# Green Anole not eating his Cricks



## Susukachoo (May 21, 2014)

This week, I gave my Green Anole two waxworms (one on two different days) to try and help fatten him up a little since he was very skinny, and now I've noticed he hasn't really been eating his crickets. 

I fed him a worm on Monday and another on Wednesday along with 2ish crickets a day. It seems to me that he has been ignoring his crickets. I checked his cage yesterday to see exactly how many were in his cage before I put anymore, and there were about SIX of them.

I believe if he has eaten any, then it's only been about 1 maybe 2. 

Do waxworms take a while to digest and he's just super full? He seemed to have no qualms about eating the worms though. I don't know how fast an Anole's metabolism is, so I want to make sure he's okay.

I put some of the cricket's food in the tank too to make sure they are full so they won't start eating him while he's sleeping and I'm not adding any more until I don't see any in his tank.


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## Susukachoo (May 21, 2014)

Please tell me if I'm being ridiculous to worry, I'm a bit of a worry wart about everything when it comes to my lizard and other pets/people/children/everything :lol2:


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## spring (Feb 28, 2010)

Hi Susukachoo,

You’re not being ridiculous; you should see the way I am with my Anole, in fact all my pets, I like them to have the best.

I saw pictures of your Anole in your previous post; I think the best thing to do with him is to just offer him whatever he wants at this stage to help get his weight up. The wider range of foods you can offer him the more it will encourage him to eat. 

I feed my Anole Calci worms, Solider flies (pupated calci worms which they adore), silkworms, blue bottle flies I source online, months, crane flies, cabbage white caterpillars I propagate during the summer, wax worms, wax moths, newly shed mini mealworms, locusts. My guys aren’t that keen on crickets so I don’t tend to feed them/ they only occasionally eat locust, preferring flying food where possible which may be worth trying with your guy.

I get most of my food here-

* - Home Page 

I would remove the crickets for now if he doesn't want them and try one of these other foods, perhaps leaving them in the tank so he can eat whenever the feeling takes him (preferably the ones that don't bite.) 

I use the small suction cupped window bird feeders you can get from garden centres so my guys can feed from height which they prefer. I used to use the deeper ones to contain crickets which helped stop some of them disappearing to the floor.

I dust all of the food I give them with Repashy calcium plus on all feeds where I can (with the flying insects this can be a bit hit and miss) And once a week I dust with Repashy Vitamin A plus as Anoles need high levels of Vit A. However I would just focus on getting him to eat as much as possible at the mo.

One thing I would suggest for you is Reptoboost, this is mixed with water and can be spayed in the tank, it is very useful with small lizards to help pick them up and encourage feeding. Also if he isn’t put off eating by too much dusting you could also try Avipro plus sprinkled on his food to help encourage appetite.

Were you able to buy a 12% UV T5 tube in the end as this also helps with activity/ feeding responses.

Hope this helps.


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## Susukachoo (May 21, 2014)

spring said:


> Hi Susukachoo,
> 
> You’re not being ridiculous; you should see the way I am with my Anole, in fact all my pets, I like them to have the best.
> 
> ...


I just noticed he's shedding, could that be why he's not eating? He usually had no issue eating crickets before. 

I'm gonna buy more worms so he has more of a variety, I'm just nervous about the wax worms because I heard they can get 'addicted' to them and refuse to eat anything else. I also heard that since they're high fat, they can be bad for them. 

I'm definitely gonna look into the feeder dishes, that's a good idea! I can try doing maybe a deep dish and have a small variety in it and let him have his choice and remove what he doesn't eat?


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## Susukachoo (May 21, 2014)

Also, in regards to their shedding, my boyfriend checked on him before turning the light off for the evening and he was still shedding.

I think that means he had been shedding for a couple hours. I placed a rock to help him (if that even will), and his water bowl is full in case he wants a good soak, but in the event that he is having a bad shed, how do I catch him, handle him and assist his shed without hurting him? I was going to check him in the morning, (it's late right now and I don't want to interrupt his sleep) and see how his shed is going.

Gosh, I remember being a little kid and having two anoles and not doing nearly as much as I am now and they were fine. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! 

Maybe I'm just more worried since I know what their proper care is now versus what I knew then! On the bright side, the two I had as a child lived a very long time. 

In fact my parents make fun of me for how much time/money I've put in this lizard since for the lizards I owned as a kid, they basically bought a small tank, put some dirt on the bottom, a plastic plant, red lamp, uvb and periodically threw in a bag of crickets and they still managed to live just fine.

