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I am a VERY new herp owner. I have recently acquired 2 Emerald Swifts, male and female. The male has some sort of eye infection that I am trying to treat by flushing the eyes and with Gentamicin Opth. Solution. He also has mites and I have dosed them both with ivermectin as they came from the same place and are in the same enclosure. I work for a vet, unfortunatly one who has never dealt with reptiles, and have ordered some doxycycline to see if it will help with the infection and if it is a possible URI. My main question is since he can't see out of either eye I haven't seen him eat, should I be trying to force something down his mouth? He is very scared and somewhat aggressive at the moment I know I could get something into his mouth if I try, I just need pointed in the right direction. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

Nicole

Sounds like it may be too humid in their enclosure. Swifts are extremely prone to fungal infections in their eyes if high humidity is present. I would suggest tearing their tank down, bleaching it out, rinsing it *obviously* and then keeping them on dry paper towel for a while until all of their problems clear up. In the mean time you will probably have to hand feed him and gve him water with a dropper. raise the temps a bit too while they are healing. good luck.
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