Water Dragon Opening his Mouth

Question
About three weeks ago, I bought a water dragon from a Petco around my house in Allentown, Pa.  He/she is about a year old judging from the size and what I have read online. (from snout to tail he/she is about a foot)  The last two days, my water dragon has been opening it's mouth alot.  It sits on its log and just opens and closes its mouth.  It is bright green, eating regularly, the humidity is steadily 60-80% and the temperature ranges from 100 degress to 85 degress.  Currently it is in a 10 gallon aquarium, but by the end of the week I plan on moving it to a larger enclosure.  The substrate I used was the all natural moss, but now I switched over to the coconut fiber bricks.  It has a big container filled with water for it to swim in, I feed it meal worms and wax worms daily and once a week I buy it 10-15 crickets.  Last night I threw the crickets in and it went nuts and ate about five of them.  It is frolicing in the cage no differently than it did last week.  I had it out last night and it was hanging on my shoulder and then running around our small bathroom. This started the other day when my fiance and I had it out it, it started opening its mouth at us and I just thought that it was a sign of fear. Now it is still opening its mouth even when we are no where near the tank.  I have looked inside it's mouth and from what I can tell there is nothing unhealthy looking in there, it is all pink.  He puffs his throat when he breathes now (as his chest moves in and out his throat does the same). Other than his mouth opening he is acting normally.  I don't know what the problem might be.  Do they act that way when they are stressed??  I was thinking he might just be stressed out because I did not notice anything like this before we had him out of the cage that one night.  I would very much appreciate your help.

Answer
Hello Kyle, It sounds like RI (respiratory Infection) Which calls for immediate vet attention, it can be fatal if not caught early enough. I am not a vet and this is NOT a diagnoses. If this is what it is then there is no home remedy, there are preventions but antibiotics are needed. You definately need a larger tank 10 is much much to tiny even for a 4 inch hatchling. Mine is 150 for one 18 inches and its still a tad to small so keep that in mind. 4 ft tall 4ft wide and 2 feet deep is the minimum. You need to stop feeding the mealworms and wax worms. Wax worms are very addictive, fatty and not a good staple. Mealworms have little to no nutrition and do nothing for your dragon and can cause stomach problems. Crickets are the best and 10 a day is more usual for a youngn, although 5-7 is often too. They should be fed everyday and mealworms and wax worms should only be fed as a treat. Opening the mouth can be a sign of fear or threatened but usually its once in a great while and not all day like your describing. Here is some information on RI that you should read up on to confirm thats what it is. A vet appointment is also needed.


http://www.anapsid.org/rti.html

http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/faq.htm#respiratory

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I hope its nothing serious and he is ok. Good luck to you both
-Yex