MyAngelLokki":1aoh63cj said:
*She's in a 12x12x18 inch front opening ExoTerra gecko tank
*She has 50 watt blue day bulb, a 13 watt
UVB bulb, and a 50 watt night bulb.
*Temperatrue adverages about 70-80 F with an 80-90 F basking spot
*Her lights are on a 12 hours on (day and UVB) and 12 hours off (night) timer
*She's by a window
*Humidity averages 70% - 80%
*She has coconut fiber substrate that I wet before I put in her cage and I spray her 2-4 times daily
*She does have a history of mouth rot resulting in a slightly deformed jaw
*I believe she's stunted she's barely 3 inches from snout to vent and I have been told most anoles averaged 5-7 inches
*The space between her eyes is barely a centimeter and she appears to have trouble chewing even the smallest bugs
I've been looking into small feeders but the smallest I've found have been crickets 1/8" and they are pretty big to her and by the time she gets around to eating them most are dead or twice the size she needs. I've been looking into roaches too but even the nymphs seem pretty big. I did spot a site selling day old crickets but I can't find it now and by the time they get to me they will most likely be too big for her. Sigh...
Nothing sticks out at me .... other than 12hr days and very small footprint of the tank.
Have you been to the Anole facebook groups or the anole message boards - someone who is experienced with anoles might spot something that needs a tweeking.
Maybe bump up the daily hours a few hours per day - more time for the anole to stay warm and bask and absorb more UVA and UVB .... might be all that's needed
And
I'd be trying her on
Blowfly gents (very soft and squishy)
BSF maggots (phoenix worms (USA)
small small (0.5inch long) silkworms (very soft and squishy).
This is a couple of day after hatching
About a week after hatching
This is what 14 day old silkworms look like
measurements are mm and cm.
Hatch your own crickets and or roaches , this way you will have continuous supply of the right sizes on hand , you could order in some silkworm eggs on a regular basis and hatch them, in a week the silkworms will be looking like little white worms and the right size, you may even be able to order week old silkworms .
BugPie made as skinny worm shaped bits , kept nice and soft might be good too. If I'd known about BugPie when I had Lucky to care for , I'd definitely given it a try as his protein & calcium staple.
My little rescued water skink Lucky started off about 5g and he had a broken lower jaw (next doors cat was attacking him and either bit or clawed him there) , I had to get mealworms and mealworm pupae and cut the tops / heads off them and squeeze out the gooy innards and he would eat that off the worm / pupae as I held them in my finger tips. Lucky's mouth and jaw was too sore to chew insects with hard exoskeletons ,I did see him eat a few very small just emerged mealworm beetles (while they were still white and very slow and very softshelled .... but these were very rare occasions with lucky and only when he'd been in my care for about 4 months and was finally taken off oral antibiotics by the vet , his apetite started growing then.
At the time I had no crop needles and this was the only way I could get food into him.
This might be your only option with this pet anole.... one thing .... you'll form a great bond with the anole doing this , and you might be doing this for it's entire life (IMO Lucky was worth the effort to give him a good life).
Giving him some medihoney (Manuka honey) by mouth using a small syringe might help with any problems in his mouth - has natural antibacterial and antiviral and antifungal properties , and even better is nice tasting so he will enjoy getting his medihoney dose each day.
