Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need help rescuing a starved, stressed anole from Florida to get him healthy and keep him that way here in NC (in a terrarium of course) till late March when I go back and can release him back on our sheep farm. Apparently he hitchhiked from FL to NC in my clothes!

I found a large Carolina Anole two nights ago that had been in my dirty laundry in a giant Ziploc bag for two and a half weeks since I was last on the farm in Florida. Still alive, but very dehydrated and quite thin. And quite large framed for an anole. He was green, then brown.

I put a shallow dish of water in the container with him (will set up a 10gal terrarium for him Monday), bought him crickets per the PetSmart recommendation, but he hasn't caught one, then I caught him a small cockroach from under a log, in case the crickets were too big, but he hasn't eaten that either.

Maybe he is too weak to catch food, or they aren't familiar food species. Or maybe too big. I don't know what else to offer. It would be extremely upsetting to lose him.

The girl at the store said to mash up a live bug and force feed him or he might die from being too weak (I have certainly saved weakened puppies, kittens, and lambs by hand feeding high calorie foods).

I don't mind so much mashing the bug, but am afraid of choking or hurting him, or simply failing to get his gullet open. I raised English Mastiffs for 30 years, and an anole is so much SMALLER.

I plan to get him some mealworms in the morning in hopes they are the magic food he will recognize as edible, but I am very afraid I need to learn to force feed him, till he is stronger.

His color is deep brown tonight. He does move around a bit. If he gets loose in the house he will definitely die (with 2 busy cats who loke to kill lizards) so I can't risk his getting away.

I have a 10-gal terrarium with sterile sphagnum, a climbing branch, and a high power full spectrum lamp that recently belonged to a walking stick who did not survive (two of her legs had come off in transit). He goes in that in the morning, need to clear space for it first.

If he can use an aquarium heater he can have that (is it safe and effective?) I don't have and can't easily afford an extra light fixture for basking, but have a spare 6500 bulb I can use for the tank. I use one for the 10-gal aquarium to grow the fancy plants.

The house stays at 70F at night so he should be OK then.

For a five week fostering effort, I cannot afford to buy an expensive setup.

I would never have captured and kept him on purpose, he had to have gotten into my clothes on the farm.

He just needs to start eating, and to survive till late March when I go down to visit the farm again and can release him where he belongs. Please help me help him. I spent an hour turning over logs in the yard, and only got one tiny cockroach, no other forms of insects at all. It's in the 20s at night up here....

I haven't had a herp for 50 years, so be real clear and simple, OK?

Thanks!

laurie (Mother Mastiff)

First of all, it can be nursed back to health, but it takes work and you have toi start NOW. I had one for a few years after it had hitchhiked from FL to IL and was stuck in a closet for over 3 weeks with no food or water.

They will 'not' drink any water from a dish. Put in some plastic plants and spray water on them with a bottle or dripper. They lap up droplets of water from leaves and things. It's the only way they drink.

Get some waxworms from a pet shop or bait shop. Cut small pieces and hold the cut end to the mouth with tweezers until it gets a bit of a taste.

It could start lapping up the liquid that's coming out. Waxworms are very fatty (not the best 'longterm' food) and almost irresistable to Anoles. The fat will quickly build it up.

There's a lot more to learn, but the above info is more urgent for now. Here's a link that tells more.
http://www.anapsid.org/anole.html

Good luck,
Andy

OK, so you think he WILL accept cut pieces of worm from a hemostat? Should I hold him while offering it, or hold it up to his face and hope he won't rush past my hand to escape his container? Would he "get" that they are food and eat whole worms after that, or should I keep cutting them up and hand feeding to him?

How much food should he get, and how often?

Are waxworms the same thing as the mealworms the local pet stores sell? I got some mealworms last night to try.

He hasn't eaten anything since I discovered him, I now have three areas of food in his gigantic Ziploc bag which he has not touched, a small cockroach caught wild, two crickets, and three mealworms.

(Kept him in the giant laundry bag I found him in, just removed the dirty clothes, so he wouldn't escape while I collected and set up a terrarium.)

VERY worried, he is less green than he was three days ago.

I sprayed him with water which he has absorbed thru his skin or drunk droplets from the plastic. He looks less desiccated now. But still very thin and ribby.

I have a 10-gal terrarium for him that he goes into today, but am terrified he could get out when I feed, and he would have no chance against my two cats.

REALLY want to save this little guy.

1. Do I hold him to feed the cut up worms to him or not?

2. Are mealworms the same as waxworms? Will he eat them?

3. How many worms should he eat a week, and does he
eat every day, or less often?

In 6 weeks I will be back in FL, and will return him to the sheep farm, where he can eat the food he's used to....

Thanks! laurie (Mother Mastiff)

No, waxworms are not the same as meal worms. Waxworms are small whitish caterpillars (moth larva). They are very soft, unlike the meal worm.

The meal worm isn't the best overall food. They have a really hard shell and they aren't very nutritious. This animal needs to bulk up and trying to feed him something that is almost irresistible is your best bet.

I've seen healthy anoles eat the entire waxworm, but they are kind of big sometimes. I doubt it would eat one in its current condition, so just a small 1/4" piece (or smaller) on the end of a tweezers to try to get it to eat something.

Don't try to hold it either. No point to freaking it out even more. You might have to be persistent. It will probably move away from you, but go back to nudging the cut end against the end of its mouth so it can smell/taste the worm.

Keep watching to see if it's lapping up any of the water droplets.

How much food depends on a lot of things. Sometimes mine ate every day and other times it went a couple of days without eating anything.

At this point, you just want him to eat one piece. Then go from there. It probably wouldn't eat a whole worm for a little while.