Today we have more recovery on the back legs. They have plumped-up and are sensitive to touch. We let her crawl around in our herb bed. She got around pretty well using her front legs and even climbed a wooden trellis.

But we had a bad day couple of days on eating and drinking. She is dehydrated and thin. We tried all morning to let her eat... live, maimed or dead bugs on her own. No interest at all.

She drank just a little water and Pedialyte off a leaf. She only seems to want water in the early morning.

Later in the afternoon, we resorted to force feeding. This was awkward. All I can manage is to hold her on my right middle and ring fingers, steady her head with my thumb and index finger, and pry at the side of her mouth with my left thumbnail. She responds by clamping down. We really only get the food in when she smacks (in disgust or pain) after my attempt.

Friday,we got a little baby food and a small spider down. But the process seemed to really upset her.

Today, I failed to get in the cricket or the spider, but my wife got a little veal baby food in with a syringe while she was smacking. BTW, good baby foods are peach and veal. She says chicken-pear and turkey-sweet potato are not food.

How can we get her more hydrated and increase her appetite?

Also, I'm attaching a photo and below answering some comments....

Nutritionally, that's probably true. But it seemed to matter to her.

Yesterday, she refused the black crickets, so at the suggestion of a zoo vet, we tried a spider, and got a small black one down during the force-feed session.

Retisafe? Ok, this brings up a problem. We live in a small town. To get to a vet that will even see us is a 2 hour drive, and in neither town are there stores selling UVB lamps or 'Retisafe'. For the most part we are having to work with whatever Wal-Mart sells, and here that ends at the reptile box we bought.

We also did drive 3 hrs to get to a PetsMart to try and get some waxworms, all theirs were dead. We didn't know about UVB lamps or 'Retisafe' at that point.

We are working on a bigger box with plantings. So far she has been outside and her light is sunlight. I have noticed that the other anoles in the yard stay in the shade all day. We have about 5 that hang around the back yard. The heat index here is 110 F.

Her current repitile box has a slotted semi-opaque lid. We can't leave it open because one of the other anoles in the yard had jumped into her box and attacked her when we were leaving it open.

So, do we need to order a lamp over the net and use it outside? Even if yes, I have to wonder if she's going to survive long enough for UPS to deliver it. Exactly what lamp and which vendor do you recommend?


2.5 without tail, probably 3.75 overall

I agree that it stresses her out, but otherwise she would not eat Fri or Sat. Is there any technique to aid this?

Even before she quit eating, she has never taken a moving bug. I have tried. It seems to make her nervous.

Attached Images

anolesmith.jpg (14.6 KB, 9 views)

Her wanting to drink in the early morning has to do with her habits in the wild. In nature, anoles drink almost nothing but dew, which only forms in the early morning hours. Try skipping water entirely and using nothing but pedialyte. She'll get all the water she needs from that, as long as she drinks it, and it will increase the amount of electrolytes she gets, which should increase her appetite.

Her not wanting to eat house crickets, or live bugs, is not having to do with her pickiness for prey items. Normally, if she were feeling well, it wouldn't matter what the bug looked like. As long as it moved, she'd go for it. Tha fact that she's stressed out and ill is what's affecting her appetite like that.

If she's in an aquarium, putting her outside in that heat is probably making it too hot for her in there if she's in the sun. If she's in the shade, she can't get UVB, so you have a dilema. You'll definately need a UVB lightbulb to keep her healthy. Unfortunately, its not something you can find at Walmart. You'd need to get one at a pet store, or order one online. ZooMed's Reptisun 5.0 and 7.0 would work good for an anole, and the same is true for Iguanasun 5.0 and 7.0, as its the same bulb under a different name.

Chlorine and chloramines are harmful to the small anole, so that's why its necessary to dechlorinate the water with something like Reptisafe. The Reptisafe also contains electrolytes, so its twice as helpful to your anole. If you were to keep her, you'd also need to buy a vitamin supplement powder and a phosphorous-free calcium supplement.

Basically you need to reduce her stress and boost her energy to get her to eat. Have you been misting the tank? If not, buy a clean, unused spray bottle and fill it with Pedialyte. Gently spray the inside of the cage in the early morning, since that's when she seems to prefer drinking. I'd add even more branches and leaves to her enclosure too. They like it very well planted. Keep trying with the baby food, and try keeping a small dish or jar lid full of it in the cage next to her face. Keep one or two insects in there with her, something that won't be terribly fast. Catarpillars or grubs would be perfect, as their slow, soft, and harmless. You can try crickets again, but cut off the jaws and hind legs first.

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Wal-mart does sell the UVB lighting in their pet section. You can buy a "Slim-line" or Slim-lite by ESU for about $20. You can also crush up a Centrum multivitamin and add a liitle of that to the babyfood.
Good luck.

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