Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a brown anole late December. His health has obviously improved A LOT since I got him from the pet store. His behavior toward me has been consistent - I do not scare him easily. He does run from other people, which is good. I would be concerned if he wasn't running at all.

Feeding time has always been exciting for him. He knows when I drop food in, and he always used to go hunting immediately. However, the past few days he doesn't really seem interested. He'll watch me drop food in, and knows it's there. But he doesn't chase after it. I do see him eat sometimes a while after I "feed" him, but haven't really seen him actively hunt. I don't know if I should be concerned with this sudden change of behavior. He doesn't appear to be losing body mass.

Another behavior change that started the same day his feeding behavior changed, is he doesn't sleep in the same spot anymore. During the day I found it peculiar that he was going all over the cage moving substrate around. Building mounds and making ditches. Then at night, where he used to sleep by sticking himself to a glass wall, he instead buried himself under the substrate. He had his head under, but body and tail out. Tonight he is completely under the substrate, I barely found him by seeing a very small visible part of his tail through the substrate. I have bark chips for substrate. He now always buries himself at night.

Both of these behavior changes are sudden after almost 2 whole months of having him. Should I be concerned? What could it mean?

My guess - and it is totally a guess - for the change in eating habits is that he's finally up to a good weight and now recognizes that food will come regularly. He might just not be hungry. You might try cutting back on the amount you feed just a tiny bit until you're sure he IS eating.

As for the sleeping thing - I don't know. I never kept brown anoles and don't know what is normal for them.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
1.1 Collared Lizard (Ripcord and Rorschach)
2.0 Green Anoles (Bowser and Sprocket)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)

Lol. I'm surprised this is still the top thread, very slow moving forum I guess.

I may be granting them too much "intelligence" I don't know. But I wonder if they have any sense of their owners feelings like a dog does. Now that I'm feeling a lot better, he seems to be "normal" again.

Still hasn't been eating as much, but doesn't seem to be losing mass. So like you said, he probably finally reached the appropriate weight.

Thanks, we appreciate the help.

You only need to feed them 3 times a week with small meals. They will also eat baby food their fav when I kept them was apricot. Hope this helps best of luck on your new Brown Anole .

Also, if you're not sure of the sex of the anole, could it be a female looking dig a spot to lay eggs, but not finding the bark to her liking (it's too big, hard to move, and needs to be moister, like the eco-earth bedding).

If you're sure it's a male.... what else has changed? Is it now colder in that room - anoles may bury themselves in substrate if it's so cool that they're thinking "hibernation" (anoles don't hibernate, but they will seek to protect themselves from cold snaps in their environment. Brown anoles down south have proved to be slightly less cold tolerant than green anoles...

Those are my initial ideas... or could it be sick from internal parasites?

Just some ideas...

Lisa

>>I got a brown anole late December. His health has obviously improved A LOT since I got him from the pet store. His behavior toward me has been consistent - I do not scare him easily. He does run from other people, which is good. I would be concerned if he wasn't running at all.
>>
>>Feeding time has always been exciting for him. He knows when I drop food in, and he always used to go hunting immediately. However, the past few days he doesn't really seem interested. He'll watch me drop food in, and knows it's there. But he doesn't chase after it. I do see him eat sometimes a while after I "feed" him, but haven't really seen him actively hunt. I don't know if I should be concerned with this sudden change of behavior. He doesn't appear to be losing body mass.
>>
>>Another behavior change that started the same day his feeding behavior changed, is he doesn't sleep in the same spot anymore. During the day I found it peculiar that he was going all over the cage moving substrate around. Building mounds and making ditches. Then at night, where he used to sleep by sticking himself to a glass wall, he instead buried himself under the substrate. He had his head under, but body and tail out. Tonight he is completely under the substrate, I barely found him by seeing a very small visible part of his tail through the substrate. I have bark chips for substrate. He now always buries himself at night.
>>
>>Both of these behavior changes are sudden after almost 2 whole months of having him. Should I be concerned? What could it mean?

Thank you for your reply Lisa.

I'm almost positive it's a male due to the crest (about 1/4" high), large bright dewlap (which he often shows), and the amount of times he head-bobs/push-ups.

In terms of changes in the tank, I changed the light fixture at the top to something more convenient, and now use a better UVB tube.

The temperature and humidity is still the same as it was before.

I have the bark substrate, and underneath that I have the reptile carpet. He's now starting to lift the carpet up from the corner (it's like pointing about an inch in the air now), and he's taking bark and burying it under that lifted corner. He's done this on two opposing corners of the tank (rear right, and front left).

When he does lift the carpet, he starts "looking" for something, he's scanning the area under it. I wonder if he might be looking for food, or possibly looking for a way out. He also recently started hanging out on the ceiling of the tank too sometimes.