Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, as i was cleaning my cage three weeks ago i found eggs, about 15 or so, buried about 6 inches into the sand. Yesterday night they hatched, now they are about an inch long and the parents are hunting them, i took all the babies out and they are alive and well for now, what do i feed them? I was thinking ants, is that ok for them?

what species? i am guessing anolis carolinensis or anolis segrei but i have a few statements...
1) you should NOT be keeping them on sand.
2) do NOT feed them ants!.
put the babies in a tank of there own with optimal temps. keep them on unprinted paper towels and feed them fruit flies and pin heads. and fix the adults enclosure... NO sand!

They are all anolis carolinensis, a pair of A. garmani and 19 A. smallwoodi. I've had the A. carolinensis for two years on sand. I know about all the crap people say about them getting sand into their mouths yadda yadda yadda, its never happened with me and they couldnt have bred if i had them on newspaper or paper towel. The temps are perfect and they all are healthy, I don't need advice on my adults, I need advice on my new arrivals. And from the other thread of yours I read it doesn't sound like you've had experience with babies. I'm not trying to put down your knowledge of this animal I am simply stating that i prefer experience over reading a book. A lot of the informantion on reptiles that is out there is dead wrong, pinhead crickets or termites are too large.

ok i didnt mean to upset u! and actually i have had experience. i thought you were a "newbie". i apologize, over the net it is pretty easy to make that mistake. anyway, try the fruitflies, flightless, they are easy for them to catch, also try peach babyfood, just dab some on there noses.they should bulk up pretty fast so if you can get a hold of some new born crickets (about the size of a speck of dust) it would also work but unless you are breeding the crix yourself it can be difficult to obtain them. good luck tho. im sorry if i upset you in any way, it seems i have.
~icy

I just hate going to these forums cause no one answers my questions or takes my advice, they always argue about which way is the right way or which is the wrong. And they assume. I come here when one of my reptiles are in danger, in the case of the hatchlings. Every kid with a lizard thinks he/she knows how to raise it just because it's alive...anyway ignore my rambling just had to say it.

I think they're fine on sand, considering they come from islands and very limestoney places, although I'd personally opt for calcisand--I'm not telling you what to do.

Pinheads are too small? I'm not familiar with the general care of the other species, but baby green anoles are definitely large enough to take down pinheads. Also, I know you're not supposed to feed them ants, but it's certainly better than nothing if they'll take them.

Well, good luck with the babies--they're so cute at that age!

I meant that pin head crickets are too small for the baby anoles

Ok, sorry about the misunderstanding. And I agree in the sense that I certainly haven't seen any anole hatchling that's too small to eat a pinhead. The problem is more likely to be the opposite, as you say.

Let me set you straight on the sand. I live in florida i have over 23 years sxperince with anoles.. and guess what florida is ALL SAND! anyways.. they lay there eggs in it so do chameleons and tons of others.. they dont have calicum sand in the wild. they even use potting soil. End of story. Now about your babies.. I just LOVE the lil babies take some pics please. Try sweeping the grass with a butterfly net, like tall weeds, and try maggots and baby flys easy to catch and get .. smelly garbage works perfect. I have watched the baby anoles eat ants and gnats and baby flys and baby grass hoppers which are out right now in the grass. Use a butterfly net and sweep some long grass pretty firmly and quickly dumpe the contents into a tall butter container or large pickle jar, pick out wasps and spiders and FIRE ANTS. do not feed them fire ants!!! they will kill them. try the grass thing and if not try leaving the porch light on, take some time to look around outside for bugs and dont be squimish, a good eye can spy all the bugs. Good luck with the babies and let me know how they are doing!! if you need more help you can mail me at xoxwickedonexox@aol.com good luck!

I just realized the sand part was directed at me. I'm kind of surprised, because I never said not to use sand, just that calci-type sands were better.

Anyway, I'm born and raised in Miami, so there's no need to tell me that most of Florida is sand, although it's not really that way where I live. And although they don't have processed calcium sand in the wild, our sea-shell white sand isn't the same as the builder's sand and playground sand people use, either. But that is not the point. The point is that the purpose of captivity is to keep animals under better conditions than they would be in the wild. Just like they have plenty of toxic plants they live with in nature, but most people wouldn't purposely add a toxic plant to a vivarium even if the animals don't consume it, just as a safeguard.

Also, I'm not positive that calcium sand is or isn't sometimes natural. The product I use comes from Ft. Pierce (the company is really in Miami) and it's a fine grade sand that says 100% natural. Now, that would never make me assume that it actually is, or that it's collected from the outdoors, but the product that this company makes are based on natural products, such as crushed coral and natural florida beach sand. I mean, the calcium sand is obviously somewhat processed, but I still feel it's safer than regular sand or soil that these anoles do encounter in nature. And that assumption is based without my knowing how often anoles injest too much substrate and die of impaction, but I'm going to just try and be safe with all my reptiles.

Anyway, I doubt this will be read and I'm sorry it reads so terribly if it is, but I just had to clear up the whole issue. I don't think it's wrong to keep anoles on sand, but I just don't think it's fool proof enough, especially not for beginners, so that's my point!