How much should i feed my anole

Discussion in 'Anoles' started by Amelia, Apr 19, 2013.

  1. Amelia

    Amelia New Member

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    Hi, I am new on this forum and I would like to know how much should my anole eat? when I got it on the 17th i put 10 crickets in the tank. Today I cant find any. Should my anole have eaten all 10 of the crickets in just two days? If anyone can let me know the answer it would be great.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Cammy

    Cammy ReptileBoards Addict

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    The amount an anole eat varies by anole, but I would expect a healthy adult to eat at least 5-6 small crickets a day, if not more. Typically you can find a good amount to feed by offering crickets one at a time and stopping feeding when the anole slows down. These are small animals with high metabolisms and they need to eat more than you would think in order to keep themselves sustained. It is important that you never leave uneaten insects in the cage with your anole. While crickets are harmless to us, they can pose a threat to a small lizard by chewing on their skin while they are sleeping. Reptiles can be and have been injured by crickets left in their cages, which can lead to serious infection and even death. If you haven't already, please look into setting up a small container to hold your crickets between feeding times. Let us know if you have any more questions.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Amelia

    Amelia New Member

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    I did know that but I have cricket food in the cadge will the crickets still bite the anole? And I did not know that a anole will eat that many crickets in a day today my anole did eat 2 small crickets and 1 medium cricket
    I was surprised at how many crickets she ate!!. Well thanks for getting back to me.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Cammy

    Cammy ReptileBoards Addict

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    Yes, the crickets can still bite at the anole even if you have food for them in the cage. They are scavengers and as such will nibble at pretty much anything they come across.

    Make sure you are not feeding your anole anything larger than the space between his eyes. Even adult anoles should generally be kept on small crickets. Again, an adult will typically eat at least 5-6 crickets in one sitting. If you have a juvenile, it should be eating even more than that.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. Amelia

    Amelia New Member

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    Wow, thanks for letting me now about that. Well I feed my anole the small crickets will that do? It will have to because I do not know any smaller cricket then that. So I will have to dig out all the crickets out of my anoles cadge?
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. Cammy

    Cammy ReptileBoards Addict

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    As long as the small crickets are smaller than the space between your anole's eyes, you will be fine. Yes, you will need to manually remove any leftover crickets if your anole does not eat them all.
     
  12. Amelia

    Amelia New Member

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    Okay well thank you for getting back to me and giving my the tips
     
  13. JoseOnAStick

    JoseOnAStick New Member

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    I don't really like feeding mine crickets for the biting issue. I also have a bearded dragon and have a dubia colony going, so I feed Jose out of the freshly hatched nymphs and he eats much less that way while getting appropriately sized insects. Between that and moths, he normally only really scarfs when he just finished a shed (he doesn't like eating while feeling like sand paper), but on average I only need to put maybe 5 or 6 dubia nymphs in every few days if supplementing with the moth here and there. I'd say Jose is also a young adult as well.
     
  14. Amelia

    Amelia New Member

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    Well thank you for the info!!. I need all the help I can get!! :D
     
  15. JoshSnakeman

    JoshSnakeman New Member

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    I don't really like using crickets all the time either. I switch it up when I can. Anoles love phoenix worms, flies, and I feed mine the little blue damselflies that you can see in your backyard, if I can catch them. Crickets seem to find their way out of the tank, through small ventilation holes on the top of the tank. Its one of those big 40 gallon Zoo-meds with the sliding front door.
     
  16. Amelia

    Amelia New Member

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    Ok, thank you Josh!!!!
     

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