Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My room mate and I came home from the RI Pet Expo with two skinny little anoles that were being sold in the tiny little plastic houses. We went to the store and bought about a 2 gallon tank (for now), a heat lamp, substrate, a vine and a plant. We also picked up a dozen small crickets and some waxworms. Last night the VERY skinny male of the pair ate 5-6 crickets. He tried to eat a the worms, but he let go of them, I think cause they were too big. The female has been drinking water droplets and seems to have eaten 1 or 2 crickets overnight. Anyway, the female stays green, more so under the heat lamp, but the male keeps turning back to brown. I know this means that they are stressed, cold or sick and I know he's at least not cold. He goes up to the light, turns green and when he comes back down he's brown again! Is he probably just stressed out? He is so skinny you can see all his little ribs and we thought food might help, does he need the UVB light to digest? I think I heard that once....

Today we will be buying the UVA/UVB lamp, an undertank heater, more crickets (all 12 got eaten or crushed since yesterday) and some of that gutloading stuff. Is there anything else I can do for these guys? I'm just glad we took these two and not some 5 year old kid who would leave them in the tiny plastic thing!

Ok, well it's day two and I have a few more questions. We got the UVA/UVB light, and undertank heater (which I put on the side of the tank, what they reccomend for this size). We've been misting the tank 1 or 2 sprays several time a day, they drink with almost every spray.

Anyway, the male is eating very well. He has had about 7(!) small crickets today. We kept adding more since the female hasn't eaten, but then he jumps down and snags them! I figure it's ok for him to eat alot since he was SO skinny yesterday you could see every bone. I am worried about the female. Today she caught a cricket and then wiped it out of her mouth on the vine without eating it! We haven't SEEN her eat anything, but we can't be sure. She is active and green. About an hour ago she crawled on the vine and did some "business". I can't tell if it's #1 or #2, it's watery and actually hanging off the vine! She has been drinking too.

We also give them waxworms but they killed them without eating them, making me think they're too big. We will be getting meal and silk worms for variety as well, and I also want to pick up some fruit baby food. Is there anything we can do to tempt her appetite?

Also, should I keep the male from eating so much? He spaces the crickets out over several hours, but is still eating a lot. I figure it's ok for a while since he was skin and bones....am I right? Any responses are greatly appreciated!

-Martha

First things first, you need a new enclosure ASAP you are running a heat light, UV light and heat pad on a 2G tank. There is no way you can provide a heat gradient. The lizards WILL over heat and WILL die in these circumstances. The dark one isn’t sounding to good, Dark or black all the time like you mentioned is a sign of a soon to die lizard. I would recommend a minimum of a 10G tank for those 2. Its not to expensive. Now adays you can get the tank and screen lid for under $30. Other than the enclosure everything ells sounds good.
My Research and Collection

Ok, once the roomie gets home we're off to the store to get a 10 gallon. Hopefully we'll be able to return the one we have now if we clean it really good. I did notice that once the lights went out the brown one turned green, does that make a difference? I think that they ate the waxworms in the last few hours as they're gone and I just gave them a few crickets. Thanks for the reply, and I'll try to do the best for these new little friends!

Unfortunately I am unsure if him turning green after the light are out symbolizes anything good or bad. In my experience, when an anole stays dark most of the time and appears nearly black it means it is passing away soon. You may get lucky in that I could possibly be wrong but I have been maintaining Green and Brown Anoles on and off for the better part of the past 10 years and normally when one presents a constant dark color its not good. What are the temps under the basking light? I did not think about this when I replied at the wee hours of this morning but it is possible your basking light is not providing enough warmth, however as I said with that, the UV light and the UTH there should be no concern about under heat, as I said in my last post you are in danger of over heating them.
My Research and Collection

After work we went and bought a 20 gallon high tank. They are in there now and are resting after the stressful capture and release. We now have the heat pad and basking light on one side, and the UVA/UVB light on the other side. It's only been set up for 2 hours or so, so it's still warming up. It's currently 71 on the cool side and 75 on the warm side. There are vines winding all over (up high on the basking side) and a pair of hanging plants on the back wall. They seem to like the decor so far.

