Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I,m the guy who posted about the Anole that hitchiked from Florida to Chicago when my Aunt moved here.

It has gotten to where it eats a small bit of wax worm off the end of a tweezer very aggressivly. It is young so it can only eat a small piece of one.

I have the larger of the two Fruitflies (Hydei) but it just won't hunt. In fact it even runs away from the fruit flies.

Any suggestions? Should I just stick to the pieces of wax worms for now?

Andy

Could be cold, could need nutrients before it gets enough energy, could need UVB, could be a lot of things. What kind of anole is it? Anoles can be tricky feeders in certain situations, especially young ones. Good luck and keep us posted.
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

I'm not exactly sure what kind it is. It looks exactly like the little one in the picture at the top of the forum. Can I assume it is a Brown Anole? It has never turned green.

I think it is just a picky eater. I can't get near it with a small piece of wax worm without him attacking it. It finally ate 5 fruit flies today but only from the tweezers. Man that was fun catching them with tweezers. One got off and ran up the branch and he nailed it. He just won't go get them on his own.

Andy

Keep feeding him with the tweezers, that's actually a really good thing at this point. Anoles will often stop eating once they dehydrate and look emaciated at all.

The anole at the top looks like neither a Green or a Brown or anything I've seen in Florida If the head of your anole looks as pointy like that ones, though, you probably have a Green anole. Brown anoles are far more common in most established areas, however, so I'd do a Google on both types just to make sure.

Either way, make sure your anole is getting plenty of water. You can also drip Pedialyte in front of it and it will help a lot if it takes a sip. Keep feeding it and dust the crickets or waxies with calcium every other day if it's young (if it's a hatchling do it daily, if it looks big enough to be an adult do it twice a week or so) as well as provide some sunlight or UVB. You're doing a great job if your anole has made it this far, so I think it's a fighter. Thank you for taking care of it, too.
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

I looked at some pics and this is most definitly a female Brown Anole. It's still alive and kicking. I see her drink water and I got her to eat another fruit fly today but she sure doesn't seem to care for them. She never fails to gobble up a small piece of waxworm though. Oh well, it's better than letting it starve to death. I sure would like to try the fairly newly hatched (small) silkworms but I don't want to have to order a bunch of them and their food and then find out she won't eat any.

Andy

I forgot to mention, this darn little free lizard is definitely starting to get expensive. I collect rare dwarf succulent plants from Africa and Madagascar so luckily I already had several wide spectrum fluorescent lights going.

Andy

Well, wide spectrum or full spectrum flourescents still don't usually carry enough UVB, if much at all, so you'll probably still need a special light or a few hours of sunlight daily. You can check your brand of bulb, though, and it might.

A good anole enclosure that's cheap is to go to Wal-Mart and buy one of those big, clear, plastic bins/tubs that are for storing things. What I did is I cut out the middle section of the lid and replaced it with screen (any mesh will do), so that the lid snaps on as it should, but there is also adequate ventilation. The equivalent of a 20-gallon tank cost me $5, so it's a good deal. Set it up just like a tank and the lighting can go through the screen. They need a basking spot of 90-95*F for a couple hours of the day and will probably stay under it a lot while it's on, just make sure the whole tank isn't that hot. If you need anymore help, just let us know!
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

........A good anole enclosure that's cheap is to go to Wal-Mart and buy one of those big, clear, plastic bins/tubs that are for storing things.........

Hey, that's a really great idea. I'm gonna look into that. I was going to use a 20gal long tank I have but with the plastic kind, I can move it into a different sunny area when I need to without breaking my back. Cheap too. Thanks.

Andy

Yeah, you can put it in a sunny area, but make sure you have the top almost completely netted then or it will seriously overheat! There's no bulb like natural sunlight, though, and it can do wonders for diurnal herps! Make sure it's warm outside, though!
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

Ah, okay, Brown anoles are much hardier than Greens... but they need to be kept warmer and more humid, too.

Most won't care for something as small as fruitflies, either. Soft-bodied worms and crickets are best, just waxworms are pretty fatening, so they can't be used long (although they're great in this case, temporarily, where the animal didn't eat for a good while).
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

Well, this lizard finally got off her lazy rear end and hunted down a dusted cricket. She watched it walk around the tank for a half an hour but suddenly decided to make a quick strike. I'm kinda thinking this thing is gonna make it.

Andy