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My anole was very skiny when i got home from a trip even thought he had some crickets left. over night he caught the crickets and I bought him more that day (sunday). Today when i woke up he was fine, iwent to school, came back and he had strang black patches arround his eyes, I thought nothing of it and went to play tenis. In an hour I came back and he had more black patches and he was dead :*(. Why do you think he died?

>>My anole was very skiny when i got home from a trip even thought he had some crickets left. over night he caught the crickets and I bought him more that day (sunday). Today when i woke up he was fine, iwent to school, came back and he had strang black patches arround his eyes, I thought nothing of it and went to play tenis. In an hour I came back and he had more black patches and he was dead :*(. Why do you think he died?

How long was the trip? It sounds like the trip must have
been too long, but he was probably in all liklihood ill
before you left on your trip. I've read from a much more
experienced Anole keeper than myself on RepticZone.Com's
Anole message board that an Anole can *very rarely* go for
as long as perhaps a week without eating assuming the Anole
is in otherwise good health in a good environment.
How long did you have him? If it was only a short time
he may have been ill when you bought him. I've read (on
Melissa Kaplan's Anole website - see the Anole Caresheet -
called Under-The-Leaves on the main menu here on
KingSnake.Com's main menu for the web address) that an Anole
can appear perfectly healthy all green and so forth one day
and be dead the very next day.
It is highly recommended by just about every experienced
herper that anyone who cares for reptiles in captivity have
an experienced vet for their reptiles who knows reptile vet
care (not all vets do - in fact most don't and only work
with cats and dogs). I myself realize how hard it is to
locate such a vet. I live in a major metro area of the US
and so far the only vet place I have been able to locate
that sees reptiles charges $144.00 for just the visit plus
extra for any stool and/or bloodwork! We're talking
somewhere in the range of $200.00 or more per visit! Think
I'm lying? Call The Animal Medical Center (212) 838-7053 and
ask them what they charge for a visit. Other vets in the
area that I've called so far don't even see reptiles.
I don't know if this will ease your mind anyway at the loss
of your pet, but many times a lizard in a pet store is
housed with many other lizards in transport as well as in
the pet store itself and if even a single lizard that the
other lizards are housed with has a disease or something like
that more often than not all of the lizards in the same
enclosure will get it as well even though they may not show
signs that they are sick just yet when you see them in the
pet store. IOWs if you go into a pet store and even a single
lizard in an enclosure looks sick assume the worst (i.e. all
of the lizards are probably infected as well).
Most more
experienced herpers and books on keeping reptiles in captivity
all recommend that a new lizard be taken straight to a reptile
vet to be checked out healthwise. Sorry to hear of your lose.
I hope you can get another and he/she and you do better. Check
your enclosure. Big enough? Enough plants? Proper temp and
humidity? Varied diet? Proper day and night heat? Proper light
and proper UVA and UVB lighting, too? Regular maintainance
of the tank with non-toxic cleaning of it? Good amount of
verntilation? Tank not overcrowded with too many lizards in
it or maybe worse not a mixture of different lizards in the
very same tank because it looks nice to you? Proper substrate
in the bottom of your tank?
If it were me I would do that
complete inventory as well as try to find a reptile vet before
I bought another Anole or other type of lizard. Better safe
than sorry. And stick around here and other websites, books
etc... to learn as much as you can. Amazon.Com has some decent
used books on Anoles/lizards relatively cheap. Shipping is
$3.49 per order and can take 14-21 days but it's a resource.
Hope that helps. Peace.

Lizard~King

The postorbital spots, in the absence of a territorial display, are a sign of severe stress. Severe stress causes (or can cause) a buildup of internal parasites. All Anoles, even captive bred have some internal parasites. The buildup of parasites is the likely cause of your Anole's demise. Without a necrotopsy, there is no way to tell for certain. Parasites remain the most likely cause, though.

it was a 4 day trip and he had 20 -25 crikets in the cage when we left.

he was 1 1/2 - 2 months onl and we bought him as a baby.

Did you make some arrangements for water?

Do you provide any sort of food source for the crickets when you put that amount in there for that long? Crickets poo like crazy, therefore not staying gutloaded for long. It's generally not a good idea to do it that way.
It's hard to say for sure why he died, did you know how old he was? There's just so many possible causes..in any case, I'm sorry for your loss..

Having that many crickets in there to begin with may be what caused him so much stress! If he already had a nice and fat tail you would have been better off only putting in a few crickets since anoles can live for longer than 2 weeks without any food. But without water he'll die within a few days.

>>it was a 4 day trip and he had 20 -25 crikets in the cage when we left.

Maybe I'm reading you wrong, but Anoles are not exactly like
people (us).They require quite a bit more than we do. Having enough food is a definite requirement for any living animal, but Anoles also require all of the other things in the proper amount that I mentioned when I suggested you take an inventory of your tank setup.
Four days is a bit long of a time to leave any animal alone.
If at all possible it's best to have someone who can care for
your animals should you need to be away from them for any
extended period of time. If you have to be away too often you
should probably re-think taking on the responsibility of caring
for an animal who has real needs that must be looked after on a
daily basis. Peace.

Lizard~King

I would like to know if he had the lights hooked up to a timer. Leaving the lights off for 4 days would have made it hard for the anole to become hungry or thermoregulate and the stres would have been high. Leaving the lights on for four days would have caused even more stress especially if all the good hiding spots were filled with crickets. He really should have had found somebody to check up on the anole at least twice a day.