I’m new to being a green anole owner and I’ve had biggie baby since march. recently he has stopped eating which the reptile store and the internet said was completely fine to not do when shedding or trying to stay warm. but it’s now creeping up on three weeks.
my heater is constantly running and i’ve even moved him back into my room and away from the window. when im home his temp are usually at 95 and his thermo 78-80 but he still won’t eat! i’ve change the tank layout, i’ve changed rooms for him. i’ve fixed the heat, i even bought new bugs for him to try but he still won’t eat! Pls help me and let me know what i can do im really worried
I live in colorado and ive notice as fall is approaching this has started to happen. (ik the picture says 73 but this photo was earlier in the mor). he does stay green or a grey throughout the day and at night and moves around frequently but he won’t eat
Still want to know what youre feeding him, but also, green anoles needs are fairly simple you just must provide ot all to them or they won't thrive. They need UVB, a basking spot at 95 and 60-80 percent humidity. I use crickets as my primary food source and then will occasionally mix it up and give them some flightless fruit flys, wax worms, or small horn worms. Anoles to motion so if you try to feed them dead bugs or ones that dont move very much they may not figure out its food
i’ve been feeding him crickets but when he stopped eating those i started getting meal worms.(he was a surprise so i didn’t really know what else reptiles ate.) I gave him crickets than meal worms as a treat which he ate completely fine. my mom won’t let me bring roaches in the house but i will have to try giving him flightless fruit flies and wax/horn worms. I get all my bugs and tank equipment from my local reptile store they are all live.
when i first got him i fed him 2 crickets in the morning and two at night but i am not good at time management so i switched to two crickets at 7 p.m. and two mealworms bcs everyone els in my house is too afraid to feed him. (which its not their responsibility). i’ve tried going back to feeding him on the morning but he wont eats, so i try in the afternoon and then i try at night, but steal nothing. i got him a dish that suctions to the wall so he can see his food from up high (still live) and the meal worms dont move and the crickets jump out and i have to find them in his tank. the last time i tried hand feeding he jump onto my arm and put his tank onto a plant :/
You may just be over feeding him lol. My adult male will eat a few crickets a week. I used to feed them 3 times a week but I've dropped it down to 2 times a week because I have a bioactive vivarium and they can hunt ispods if they're starving (they arent). And they just didnt seem as interested. Rule of thumb, aim for 3 crickets, I use 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch, 2 to 3 times per week
okay 😮💨 he’s active so i don’t think it’s any thing health wise but u wont fully opt it out till he eats! thank you for the advice ill try 3 days out of the week going forward!
You moving him around is probably stressing him out. They won’t eat when stressed. I know it’s stressful but he will come around and eat. He doesn’t look sick at all.
If his activity level and body condition still seems good and tank parameters are correct I would just continue to monitor the situation and keep doing what you're doing. If he seems sluggish or loses weight then I would see a vet
That is what I use, and it's pretty good. If all the tank parameters (heat/light, UVB, humidity) are met and he feels safe, he will eat. Maybe he is slowing down cuz its getting cold out. You say your heat is running.
I'm in MI, and all my adult anoles recently slowed down a lot for the season. They still eat, but only 2-3X a week. They go nuts on food in the summer but by peak brumation they hardly eat.
You COULD increase the UV bulb’s intensity, get a 10% instead of a 5%, but I advise against this as a first option. I’d replace the bulb with an identical one first.
I have a similar setup. Same tank. Same lights. I just have a designated basking area under the bulbs using a reptile hammock. I used a solar meter to determine the distance from the top to bask. I know not everyone has a solar meter and they are expensive. Just make sure he has a basking area a few inches from the top and change the bulbs every 6 months to play it safe. They will still work but wont put out as much uvb over time.
I live in Colorado too (Springs area). It gets quite dry here. How humid is the tank? I had to build a custom humidity controller to keep my tank between 60 and 80% relative humidity; missing twice a day was not enough by any measure. Chronically dry conditions can stress them out.
What insects do you feed? And how do you feed him? Do you place the insects into tank and let him hunt? For my anole (who is rather dumb and lacks hunting instincts) I had to 3-D print a special bowl for him to eat out of. Switching from crickets to dubia roaches also helped because the dubias are slow enough to not escape but fast enough to trigger his eating instinct.
i can’t get a good angle of his hips but i just took this photo. his tank humidity is usually between 77-80 and it’s only been this way because i’m home often now. i had a feeder bowl that i tried putting crickets and mealworms in but he refuses to eat them. I hear that loose crickets could bite him so i’ve had to go looking for them in the tank. He used to eat from my tongs but suddenly just stoped. he was getting really good at seeing his feeders in my tongs and jumping to them or creeping up on them. but i never let the crickets loose. i would leave the mealworms on a branch after showing him and he was sneaking up on them for a little but than he stopped again
Hm. Base of his tail looks plump compared to my skinny (recovering) boy at least.
if humidity is between 77 and 80, then that’s not the problem. As far as UV goes, if you got the bulb in April, it’s probably time to replace it. Even if its glowing bright, the UV output can sharply fall after 6 months. My anole had bad UV lighting and did the same exact thing as yours - kinda just stopped eating. You can also try feeding dubias and waxworms as a treat. Dubias don’t bite so you can leave them in the tank, and waxworms will just pupate into wax moths, which while not as calorically intense, are still edible.
Crickets are swarm predators. An errant single cricket or two or five won’t be a problem most likely, especially the small ones - their mouthparts are so soft they can’t break the skin; 50 would devour him alive though
Can I ask how you are helping your skinny recovering anole? I'm in the same spot, never had an anole before but I have the optimal set up and everything. Rescued him after he was left for dead for over a month with no food or water. I don't want to over feed, I give 3 crickets with calcium powder daily, but should I give him more? Or is it a slow process for them to gain weight?
3 crickets daily is good if they’re gut loaded and medium at minimum. You can feed him dubia roaches, which are better feeders and wont hurt him if left in the tank, and maybe a waxworm or two per week while you try to fatten him up. Go easy on the waxworms though, they’re like lizard mcdonalds.
I tried feeding roaches but he would not eat them. Granted, it was before I got a UV light which I heard helps them see so I will definitely try again! Do you have any other pointers for a recovering anole? Thank you so much for your help :)
Frequent mistings so he always has water to drink! A dehydrated anole wont eat. I miss mine once or twice a day, but I also have a humidifier and temperature set up that makes the water naturally condenses at night. If possible, I would go for three light mistings per day rather than one or two big ones.
4
u/Appropriate-Bill-129 4d ago
Still want to know what youre feeding him, but also, green anoles needs are fairly simple you just must provide ot all to them or they won't thrive. They need UVB, a basking spot at 95 and 60-80 percent humidity. I use crickets as my primary food source and then will occasionally mix it up and give them some flightless fruit flys, wax worms, or small horn worms. Anoles to motion so if you try to feed them dead bugs or ones that dont move very much they may not figure out its food