anoles?

[John33871]

i was outside today and i saw a few anoles running around. i tried to catch one but no luck. i was curious if these could be a treat of some sort? i wouldnt feed him more than one a month or so, but could i do this? you think he would get some calcium and protein from eating it, calcium from the bones, ya think? anyways just throwing out something, lol. thanks

 

[Dave Weldon]

...you think he would get some calcium and protein from eating it, calcium from the bones...

Howdy,

I would think that he would get substantial nutritional benefits from eating them but unless you could be sure that the anoles were free of parasites, you'd likely end-up with adding more to his existing parasite load or be introducing them to what was a parasite-free chameleon. This isn't to say that he couldn't survive getting parasites but the health risks probably outweigh the benefits. Not to mention that many keepers run into somewhat of a moral dilemma feeding one lizard to another .

 

[Vegas Chad]

I like to feed mine pink mice every now and again... They love em! This way you know that they are ok and carry no bugs.

 

[karebear41486]

I know that LLLreptile.com actually SELLS feeder anoles and house geckos...so if parasites are a concern you could always order some "feeder-quality lizards" online!

 

[John33871]

at what age did you start feeding yours pinky mice? were they dead or alive? about the anoles, i know petco sells them for like 7 bucks, i dont think that would be to bad for like once or month or so. i would gut load them with good crickets for a few days before i feed them, would that be a good idea or of no value? i dont think i would feed him wild anoles, i live in texas and they are always spraying for mosquitos so im sure the wild anoles have eaten some bad insects.

 

[Ren]

If you would gut load them with crickets why not just gut load your crickets and feed them, why gut load crickets and feed them to gut load another lizard and then try to feed that off?

 

[John33871]

well i mean, just put the anole in a small plastic container and give him the crickets that are being gutloaded for the chameleon. i thought it would make the anole a little more healthy to feed, or should i just get the anile and just throw it in the cage?

 

[Kent67]

A couple thoughts. First is yes, large chameleons love eating small lizards. It is quite difficult to watch though. To my knowledge there's no source of cb anoles or geckos so the one's from triple helL or Petco would probably be just the same as the ones in your yard. And if the pesticides or whatever in your neighborhood don't kill the anoles, I would think they're unlikely to affect something eating them later on.

Also, maybe one of the vets on the board could clarify this again, but I've always heard that it is uncommon for new world parasites to infect old world hosts. But, you could also deworm and Flagyl the anoles before feeding them out to the chameleon as well.

 

[spuds]

My male jacksons loves to eat geckos. It first started when the wild geckos would come to investigate the live food I put in for my jacks. Now the geckos go for the roaches and the jacks go for the geckos.

 

[ChameleoG]

i couldnt

i have anoles running all over the place around my house but it has never crossed my mind to feed them to one of my pets cause if you dont feel sorry for them think about feeding your chameleon to a komodo dragon and thats kinda what its like. maybe i shouldnt care as much but iv just never been able to feed a lizard or gecko to one of mine.

 

[chriswatts]

I wouldnt bother buying Anoles from a petstore or from online. Theyre all wild caught anyhow. I work at a petstore and the ones that run around outside are probabaly in better shape than what you can buy.
I do however raise my own pinkies and feed them to my chams monthly or most often bi-monthly. i have a few chams that wont accept this treat and they arent as "robust" as the ones who do like the pinkies. So make sure not to over do it!

 

[John33871]

when did you start feeding your chameleon pinkies? are they alive or do you kill them before hand, when you feed them to your chameleon?

also ChameleoG, what is the difference between feeding crickets to your chameleon? i see what you mean, but we are trying to feed these animals so that our chameleon can be healthier from eating bigger animals like anoles and pinkies. i dont think chameleons and komoto dragons ever really come into contact with many chameleons anyways. but chameleons do come into contact with other lizards and would even eat small birds in the wild. its all the circle of life.

 

[ChameleoG]

i dont think chameleons and komoto dragons ever really come into contact with many chameleons anyways. but chameleons do come into contact with other lizards and would even eat small birds in the wild. its all the circle of life.

ok heres the deal with the komodo dragon thing i would have said crocodile or something a chameleon would run into but i dont really think the sizes are as comparable. cuz i mean crocodiles get what 20 feet and chameleons at most get 2 maybe 3, i was just trying to be more realistic, but anyway i know its the circle of life or watever but there are so frigging many crickets and they live such a short time to me its just different. im simply sayin im not going to, u can but im not.

 

[John33871]

well thats your opinion and i respect that

 

[ChameleoG]

whoa

wow you reply quickly

 

[John33871]

lol, yea im very bored tonight. for once im all caught up with my homework, and have no papers to write, lol.

 

[ChameleoG]

hey i hear that iv been swamped lately

 

[chriswatts]

the pinkies are live. But fresh born. I know this actually doesnt help the situation with the calcium and in actualy youd probabaly want the pinkies to be slightly older and have a more developed bone structure. It seems like all you hafta do is use some of those long feeding tongs and hold the pinkie by the tail(or place it in a cup if yours will cup feed) My chams eaither go nuts and are falling out of their tree to come get it or some are scared to death of the mice. I always try to re-offer them all pinkies when i have them available but the same ones always refuse.

 

[John33871]

very interesting, what age do you start feeding your chameleon the mice for the first time? a year old, a year and a half?

 

[chriswatts]

so far ive only done it with chameleons over 1 year old.(any younger and im afraid they might choke) Ive only done this with panthers and veilds. All my other species are wayy to small to eat mice. I dont know what kind you have. but all my veilds always accept the pinkies and only a few of the panthers do.
chris