Green Anole

Basic Care Plan for Green Anole

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 Anoles are insectivores and the size of insects they'll eat ranges from small to medium. Anoles need a minimum of twice weekly feeding and preferably every 2 to 3 days, or ask for advice from your vet. If you have more than one anole, it is vital that you keep an eye to see that each anole gets several insects every feeding. The food must be live – canned foods will not be eaten since it is lifeless and won't compete with your anole

 

• Feed crickets. One meal anoles enjoy is cricket; buy the smallest cricket offered, and if there is only "one size" at a pet store, go to a different one. Dust the crickets with a supplement powder at each feeding to help ensure the anoles get enough calcium and vitamins (anoles missing the key nutrients can get metabolic bone disease (MBD) and die). If you keep crickets around in bulk, "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. Equally, if your crickets are starved, your anole soon will be too. Baby anoles (should you be breeding them) require micro crickets or tinyfruit flies.

   

• 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, small spiders, orearthworms.

   

• Avoid feeding anoles with mealworms. These pass through them undigested, wasting energy in eating and not getting any energy from the food.

   

• Anoles prefer to get their water in the form of droplets off plants. As such, daily misting is an essential activity in the vivarium. Mist both the anoles and the plants for 10 seconds 2 to 3 times a day. If you can't remember to do this or don't want to, have an automated mister or drip system installed.

 

 

 A typical container will be a tall vivarium or a tank. Inside the vivarium, be sure to supply plenty of plants (either real or artificial, or a mixture of both) and basking items such as branches or smooth rocks.

 

• For a community consisting of one male and four females (known as a "harem"), the size of the container should be approximately 36 x 24 x 12 inches or 90 x 60 x 30cm. The height of the container is important, to allow for climbing around.

   

• Fill the vivarium or tank evenly one or more inches or 2.5-5 centimeters with sterilized reptile bark big enough that it cannot fit in the anole's mouth. Never use unsterilized bark or floor covering you're not sure about; ask the pet store or your vet for advice if you're unsure.

   

• Always use a tank cover. Other pets (like cats) like to 'play' with anoles and this usually means death for an escaped anole.

 

Anoles need to be in a daily temperature range of approximately 75-86ºF / 24–30ºC. Use full spectrum lighting to ensure the healthy development of both anoles and the live plants. The nighttime temperature can drop to 68ºF / 20ºC but no lower.

 

• A fluorescent 40 watt bulb will create the right temperature during the day but must be turned off at night and replaced with a black light.

   

• 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 but there needs to be a black light on during the night as they will freeze if no warmth is added.

   

• High humidity levels are important too, achieved through regular misting and perhaps a dripper or a water feature. Also be sure to supply adequate fresh air.