How to Care for Green Anole Lizards

How to properly shelter, feed, and care for your green anole lizard. The advice here does not necessarily apply to all species of anole (just most), and certainly not all species.

Steps

1. Keep in mind that your anoles' cage should be visually pleasing.
   
2. If you want to get more than one anole make sure you go with two females (two males will fight and a male and a female might have babies). When younger, it is sometimes difficult to determine the sex of your lizards. Males always have a flap underneath their throat that inflates into a red frill for mating/territory display on occasion. When older, males are typically larger and have longer snouts than females. Males also will have two large "scales" on their stomach at the base of their tail.Males have two bumps on the bottom base of the tail and females have only one or none (Remember that anoles are solitary creatures unless it's breeding season, so having a container with more than one is highly stressful for them, and not natural at all.)
   
3. Although many sources will say that they are "sociable animals" this is misguided information, and anoles should indeed be kept separate from one another in different tanks or containers. This type of setup is more comfortable for the individuals inhabiting the tanks, and not as unnatural, therefore, it is less stressful and more healthy for the anoles.
   
4. Fill the tank evenly one or more inches with sterilized reptile bark big enough that it cannot fit in the anole's mouth.
   
5. A florescent 40 watt bulb is required during the day that leaves a temperature of 75-80 degrees F. The Florescent light must be turned off at night and be replaced with a black light.
   
6. Mist your anoles and the plants in their tank for 10 seconds 2-3 times a day. The anoles will regularly drink water from the plant leaves.
   
7. Feed your anoles every 2-3 days. You should dust the crickets with a vitamin supplement powder at each feeding as the crickets will walk around in the tank and lose some powder if. If your animal doesn't get enough calcium and vitiams the anole could end up with MBD (metabolic bone disease) and die. If you keep crickets around in bulk you should "gut-load" them by feeding them a vitamin rich cricket food prior to feeding them to your lizards. This way, all of the nutritious food your crickets just ate will then, in turn, be passed on to your anole. Your anole is what he eats! So if your crickets are starved, your anole soon will be too. Also, buy the smallest cricket offered, and if there is only "one size" at a pet store, go to a different one.
   
8. Green anoles like to have their food in seperate quarters than their homes unless it's feeding time. This way the 'leftovers' won't munch on your lizard while he's asleep. If you place your crickets in a low feeding dish, your anole will be thankful that they aren't ganging up on him in the night! But if they're small enough, they won't bother your anole.
   

Tips

• Be prepared for your anoles to live for 3-8 years after you get them.* *Although these lizards are cheap to buy, keep in mind that they are very hard to care for, will need special heating/lighting setups, weekly cricket purchases (if you don't breed your own), vitamin supplements, special watering techniques, and their tanks or containers will need weekly maintinence and cleaning.
  
• To make tank cleaning easier, try putting a sheet of plastic down before you put in the substrate.
  
• Make sure the crickets you put in the container aren't hiding under food bowls and such.
  
• Occasional fast prey like small cockroaches or flies will give your lizards some much needed exercise. Anoles may also eat waxworms, fruit flies, small worms, canned crickets, or earthworms. (Canned foods will not be eaten since they are lifeless and won't compete with your anoles.)
  
• Kill any red spider mites that you see in the tank. They are to anoles what ticks are to us.
  
• Some anoles will get infections on their snout along the mouth. This can be cleaned by gingerly and delicately wiping the snout with a cotton swab barely wetted in either Hydrogen Peroxide or Neosporin. Do not do this more than once a day and not for more than a few days. Don't force them the treatment though; if they try to dodge you, let them, it is likely that the stress of this procedure will harm them more. Instead, try keeping the container cleaner, and maybe drier if it happens to be too moist.
  
• Make sure to get rid of any mold growth the second you see it! Don't hesitate by 'waiting to see what happens' because your anole will suffer and probably die.
  
• Anoles only develop fat reserves in their tail. Ergo an anole with a fat tail is a well-fed anole.
  
• If you always drop the anoles food in the same location, they will involuntarily learn this and expect their food to be dropped there.
  
• Small hatchlings sometimes like to lick at citrus fruit to get trace vitamins. Additionally, old citrus fruit will attract fruit flies which are one of their two primary food sources in the wild, the other being termites. Make sure to remove fresh foods after a couple of hours to prevent rotting and mold growth.
  
• Small crickets go down easier than large ones. Be careful of too many excess crickets so they do not bite at the anoles. Spiders such as daddy long legs help the anoles exercise, but offer limited nutrition.
  
• Remember to spritz the walls and decor of his container with water daily! This is the only way most of these small lizards will drink.
  
• For easy dusting, add a small amount of vitamin powder to the plastic bag of insects and shake the bag. They will be coated. Just think "Shake-n'-Bake!"
  
• Males will sometimes chase females around the tank. Don't worry, this is normal mating behavior, the smaller females can easily outrun the males if they need to. I had a small female that would always outrun the male, but would also at other times approach him for coitus. Their behavior may be peculiar to us, but it is theirs, and it is rare for the males to hurt the females.
  
• Like people, anoles can fall asleep in the sun for longer than they intended to. While they like long days you should still put a timer on their grow light so that it is ON for 12 hours a day, so they can get 12 hours of darkness at BUT there needs to be a black light on during the night! they will freeze if no warmth is added.
  
• Males will stress out females, so keep males seperated from all anoles unless breeding. Females do fine together, and may "snuggle" on a leaf occasionally
  
• When buying an anole, make sure to check for parasites, sluggishness, and their body weight by looking for obvious ribs showing. They will also have sunken-in cheek areas, and will look much like a skeleton with skin. Make sure your anole is in a tank of his own when you buy it, or check the others for signs of stress, parasites, loose droppings, missing tails, and coloration. A green anole is less stressed out, and therefore a healthier specimen. (Slow anoles may just be cold, or it may be too hot. It all depends on their surroundings.)
  
