around.  As I said though, luckily you were not using the reptisun 10 coil or the reptiglo 10 coil, they are causing horrible eye problems, & in some cases, death.
Your basking lamp is fine, no problem.  How tall is your 40 gallon?  You will need to get a much larger tank though for her, as they need a good amount of room to climb around in.  They need tall tanks like 3-4 feet in height & 2-3 feet in length & 2-3 feet in width.  That is fine you are not using a screen top & clamping the basking light on the side.  You could get a lightstand to hold a flourescent tube bulb fixture, because you just cannot use a compact or coil.  
OR, another option is to get a ceramic light fixture rated to 250 watts, & get either a T-rex mercury vapor bulb or a Megaray mercury vapor bulb.  The Megaray mercury vapor bulb has a lower heat output which you could request.  I have personally never used one, but contact Bobmac to get more information on it as it would be a good light for your water dragon.  They are heat & UVB combined into one light so you could use a clamp with the ceramic light fixture.  
No clamp fixtures hold a floruescent tube bulb, only screw in type of lights.
I had mentioned not using UVB for a couple of weeks in the case her eyes were being hurt by the coil light, but they are most likely ok since the bulb you were using was weak.  If anything, she has not received enough UVB.  So try to look into getting a UVB soon then.  However, a couple of weeks will be ok, as long as she is warm enough.  You are correct, that UVB exposure does help calcium absorption.  Do go ahead & keep giving her calcium though, for now as she will process a little bit of it.  Her body will become a sponge though as soon as she gets better UVB.  
IF you want to go the mercury vapor route since that might be easier with your setup, you can get a Megaray from:  www.reptileuv.com
If you want to look at the T-rex you can get one here:  www.reptilesupply.com  

How is she doing today?  Has she eaten?

Tracie


One other thing:
The type of thermometer you are using is a stick on right?  You will need to get a digital probe or a temp gun.  The stick ons only measure the ambient temps not the basking temps at all.  So the temps are probably going to be inaccurate.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She eats well but usually when nobody is watching. She also likes soaking in her pool, sometimes for 15 mins or more. Her eye looked normal after only 1 day off the UVB.

The cage is a little over 2 feet tall, about 5 feet long, and 1 foot wide. The Water Dragon is a foot and a half long. (tail makes up 2/3 of the length)

Also she has a spot of mouth rot on the right bottom part of her jaw. The vet gave me oral cleansing gel but I don't think that's the way to go about it. You can't just throw medication at everything and hope it goes away. Medication can help but to cure it you have to find out why it's happening in the first place. Something that all her degrees can't find apparently. She asked what the lizards diet was. I told her it's mostly freeze dried crickets, mealworms. Live crickets and mealworms. Every couple days I'll put out a dish with greens in them too.

Thanks again for the help on the eye it looks much better!
I read somewhere that mouth rot was caused by a more body wide infection. When I mentioned this to the vet she kept on insisting the topic of diet.
-Do you have any suggestions as to why she is getting mouth rot?

Also somewhere I read that pet stores often generalize on what a certain lizard is really called. Are Chinese water dragons really called Chinese water dragons or is it just an American pet store franchise generalization of the lizard?


Answer
Hello Chase,

The Chinese Water Dragon truly is from Asia, but has been imported over here to the US for years so has been captive bred here in the US so most of the ones you get now are from the US, technically speaking though they did originate from Asia.
Great the eye is looking much better now, that is good to hear.  :-))
Hm, usually diet is not the cause of mouthrot.  Normally the causes of mouthrot are pretty simple.  Improper temperatures, or a mouth injury are the main culprits.  Simply put, if they are not warm enough then, the immune system can become vulnerable allowing membranes to get bacteria in them & cause an infection from the simplest of cuts.  Also, if they are not warm enough, they cannot digest so they can have stomach problems as well which could lead to GI distress, etc.  They can be fungal or parasitic in nature.
Are your temps optimal at 88-90 on the basking area & the nighttime temps around 75-80.  They do not do well if they get too cold.  Could this be part of the problem perhaps?
Poor nutrition is sometimes to blame, as well.  Your diet sounds pretty good though.  Maybe take the freeze dried crickets out & use just fresh.  
I would personally use diluted betadine to clean out the gum area.  Just get a swab & clean it out 1-2 times per day. You are right though, if left untreated, mouthrot can become a systemic infection if it is left untreated.  If the source of the problem is caught oftentimes, no antibiotics are needed it just depends on how severe the case is.
The freeze dried crickets, could one of them perhaps cut her gumline somehow?  
Did you get a good UVB ordered?  That can also depress the immune system, not having adequate UVB access due to improper absorption of calcium & other nutrients.  Everything is symbiotic in nature.

Tracie