No kidding - there I was - brand new herbi-tank, 30 gallons and tall. I did a great job of putting together a well balanced habitat for Charlotte, Templeton and Wilbur. Lots of plants, things to crawl on, places to hide, proper lighting, good humidity, good temps - all of which seems to have produced unhappy anoles. I have 2 males and one female. My female eats like a pig and doesn't care who is watching. The boys are good sized and apparently eat - although I never see it. In fact, they just hang onto this net-like thing I have on the back wall all day. Occasionally the boys do the dewlap - but right now they are hanging out right next to one another. The guys seem kinda listless and no one will go back to that awesome green they were before the move. I can't undo to set-up or go back to the 2 old enclosures. Can someone offer any reassurance that the kids are all right? They seem to stay kinda brown. I know that brown and the brownish shades are supposed to be bad news, but I swear that it is the norm for these critters. A herp-pal o' mine (specializes in lizards, not snakes) seems to think that they're ok. Right now I cannot afford a vet trip for my little guys. (No lectures, please. I'm trying.) Ok - help, folks. Thanks~ Sasha
I wish I could offer that reassurance, but I can't... Housing two male anoles together is almost certain death for at least one of them. The fact that there's two there means at least one of them is not happy. Whether it's obvious to you or not, one is being stressed out. Having a female in there with them causes even more tension, as they're not only fighting for territory and food, but also for mating rights to the female. If you can't split them up, I'd suggest getting rid of one of the males, and seeing if you can trade at a pet store, or with somebody you know, for a female. Stress is one cause of them staying a brown colour.
Sigh....I know you're right. ANd I knew it before I posted, too. I've done quite a bit of reading and where 2 males are concerned it is fairly clear that they should be able to coexist well when there is lots of foliage and places to romp. But no - mine have to be weenies.
Don't feel TOO bad, Sasha. At least YOUR anole is brown because of another male that actually exists. Dezzy used to freak out because he could see his reflection. Finally, we had to tape white paper to the glass so he couldn't see his reflection. There's a half centimeter-wide space at the top where you can look in and see him. At least, there was; my mom got sick of doing that and ripped it open from frustration. Fortunately, Dezzy didn't seem to notice. I fixed it pretty quickly, so don't worry bout that.
Have you considered making a divider for the tank (something opaque), that you could split off say a third of the tank? We're going to be doing that with our 33G and 29G so that we can either separate the anoles or not as needed. The two males will be in the divided 33G and the two females in the 29G (not divided, but with the capability if the need arises). Just an alternative thought to having to get another enclosure. Good luck!
Excellent idea!! I had not thought of that and will be considering it. The tank is a pretty good size - 30 gal - tall. It would need to be in the one tank - but one of my males and the female have co-exisisted very nicely for quite some time. I'll have to monkey a bit with the lighting - but that beats getting rid of one of 'em or resetting an enclosure. THANK YOU!
Just to let you know, we are using opaque plexi-glass for the divider, putting wax paper around the edges of it, sealing both sides of the divider with Kitchen/Bathroom silicone. Once it is dry, we remove the divider, peel off the wax paper, and now have a runner for the divider to slide into. Let me know if you come up with alternative ways as we also have to divide up a 40-45G custom tank in the next month. Hope this suggestion helps.
hobotramp (sorry, i don't know your name), i really like your idea about creating a removable divider using silicone and plexiglass. can you elaborate on your plan? i can't picture it from your description, but i would like to try it on my tank!
We'll be doing the 29G tank this weekend, so we'll take pics of all the steps along the way and see about posting it in the knowledgebase. Let you know as soon as we have the pics and detailed directions how we did it (hopefully early next week).
Sorry it's taking so long, but things came up and we haven't had a chance to do the 29G tank yet. If you check in the Image Gallery under the member galleries, I have posted finished pics of the 33G. As soon as we do the other one I will be sure to submit the info and pics for the knowledgebase and let you know they are there.
Thnaks Axe. Turned out pretty good for our first attempt. Had it all set up for Booly and Cathode and realized we hadn't built the screen lid for it yet. Thankfully that doesn't take to long... did it up and an hour later had the two boys in their new homes.
