Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, let me start by saying I am an animal lover...from dogs and cats to guinie pigs and pet rats to hermit crabs and fish...I've had them all. I have never had a reptile of any sort, they make me sqeemish. My estranged husband brought home an anole one night for my 3 year old from a carnival (along with a goldfish that died last week..R.I.P.- Chicki Baby)in a plastic cage about 5 inches high. He is cute but I am alittle afraid of how fast he moves, I am worried he will get out when I put my hand in. I got him into a 10 gallon tank with some sand on the floor( i was told to change that to soil) wood, leaves and a nice rock. I have a heating pad under the tank, and a heat light (sun glo 50w) about 5 inches above where he likes to bask on a branch.

He hasn't eaten anything that I have seen in about 4 weeks. I have offered him flies, mealworms (live and with heads cut off), dried ZooMed's Anole food, pear babyfood and misc bugs. He lets the flies land right in front of him and won't eat. When we first got him we fed him everyday and he would sometimes eat 4 flies in a day. He also used to chomp the meal worms right up. He ate good for about 3 or 4 weeks then for the next 4 weeks he stopped (we have had him about 2 months)He shed his skin the first week he was with us (about 6-7 weeks ago) He is bright pretty green but sometimes gets dark black brown. He seems to be drinking well and i mist his cage several times a day, gently dropping water right in front of him to which he happily laps up.

He would have not been my choice pet but I have gotten very attached to him and have put a little effort in trying to make him happy. I have been only keeping the heat lamp on durning the day but the heating pad almost all the time....Please help me I don't want him to die it would break my heart!

I heard maybe silkworms but I can't easliy find any. I have also heard TONS of conflicting information, so I am very lost and I don't really have money to take him to a vet right now.

It really could be almost anything from stress, parasites, lack of UV. I didn't see you mention a source of ultra violate light which they need. Also, calcium supplements are needed to ward off metabolic bone disease. Wax worms are readily available and they are almost irresistible. They may be too big but you can use cut pieces of them. Try holding a piece against his mouth with a tweezers. I suggest you go to these two sites and read everything you can, In the mean time, maybe some others will offer info. http://www.kingsnake.com/anolecare/ http://www.anapsid.org/anole.html

hi. i hope your anole is doing ok. i just want to tell you about the anoles i used to have.i had 2 bahaman anoles. i housed them in a 25 gallon tall tank. they are arboreal so like the height. i had a 60 watt incandesent light and a reptisun 5.0 UV light. they need the UV. since you have yours in a 10 gallon a 60 wat might be to hot. i would do with out the UTH. since they are arboreal they don't spend much time on the ground, at least mine didn't. temps need to be like 90 under the light and much cooler in the rest of the tank so he can thermalregulate his body temp. also its much easier to have light on timer. they need a night time also.
they like lots of branches to climb on. misting is good although once or twice a day is sufficiant. i did provide a little water bowl. also you didn't mention feeding crickets. that is all i fed mine. if you get a dozen or so then you can have them on hand. make sure they are not bigger then its head. if they are to big, well he just won't be able to eat them. be sure you gut load (feed the crickets such things as carrots, lettuce, flake fish foods) them before feeding them to the anole. also when you do feed them, only a couple at a time, best to dust them with a calcium and vitamin supplement.
chances are your anole is a wild caught anole and is stressed out being stuck in a little cage. good luck.

Thanks...

About a week after writing that he basically took a huge poop and he was ok. I think he was blocked from the sand I had originally put in his cage, now i have bedding made for anoles. I do turn the light off at night, i keep it off for about 10 hours a night. He has been eating small crickets since then that i gut load with special gut loading food from petsmart along with this blue jello stuff to keep the crickets hydrated,

I really appreciate all your info it will definatley help me out. Experiance is priceless and sometimes hard to find, thanks again for helping.

Glad to hear it. I ordered the juv trial kit of silkworms/w food for 11 bucks delivered to my door from Silkwormfarm.com. There were a great many that were perfect size and my Anole loved them.

Andy