Green anoles won't eat.

[SweetApples]

I have three relatively new green/Carolina anoles housed in a 29 gal tank together. Have a ceramic heating lamp and a 18" UV light. The UV light was added today, the original UV lamp had an accident involving a house cat. So I also have to admit the anoles were in the dark for a couple of days until I could get a new UV light installed. Also cat is now sucessfully locked out of fish room.


I had a water fountain in there, anoles liked it, but it was overflowing/leaking slowly and flooding the substrate so I took it out. Now I just spray the tank like my cresties. May change the substrate from dirt to something that absorbs water better( I think I need more hyrdoballs) and put the water fountain back in.At one point, one of the anoles was basking under the lamp and seemed to be sleeping while I was checking. I was hoping that was a sign that the anoles were getting more tame. I've never touched or handled them.


I have silk plants for the anoles to hide in and they seem to enjoy this( sometimes I can't find one or two of them). Also a shallow water dish, but I read they don't really drink from water dishies.
They seem to look healthy as they go dashing out of the silk plants when I spray the tank, but they have not started to eat crickets yet.
How long does it usually take for new anoles to start eating?.

[michael1846]

last march I had anoles (gave them away) they didn't eat for 3 days. Movement is the key. They like for their food to move. I got small mealworms and placed them in a empty water dish. When the worms tried to escape they were moving, and got eaten fast. Also anoles don't drink from dishes at all. In the wild they lick the dew off leaves to drink. So spray the glass and the plants and they will lick the water all up. (another thought they might be dehydrated) so spray the walls and use moving food and you should be good to go! ~Michael

[SweetApples]

I don't plan to keep anoles longterm either. I mostly got them because I want a chameleon and decided that I need to wait because I'm a newbie. So I decided if the anoles (who are supposed to be easier to keep ) are thriving, I re-home them and get a cham, if they don't thrive, then no cham.

I hate to say this, I had some fond memories of keeping anoles as a child and now I am finding them quite dull. Seems the only time they get interesting is when they are frightened. Content anoles seem to sit around basking under their heat lamp or hiding motionless. They are like the lizard versions of plecos.

[michael1846]

Have you sprayed them with water? Are they eating? (i recommend a miniature cham)~michael

[SweetApples]

I did yesterday. Usually I spray the lizards once per day. I haven't checked on them today, my father ended up gluing something on the new fish room door down there so it has to be left overnight. If I had known I would have gone in there before then.
Having read that anoles will sometimes eat fruits too( did not know this until recently), I wonder if I could try some of the prepared gecko diet for them.

[michael1846]

it couldn't hurt to try. right? ~michael

[Tongue Flicker]

They're stressed out with each other that's why they won't eat. Keeping 3 lizards in a confined space of a tank usually puts too much stress on them. Unless it is their breeding season and you plan to breed them, housing them together is usually not a good idea. Reptiles are normally solitary by nature (with the exception of some skink species).

Other than, the only reason i know that they won't eat is because of low temperature or internal parasites.

[michael1846]

They're stressed out with each other that's why they won't eat. Keeping 3 lizards in a confined space of a tank usually puts too much stress on them. Unless it is their breeding season and you plan to breed them, housing them together is usually not a good idea. Reptiles are normally solitary by nature (with the exception of some skink species).

Other than, the only reason i know that they won't eat is because of low temperature or internal parasites.

When i lived in Floridia anoles lived in huge groups on the fence. It was wild! But you might not have enough space like he said, anoles are very active and love to move. ~michael

[SweetApples]

I have not read anything that says anoles are a solitary species and from what I've read they have plenty of space.

[MatthewM1]

When i lived in Floridia anoles lived in huge groups on the fence. It was wild! But you might not have enough space like he said, anoles are very active and love to move. ~michael

I agree with this 100%, i used to spend my summers with family down in Florida when I was younger and was obsessed with the anoles everywhere, and more often than not there were always a couple hanging out together. And as for them eating fruit I used to put out cut up grapes in areas they like to hang out at and on occasion I would catch one eating it. Most would ignore it tho

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[kh2odragon]

I keep anoles and mine dont eat for a couple of days after i clean the tank out or add a new anole into the cage. I feed mine meal worms in a dish(so they dont burrow in the substrait) and pin head crickits, but mine only eat live food. Some people do feed theirs fruit of fruit baby food. Most anoles wont drink from still water in a dish on the ground.

[kh2odragon]

Anoles prefer atlest trios similer to some skinks

[kh2odragon]

Chameleons require not only alot of book knolage but exsperince with reptiles. I have a young veiled and if you start out right its easy but you have to start right or it will decline quickly. I would recomend keeping harder and lager tropical species then anoles such as a water dragon, baslilisk, tree monitior, horned dragons, ect.

[SweetApples]

I have had mixed information concerning chameleons. Some say if you start with the right setup, they are easy and suitable for beginners, others say they are not for beginners. If a chameleon isn't right for me due to my inexperience, I might not get one at all.

I stumbled on another way to feed the anoles possibly. I noticed putting fruit stuff in their terrarium breeds/attracts fruit flies. Originally I put a piece of apple in there for the crickets to eat since leaving crickets in a tank unattended can be risky. Maybe they'll like fruit flies instead. Interesting enough, when I was searching online to feed prepared gecko food to anoles, some people not only suggested that anoles can eat prepared gecko foods, but this can be their staple diet.

[michael1846]

I agree with this 100%, i used to spend my summers with family down in Florida when I was younger and was obsessed with the anoles everywhere, and more often than not there were always a couple hanging out together. And as for them eating fruit I used to put out cut up grapes in areas they like to hang out at and on occasion I would catch one eating it. Most would ignore it tho
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Yep i lived in floridia for 7 years. ~michael

[michael1846]

i injured meal worms then they ate them. ~michael

[poison]

What are your ambient temps, basking temps and humidity levels? And what are you measuring them with? Can you post pics of the enclosure?

Anoles are indeed solitary animals. Reasons they may be seen together is for the resources in that area but they do not enjoy each others company and do not rely on each other.

[SweetApples]

About 70F where the thermometer is. Humidity was around 60 when I checked this morning( also right after I sprayed the tank). I have not measured the temps under the heating lamp. I can take pictures, but they do not load on the computer for unknown reasons. Whenever I hook up the camera, the Kodak symbol comes up and then immediately closes up. I have no patience with troubleshooting computers so I don't know what's wrong.