Hello everyone,

I hope this post is ok in this area.

Friday evening, July 15 2005, a wild green anole got inside my outdoor A/C condensing unit and was struck by the fan blades.

Her head was cut, and she stayed mostly unconscious through Saturday. Sunday she was alert but paralyzed in her rear limbs. She drank water and ate a cricket we offered.

We took her to our general vet who observed a broken back and prescribed prednisone.

We are able to get a drop of prednisone down daily as prescribed.

Tuesday, July 19 she ate another cricket.

Everyday she eats a little peach baby food off a Q-tip.

She laps ups water off leaves in her box.

But, she refuses most of the crickets we offer, and all the worms we offer.

And, it has not had a noticable bowel movement since the accident. Today we read about soaking them, and soaked her for 15 minutes in warm water. She reacted well, but has not pooped or eaten solid food though.

She is so alert, and so tame for a wild anole that I'd like to help her any way I can.

Any ideas?

Hello and welcome to HC. Yes you did post in the correct place !!!. As far as the poor little guy,,,,looks to me like you are doing all you can. Continue with the prednisone if that was the vets recommendation. Keep attempting to feed him crix and the warm bath will help in getting bowel movements. If he continues to drink and eat the baby food you at least know he is getting some nutrients, maybe add a little reptile vitamins to the baby food once a week.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Poor thing. Well, to be blunt, this kind of injury is not something an anole would normally survive. However, she's eaten a few crickets from you, and is still alert, so there's hope. You could try feeding her some sort of high protein baby food (one of the meaty ones). Soft food would be easier for her to eat at this point. Since you're already giving her Prednisone, you could just feed her at the same time.

The fact that she hasn't had a bowel movement could possibly be due to her paralysis. If that's the case, I don't see how she could survive unfortunately. Since the soaking didn't work either, I'm not sure what to tell you. Perhaps a member with more experience with this sort of thing can be of help.

One thing you'll need is a UVB light. That will make her feel a bit better. You also may want to put pedialyte or Reptisafe in her water to give her added electrolytes.

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I agree with what was already said, and I admire you for helping the poor little thing. Pedialyte 9unflavored) would definitely help!! Is there any way you can post a pic so we can get an idea of the extent of the injury. I have kept Anoles for years, they are some of my favorites critters.

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Thanks for the support and the pedialyte idea. She is getting UV from the sun as she's outside in dappled shade most of the day.

I'm heading out for the pedialyte.

I know nothing about anoles,but I hope that she gets well again.Good luck!!

Just be sure enough light gets in through the top of the cage. UVB cannot pass through glass, plastic, water, or very fine mesh. UVB is the one she needs. Without it she can't absorb calcium, even if you're feeding it to her.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Update for Friday, July 22, 2005: This morning she drank a little Pedialyte, which she does not seem to like. After some soaking and gentle prodding with a mineral oil soaked Q-tip, she passed a white stool. Is white normal?

Also of good report, she twitched her legs a couple of times, so we have some nerve activity.

However, she is still refusing food. At what point should I attempt to force feed her? How long do anoles go between meals? She looks like she is getting thin. If I try to force her to eat, what technique would I use to get her mouth open? She is so small that I worry about hurting her. She is approx. 2 ½ inches long and weighs 0.2 oz.

Is there any anole treat that might stimulate her appetite? Like when cats get finicky, you can offer them tuna, and they usually respond. What would excite an anole?

The crickets we have offered her may be too big. We caught some small black ones in the yard, which she had been eating. And we drove 2 hours to the nearest pet shop and bought their smallest crickets. They were tan, and she never ate one. Where could I get a small order of black pinhead crickets?

Tried cutting up some mealworms and wax worms, which she says is not food.

Tried baby foods. Peach was ok. She really hates the meat types. We smeared a little turkey/sweet potato on her lips, and she wiped her lips off on a stick.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Glad to hear she's improving White is normal for a lizard, but if there wasn't brown along with it, I think it means her stomach was pretty empty.

The color of the crickets shouldn't matter. Anoles eat a wide variety of insects, anything that will fit in their mouth really. In the wild, crickets are actually not very high on their menue, cause anoles are arboreal and crickets are terrestrial and fossorial. You can't order field crickets, house crickets are pretty much the only ones bred in large numbers for feeders. Ideally the prey should be about as long as the distance between the anoles eyes.

There are reptile appetite stimulants out there, but if I'm not mistaken, they're pretty much just electrolytes, which is what the Pedialyte is. If she doesn't like the flavor of the Pedialyte, you can try one of the appetite stimulants or add a larger-than-normal Reptisafe dose to the water.

Is her cage well planted? If she's too stressed by her surroundings she may not eat. Also, if she doesn't have UVB lighting she won't feel so great. With UVB comes UVA as well, which anoles can see. Without UVA colors look off to them, and therefore food looks different too, stressing the anole more.

Is the anole 2.5 inches with or without her tail? Force feeding will only stress her out more, and the risk of injury will be high. In her situation it would probably do more harm than good. Anoles respond to movement more than anything else. They don't normally eat food that's not moving. Her surroundings play an important role too. She has to feel comfortable enough to eat. Temperature, humidity, photoperiod, UVB lighting, etc all have a role in appetite.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

You may want to surround her with plastic plants, they will lower the stress level. Plus you can mist them and see if she will lap the beads of water off. Anoles don't actually drink, they prefer dew.

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