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  • What's Your Diagnosis
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Diagnosis: Cricket Predation

Lab Animal volume 33, pages 18–19 (2004)Cite this article

The feeder crickets that the caretaker offered as the sole food source preyed upon the anole and caused the open wound. Although a caretaker was responsible for treating the anole daily, the reporting structure of the breeding facility failed to have an individual responsible for monitoring this animal during its ongoing treatment. The caretaker fed the animal on the same schedule as the healthy anoles in the large terrarium, but did not confirm the wounded anole's feeding activity or appetite.

The anole probably did not eat the crickets for either one or both of the following reasons: extraneous stimuli will divert some lizards from feeding1, or the daily antibiotic and analgesic treatment may have diverted the anole from eating. It is also likely the lizard did not eat the crickets because the lesion on the maxilla made eating difficult and/or painful. Andrews and Bertram2 analyzed the in vitro force and mechanical work required to bite prey items of different size and physical character in the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko). They found the force required to bite, and the mechanical work of biting, increases with prey size. However, they also found the rate of increase is prey-specific, with crickets requiring much more force and work per bite than insect larvae. Crickets have a tough exoskeleton that hardens during their development. Consequently, adult crickets are more difficult to kill and masticate than juvenile crickets (known as 'pin-heads') or larvae2.

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Figure 1: A bite wound on a red-tail boa constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator) inflicted by a live mouse left in the cage overnight.

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Authors
  1. Jörg Mayer Dr.med.vet., MSc
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Mayer, J. Diagnosis: Cricket Predation. Lab Anim 33, 18–19 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0904-18

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