They are both sleeping, one on each side. The browner (male) one seems to be doing well. He eats, drinks, poos and changes color. He did go pretty green for a while and other than that has been a lighter shade of brown (his eyelids stay bright green if that means anything)and a mix of brown/green. He is filling out and looks great. The female on the other hand is getting skinnier. I make sure there is always at least 1 cricket in there but I still haven't physically seen her eat anything. We also have a dish in there with 2 waxworms that they can eat at their leisure. I'm a little worried about the female. How long does it take them to starve? She can move really fast still and is drinking well. Is there anything she might like better than crickets or waxworms?

One more thing, how many times/how often should we mist the tank? We've each been doing it 2-4x's a day, making the overall number 6-8x's. Is this enough or too much? They do seem to enjoy the water droplets everytime we spray them.

Thanks for your help, these two will be forever grateful!

I mist my Anole enclosure 2 times a day. One time when I get up in the morning and one time when I get home from work. You have to be careful as in some cases misting to much can promote respiratory infection from what I understand. How old are they both? Do you know? if they are and were housed together I would imagine the female could be gravid and that is why she wont take prey but she could also be sick or stressed as well.
You do have the heat pad on the bottom of the enclosure right?
The basking light goes up top and the heat pad goes under the enclosure. Keep us informed. I know it may be hard but look at the female, Dose she have any discharge from her nose? Any dried fecal mater on her vent? Are her bones showing? An excitable alert lizard is a good sign so maybe she is just a little stressed
My Research and Collection

Ok, the heat pad is underneath and the basking light is up top. We need to lower it a little as it's not getting hot enough. While I'm in here monitoring them I put it right on the mesh to help warm them up a little extra. It's a 50 watt bulb and will be about 2-3 inches above the cover, is that a good distance?

As far as my female goes, outwardly (aside from weight) she seems pretty good. She's going to the bathroom (saw her dangle her butt off the vine and go this morning) and has no discharges or anything like that. You can see her bones through her skin, mostly ribs and hip bones. I think they are still young and they've been together at least since Sunday! I'm not sure how old they are, but they are about 6" from head to tip of the tail.

The person I got them from calls them "baby dragons". They have a website www.mybabydragon.com, and it says there that the ones you buy are mating adult pairs. Being gravid means she is growing an egg right? That would be neat and all but I just want her to eat! We will be getting some flightless fruit flys today and hopefully she'll like those.

Thank you SOOOOOOO much! You're my hero!

>>Is there anything she might like better than crickets or waxworms?

You can try flying insects, though the male will probably get it first. The fluttering or buzzing can be irresistible to them. Small moths or houseflies work great. Obviously no bees, fireflies, or hard shelled beetles.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.1 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, Tank, and Lilly)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
2.1.2 Green Anoles (Bowser, Sprocket, Leeloo)
1.1 Felis domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

We're going to try some flightless fruit flys, do you think they'll like those? We're going to try to catch moths when it's warmer out but for right now I don't know where to get any, plus they scare the bejesus out of me!

2-3 inches above the highest basking spot sounds good for the light. I use a 40WAT incandescent for my basking spot and its only a few inches above the leaves. If they are large enough you might try feeding a Katydid my brown anoles love those. Maybe best to focus on the wax worms for that female to fatten her up a bit. You might also have luck by moving her into another enclosure until she is a bit healthier. If they are adults witch is what they sound like there is no doubt the male is stressing her with his advances.
My Research and Collection

Mine ignore fruit flies (too small), but if yours are smaller lizards, it's certainly worth a try.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
2.1.1 Mali Uros (Spike, Tank, Lilly, and Turtle)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
2.1 Green Anoles (Bowser, Sprocket, Leeloo)
1.1 Felis domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)