I have 2 unhappy anoles on my hands. For those who don’t know, an anole will turn brown when he/she’s unsattisfied with something. For instance if it’s too hot, toio cold, too much light, not enough light, low humidity…stuff like that. A happy anole is a green anole. My &%@*$ anoles will not turn green! I have been on every web site taking in every suggestion and nothing satisfies them. I have recomended lighting, plenty of plants, a basking spot, a cool corner, 12 hours of light, steady diet of crickets and water. I don’t know what else to do. Any simular experiences or suggestions?
I know a lot of books and sites will tell you if an anole isn’t green it’s not happy. My experience is a brown anole that is stressed, will be a dark brown, really dark, to the point of being almost black or a dark chocolate. When I’ve seen such an anole, they almost always appear super thin (the base of the tail has no fat reserve), their eyes are sunken, and they have the dark spots right behind the eyes. In addition, they usually remain inactive, often on the bottom of the enclosure, appear “tame” when handled, rather than trying to bite or flee. This is all in agreeance with most of the books and sites. Here’s the but:
I’ve seen plenty of anoles that don’t stay green all the time, or even the majority of the time. Sometimes only turning green when they sleep. The color at those times, appears to be a sandy brown, or at least a lot closer to beige than black. If the fat reserve is there, they appear active and are feeding well, lack of dark spots behind the eyes, etc. I would be more hesitant to call them stressed.
You mentioned having two anoles, and I agree with the recommendation of keeping them singly or in what I call a harem, one male and at least three females. Without knowing the sex of the two, you could have two males at a “draw”, neither being able to establish dominance, and so staying stressed. Maybe a lack of hiding spaces or not a large enough enclosure. If you are able to have a heat gradient, I doubt the enclosure isn’t large enough. It’d be easy to see if the two are stressing each other out, by dividing the tank for a day or two. Shouldn’t take very long to eliminate that possiblity. I’d also check to make sure they aren’t being handled too often, and are not in a high traffic area. Those are the only other factors of stress I can think of that might not be readily apparent.
Parasites are also a possiblity, since often anoles are not captive bred. In my experience, the presence of parasites, if at the point of causing stress, would fall under the appearance of what I first described (dark brown description).
Have you checked the kingsnake.com message board. Here’s a link to the Anole part of it http://forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=42. The people in the bearded dragon and water dragon part are always quite helpful, I’ve never looked at the anole part of it, but I’d bet it’s just as helpful.
Also, are you sure that they’re GREEN anoles. I don’t know for sure, but I thought there’s also brown anoles.
I had the first anole, Pete, for about 6 months by himself. He does turn green at night so he must be a “green” anole. The second, Lauren, I got from the pet store and she was green as could be until I brought her home. Now she’s only green at night.