chinese water dragon energy

Question
QUESTION: how are you? i have a juvenile chinese water dragon that is still new to my home its been two weeks and at first my dragon showed signs of being stressed which i feel would be normal due to habitat changes but my dragon has good color (vivid green) and seemed to be happy, however the last couple of days (two days) my dragon has seemed to not take interest in any food and has had shallow breathing. i have a 10 gallon tank with plenty of greenery and humidity plus an average temp. of 85 i plan to upgrade all soon but lately seems to have really low energy and sleeps all day. i take my dragon out everyday to sit on my shoulder for bout an hour and does fine but im concerned for my dragon and would appreciate you input thank you for your time.  Adrian Perez

ANSWER: Get him to a veterinarian who has reptile experience, immediately.  Your dragon is showing signs of a serious illness, which could prove deadly if left untreated.  By the time a reptile shows outward signs of illness, they are generally extremely sick.  Do NOT delay--this is a veterinary emergency, at this point.

Most reptile illnesses are simple, and not terribly expensive to treat, but deadly if not treated.  A few possibilities are internal parasites, a mouth or respiratory infection, or the all-too-common MBD (hypocalcemia) which is caused by either lack of UVB light and/or lack of calcium supplements.  (You did not mention a UVB light, or what you were feeding him).

Stop handling him until he's recovered, and is eating heartily again.

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

QUESTION: hi donna its adrian not sure if you recall my first email to you but regretfully my dragon passed the day after i sent it :(
however since then i have upgraded to a 40 gal tank with a fog system two heat lamps one at 150watts and another at 75watts to keep temp, a 10.0 uvb bulb with a secondary 5.0 uvb bulb i have gotten a new chinese dragon and seemed to be doing well in the 10 gallon tank, he was very brown in color but then turned vibrant green he was in it for two whole days and then i purchased the 40 gal tank and added more lighting, heating, humidity, to accomadate the space, its been bout twelve hours since the change over and he hasnt eaten my dragon has two water/swimming bowl,(aside from the fogger bowl that he cant get in) and plenty of space to roam.  he was very into crickets and mealworms in the ten gal tank for the first two days, he showed signs for a necessity for more space so i got him a bigger tank and he has been cowered in the corner since i shifted him to the 40gal and has shown no interest in his crickets or mealworms should i be concerned or is it still just the adjustment period? he has scurried alittle but not much and i have seen a little bit that he will turn small amounts of green but is mostly brown still. it might be alittle early to worry but i would like to keep this one alive and i have pulled out all the stops to have a tank fit for a king please let me know if i should be worried of not or if you have any advice to keep my dragon alive and healthy thank you for your time and if requested i will send you a pic of my setup and dragon if it would  help with your advice

Answer
I'm sorry to hear that, but glad to hear your new little one is doing well.  Remember, once he's gotten settled in for a month or so, he should have a vet checkup and a parasite test done.

Give him a week to get used to the drastic change in environment.  If the new tank doesn't have a lot of fake greenery in it--add some.  Little lizards like to have plenty of cover to hide in, otherwise they feel exposed to predators.  Sometimes a larger tank can be too empty and open--filling it with fake leafy vines solves that issue, and you can remove some of the plants as the dragon grows larger.
My guess is, if you put in a bunch of greenery, he'll be back to his old self in a couple of days.