• Make sure to use common sense when choosing a new pet. Don't pick the smallest, skinniest anole because you 'feel bad for it.' Chances are you'll feel worse for him when you have to bury him in a shoe box in your garden.
  
• You should avoid using so-called "Hot Rocks" which plug into an outlet and heat up. The lizards like them so much, that they may be cooked from the inside out from overexposure. Keep in mind that the majority of their heat and light comes from the sun shining down on them, so a heat source that radiates upwards is highly unnatural. *You can mix green anoles with house geckos,fire-belly newts, fire belly toads & green tree frogs
  

Warnings

• As with any reptiles, you should wash your hands after handling any bedding or tank decorations to prevent the spread of salmonella. Keep in mind that these lizards are very skiddish, and therefore are more of an exhibition-type. In plain terms, these lizards are to be looked at! Not handled. Handling is very stressful for such a small animal. Imagine being picked up by a giant that you think is going to eat you!
  
• Do not put more than one male in a tank. They will fight constantly over the limited territory, and don't forget that they are naturally loners, so even if you have two it's still "overcrowding" in their eyes.
  
• Do not use heating rocks or caves. They often overheat, causing burns or death.
  
• If you use a "sun lamp" or InfraRed bulbs, make sure it is not sitting directly on the screen topper. Many people have lost their anoles because of them literally 'cooking' in the tank.
  
• If you do not use a UVB light, the animal must have the proper vitamins and calcium, since it will not be made naturally with the UVB light. If you use a UVB light, then the animal can create some of these naturally. Make sure it's rated for the tank size and the animal. (Replace these special bulbs every few months even if they are still producing light. After a while they will stop making UVA and UVB.)
  
• Do not rely solely on a water dish for your lizards' hydration; anoles will usually not drink from pools of still water. Furthermore, small hatchlings often drown in any amount of standing water. Frequent misting the sides of the tank or any decorations will assure that your anole gets enough to drink.
  
• Only feed your anoles live food; adult anoles will not attempt to eat inanimate objects, and they will starve.
  
• Flies alone cannot provide the lizards with fat. They will slowly starve to death much as humans did on all-rabbit diets in frontier times.
  
• Remember to 'gut-load' crickets before feeding them to your anole. This assures that the crickets you feed him are chock-full of good foods and vitamins. The food inside your crickets will help your lizards too. Remember that you are what you eat!
  
• If you are unfamiliar with an insect species but want to feed it to your lizards, research it further until you know it is neither poisonous or has stingers. Wasps, hornets, bees, wolf-spiders, and scorpions are all big NO-NOs! Even if your anole doesn't try to eat it, they can still get hurt by it in an enclosed cage.
  
• Always use a tank cover. Other pets (like cats) like to 'play' with anoles. (Usually this means death for an escaped anole.)
  
• Do not use a heating pad. They are potential fire-hazards if not used with the proper tank set-ups.
  
• Remember that the lizard's tank should mimic it's actual habitat like a rainforest
  
• I am adding to your article that it is not recommended to mix anoles and fire belly newts together. Fire belly newts are amphibians, and require a totally different housing set up. Fire belly newts not only are aquatic or semi-aquatic, but they also would die at a temperature above 70 degrees F., and the anole would likely not make it much below 70 degrees F. Their climates, lighting, and heating requirements are different, and species mixing in general is not recommended, as one species may eat the other. The newt is much more docile and would likely be victimized in this case. The temperments of the other combinations of animals mentioned above would have to be considered as well as their individual habitat requirements. The third thing that can go wrong is in the introduction of foreign pathogens by putting two species together in a small space to co-habitate that don't normally exist together in the wild. One may be wild caught (taken from the wild) and the other may be too, but from a different part of the world with different pathogens it has an immunity to, or it may be captive bred (from breeders and born in captivity) where it would not be subjected to all the illnesses and stress that wild caught animals are. Putting them together could be a disaster waiting to happen. If you would like more information, just go to the "Species Mixing Disasters" section at www.caudata.org or ask around on the forum there.
  

Things You'll Need

• At least a 10-gallon, preferably a 20-gallon aquarium with a full metal-mesh lid (for strength and ventilation).
  
• At least one bag of substrate.
  
• A water spray bottle that has never been used for anything else.
  
• Decorations that allow hiding and basking spots.
  
• A heat lamp with an appropriate wattage bulb (Specifically rated with the proper amounts of UVA/UVB ect.).
  
• At least one potted plant or fake plant strong enough for the anole to rest on.
  
• At least one branch (preferably more) the length of the aquarium, for climbing.
  
• A small shelter for privacy, such as half of a coconut shell with an opening.
  
• A thermometer on each end of the enclosure.
  
• A hydrometer.
  
• Vitamin powder for sprinkling on crickets.
  
• Cricket chow.
  
• A place to temporarily house crickets, so you can gut-load them prior to feeding your anole. (Remember to give them a wedge of fruit to provide moisture without them drowning in a bowl. They will also eat fruits and vegetables if you don't have cricket food. Adding cardboard tubes not only makes their last days happier, it makes it easier to remove them from their container without touching them. Simply remove the tube and shake it into your lizard's house!)
  
• Tasty juices for feeding time
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Raise Your Own Crickets
  
• How to Feed Crickets to Reptiles
  
• How to Create Aquariums So Lizards and Fish Can Coexist
  
• How to Determine the Sex of a Green Anole
  

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