Unlike this little bugger who is so picky and doesn't seem to like anything I do for him. :bash:


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## spring (Feb 28, 2010)

It is possible shedding could cause him to go off his food for a couple of days. The best thing to help with shedding is regular misting to help the dead skin come away; rough branches can also help with rubbing skin away. If he is underweight it may take longer for him to shed successfully. I would not attempt to handle him at this point, not until there is no other choice as this will just put more pressure/ stress on him in his fragile state. Being that he is probably wild caught I would only handle him as a last resort; it can do far more harm than good. If in a few days he is still struggling to shed on his own you could try spraying him lightly with zoo med repti shedding aid which can help.

I wouldn’t worry about him becoming addicted to certain foods in the short term, just encourage him to eat, this will increase his metabolism and encourage him to eat more. Due to him needing to put the weight on fatty foods like wax worms are a good way to do this initially and a good source of energy for him. Once he is eating stably and putting on weight you can review this. Go with what he wants to eat at the mo, if he doesn’t want crickets (my guys aren’t keen on them) try silkworms which are great for putting on weight or flying insects which should encourage his natural hunting instincts.

Sorry I hadn’t realised you were in the US, if you can source a good online supplier of a wide variety of live food it will be well worth your while. I think live insect traps are also popular in the US for catching your own live foods which may help to save costs, just don’t feed anything you think could be poisonous, i.e. brightly coloured etc.

I wouldn’t mix crickets or locust in with other live foods if you do get the window cups as I found this would cause them to get agitated and jump out. They may also attack the other foods. Otherwise this is fine.

It doesn’t sound like you’re doing anything wrong, he is just delicate at the moment, being underweight and settling into new surroundings so needs to be treated as such. He needs time to recover his strength and reserves. Being that they are so small when they lose weight/ condition they can quickly loose all their energy and it can be difficult, take time and patience to pick them up again. : victory:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

go outside and sweep a field with a bug net and catch a bunch of bugs... dump them into the cage...

it's free!


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## Susukachoo (May 21, 2014)

He's taken the wax worm no problem. Haha, he must have a 'sweet tooth'. He even took it from the tongs.

I tried to give him a crick from the tongs too since he seems to be more comfortable with me since before he just ran from the wax worm in the tongs before today, but he ended up just running the cricket too. 

I'm just concerned because he ate the crickets just fine before, catching them, etc. Now he won't even give them a second glance! But let me put a waxy in there and he's eating like a champ!

But here are some pictures of him, he's not as skinny as he was before after me feeding him 3 waxies, but I'm assuming he's still pretty skinny.

I'm also gonna try some mealworms. Maybe he's just a worm type of fellow. 
I'm also gonna go online and see if I can order a batch of calci-worms. I unfortunately haven't dusted his waxies, not thinking because I was so worried about him eating/shedding/etc so I know he's in for a good calcium dusted SOMETHING haha.

These are terrible quality, and he was a little stressed because I had my hand in the tank. 

























But I'm off to buy some more mealworms and see if he'll eat a few dusted ones! Wish us luck:2thumb:


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## spring (Feb 28, 2010)

Good luck! if you can propagate some of those calci worms into solider flies he will love you for it.

Since were doing piccys here's some of my male-










He likes to play eye spy! (excuse the smeary glass)










Sleeping next to one of his girls-










And my favourite pic, one of his offspring last year :flrt:


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## Susukachoo (May 21, 2014)

spring said:


> Good luck! if you can propagate some of those calci worms into solider flies he will love you for it.
> 
> Since were doing piccys here's some of my male-
> 
> ...


Oh he is a beauty! I hope Davie makes it there…My boyfriend is telling me I'm overreacting! :lol2:

I bought a little feeder tray that we suction to the side of his tank, and I've been putting the worms in it but he's pretty much ignored it for the last 2 days.
I think it's just because the feeder's new and he doesn't quite know what to with it.

I do think some of the crickets disappeared, I'm not sure though. I saw two the other day, and only one today. So maybe he's chowing down when I'm not hovering over him.

I tried to feed him the mealie with tongs but he ran away, so I've been holding them in front of his face and putting them in the feeder so he can see where they're going. 

But he's still shedding, and it's coming off slowly but surely and I've been spritzing him gently to get him all damp too.

I'm gonna buy this stuff called Shed-Ease and some other spray nutrients and appetite sprays too when I get paid, I'm also going to order the Calci worms too.

I'm gonna give him more waxies next week and in the meantime try and get him to eat something different.

I'm personally beginning to think that I'm over-reacting and he may be eating and I'm just not paying attention and that it was just coincidental because his shed that I noticed him eat less.

Especially since he had no problem eating before.

Ugh, I'm a big worrier for no reason, lol.

And that hatchling was to cute<3


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## spring (Feb 28, 2010)

Sounds good, keep us posted, I want to know he this little guy does: victory:.

Make sure the mealworms you give him are mini mealworms and the newly shed white ones (which are softer) as mealworms have a hard outer skin which can be difficult to digest.

Perhaps as Habu suggests try a bit of bug catching too.

Have fun


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