Green Anole with possible eye infection

Question
QUESTION: I have 5 anoles in a 20 gallon tank with a reptile light. All of them are doing great except for one. I think one of my anoles may have some sort of an eye infection or something else wrong with her. Since I got her she hasn't eaten on her own and my boyfriend and I have been force feeding her. This is something that has gone on for a few months now. I really hate to do it to her but I have tried everything and no matter how long I go without force feeding her she will not eat on her own. One of her eyes is almost always closed and when she opens it, it looks like there is a little bit of liquid coming out of it. It also doesn't seem like she can see very well out of it.

I wasn't sure if she may have an eye infection, and if that would make her not eat, or if that was completely unrelated. Also, I have read online about color blindness in anoles and how it could make them not able to see there food so that was another possibility I came up with.

What concerns me the most is that after all this time feeding her she still hasn't got better. We had to go through something similar with our first anole. Between her being sick and skinny when we bought her, and her habitat not being exactly what it should have been when we took her home, we were sure she was going to die. When she didn't eat we tried supplements and the best thing we found out was to just get her to open her mouth, stick a cricket in, and she'd do the rest. After a few weeks of this she surprised us and ate two crickets in a row on her own. Since then she has been perfect. I just don't know why it's not working with this one.
So here are my questions.
If it is an eye infection what can I use to get rid of it that doesn't require a vet?
If it isn't what could be wrong with her eye/appetite?
Is there anything that could be wrong I haven't thought of?

If you could help me at all that would be great. She's my baby and I want her to get better :/

Thanks so much for your time,
Brittany

ANSWER: Hello Brittany,

Do you have a picture of her by any chance so I could see her eye?
Assisted feeding is what works so well when are not eating on their own so I would continue to do that.  What are you feeding her, baby food?  
Is she smaller than the others?
An eye infection can travel to the brain or the rest of the body to make them feel ill.  
You can try getting some bee pollen to help with her appetite for a little while.  Or, there is a formula called Jumpstart that you can get from here:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19702

It is pretty effective to help with appetite, too.

If you want to try some antibiotic eye ointment, I sell some of that, called Terramycin, on my website online.  If you want to try some, let me know & I will send my site link.

How are the temperatures & humidity in the tank?    
Has she had trouble with shedding on her eye which could have initially caused the trouble?

Let me know how she is doing.

Tracie

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


Yoshi   QUESTION: Tracie,
I attached a picture that shows her eye pretty well.

I am actually feeding her crickets. I tried the jump start with my first anole Ollie, then went to wax worms, then to crickets. With Yoshi I skipped everything and went straight to crickets. I think I may still have some if you think I should try that with her.
If I were to start her on that should I stop with the crickets or alternate every other feeding?

She is the second smallest of the five but she really isn't that small. She looks a lot healthier than Ollie did when we were going through her whole ordeal. Her legs are decently plump. The only reason I can tell that she still isn't eating on her own is because when I go a few days without feeding her ribs show really bad. Which you can see a little bit in the picture I attached. Also when she is fed she has plenty of energy to make me chase her all over the tank, but when she hasn't had food she stays in the same place almost all day, and I can simply pick her up and get her out. She doesn't even try to run once I have her out like she would if she had energy.

I would like to try some eye ointment if you could send me the link.

&the temp in the tank in the day ranges from 80-90 degrees which makes them all turn green and in the night it usually stays right around 70 sometimes 75.
& I don't have anything to keep check on the humidity, but I spray their tank 2-3 times a day and it has a fish tank type lid so it stays pretty moist in there.

& as far as shedding I'm not aware of any problems.

Brittany.

Answer
Hello Brittany,

Yoshi looks pretty good overall.  I love green anoles, they are so pretty.
You can alternate the feedings with the jumpstart & the crickets.  It may help with her appetite.   
Her eye is swollen though, poor thing.   Do you use a temp gun or digital probe to check the temperatures?  The temperatures look fine though, in the 80-90 range for her.
Here is my site for the ointment:

www.bug-de-lite.com

I think the tank setup sounds fine, overall.  She may have scratched her eye initially on something or gotten something in it which has caused this problem.

Let me know how she is doing.

Thanks.
Tracie