I've had my anole for five years now without any problems. His previous owner had him for a year.
Two weeks ago I started noticing symptoms of stress but I have been unable to remedy them...in fact, I believe I have made them worse.
He is housed in a 55g tank. For the past year and a half I have been building him a custom made enclosure that is five feet tall and three feet wide, three feet deep. It would really suck if he dies on me now before he even gets a chance to enjoy his new home.
During the span of a week, I had to go in and out of town twice. He went without a mist for three days, got misted twice one day, then went without a mist for three more days. His new enclosure has a misting system installed, so this won't ever happen again. I noticed a rough shed because of it. When I misted him again, he went crazy drinking up the water. I continued to mist him 3-5 times a day...he would drink and drink each time.
Basking spot ranges between 88-92 degrees.
Tank is planted.
He is only green while he sleeps...remains black or dark brown while awake. This worries me the most. He's a beautiful rich green...almost blueish. I haven't seen him look normal for two weeks.
He has been constantly gaping. He has never done this in all the time I have had him. I thought at first I had too much heat on him, even though he was so dark, so I took off the heat lamp for one day. He was still gaping. Heat lamp went back on the next day.
He does not eat. I've been keeping count of the worms in his cup, and there are never any missing. He hasn't eaten in two weeks! Maybe more...I wasn't keeping count then.
His stool is runny...no solids.
He still looks at the worms with that cute longing...but he used to throw himself at the cup of worms before I even got it all the way on the ground. Now he just looks.
He still moves around a lot, still curious about what I'm doing...so I'm hoping this is a good sign.
But two days ago I noticed some mucus on his eyes...and today I heard congested breathing. I think...it sounded like a little pop. I'm afraid this might be from over-misting. But he had been behaving so dehydrated I thought I was doing the right thing. So I'm assuming he has developed a respiratory infection perhaps.
I took him out today and wiped his eyes and force-fed him superworm guts, no outer shells. He was not happy with me at all.
I can't think of what else I can do for him except increase the wattage on his heat lamp. Bake him for a day or two.
I would definitely appreciate any help or advice.
If anyone wants more info, please let me know.
Thanks.
