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i wanted to get a green anole.

I went through a couple of site, and they didn't really answer any of my questions as they figure that i have had a reptile b4(which i haven't, well besides a turtle)

what are some general care needs, general reptile care/needs, tank set-up eetc...

They are EASY to take care of.. i fed mine a mix of mealworms and small crickets every other day. I had mine in a 20 gallon long tank with live plants, all i did everyday was spray the inside of the tank walls with a water mister a couple times a day. they're ALOT of fun and a really easy to care for lizard. the only bad thing is the males are pretty territorial, they will flare their little dunlappy thing at the others. im not sure exactly how many to a tank, but i kept 4 in the 20 long.. might have been too many. but it think you could to wonders with one of those waterfall things i see i petstores.. pretty cool idea.

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

Yea, anoles are pretty easy to take care of, providing the conditions are right. They're aborreal, which means they like to climb and spend most of their time in the upper regions of the habitat. A 20 gal is usually the minimum for two. They'll really appreciate the extra height if you can get something taller.

Being green, they'll also need a mild reptile-specific flourescent bulb that emits UVb for them. This will keep them healthy and help them to synthesize vitamins they need to be in top condition.

They also need a heat source that can be attained from either a ceramic heat emitter or an incandescent bulb. Place the bulb on one side of the tank so that side is hot, where the other stays cooler. This will let the anole regulate it's own heat. NO HEAT ROCKS!! They're inconsistant, provide the wrong kind of heat for anoles, and can burn your lizard to death. They'll need privacy, so if you're going to use a little cave, put it at the cool end of the tank, as it's natural for them to come out and bask in the daytime. They are dinural, so they'll be out at night too

As for substrate, astroturf or paper towels are easy to see when they're dirty, easy to clean, and can be easily disinfected.

As stated above, crickets dusted with a vitamin powder and a mix of meal/wax worms is the staple diet. Some will eat fruit flavored baby food, but most won't eat it unless it's moving.

n-joy

Most important thing to remember with anoles is the avoidance of stress and make sure you outnumber the males with females. Make sure you dont overcrowd them. 2 males and 6 females would be plenty in a 30 gallon long. Males can be very aggressive with each other, so just like with fish youll need visual barriers to stop them fighting constantly.

Remember anoles are arboreal, so a taller tank suits them better than a long one. A completely cubic tank is often the best solution, and fill as much of it as you can with climbing branches. Anoles appreciate relatively high ambient humidity so choose a nice absorbant substrate like bark chip over wood chip or vermiculite that absorbs water but doesnt cause ingestion problems. Dont for get that good ventilation is a must too and you will need to get the balance between lighting , heat and ventilation absolutely right , and this might take some balancing. You cant sacrifice air circulation to preserve the heat, so make sure your heating equipment is up to the job, and that the ventilation holes are both big enough, correctly positiones and covered with fine mesh. You will need to provide a thermal gradient , with a cool end about 75f, a warm end at about 84f and a hot spot provided by a small spotlight (which will need to be meshed off) of about 90-95f. Basically this isnt possible in a small vivarium , so buy the biggest you can afford. Anoles are small, but their territoriality,arboreal nature and thermal needs dictate they need quite large vivarium to be truly happy.They can live up to five years for a big male, and 2-3 for a female (breeding stress) so house them properly. Most people dont get them to live long in suboptimal conditions.

The best way to set up an anole envoronment bar none, is to have the ventilation balanced so that the spotlight for the hotspot, and the tubelight for uvb and uva provision make almost no impact on tank temperature generally. Then for the ambient heating level you set up a powerful tube heater or a ceramic, non-light emitting, heat source to provide and control heat levels by day in the 80's and arounf 75f at night. It will of course have to be thermostatically controlled.

Set the lights to come on about 14 hours a day, preferably on a timer, and dont forget to include a uvb and uva emitting striplight, to help them produce vitamin d3 naturally. Zoomeds iguana light or reptile bulbs are probably the best available for this, fish lights will not do, as the light frequency will be incorrect.

Anoles dont recognise standing water, so youll need to spray once or twice daily, or provide a small waterfall or a shallow dish with an airstone bubbling the water. They drown easily though, so be careful that bowls have safe exits.

When it comes to feeding you have to gut load AND powder live food for the anoles.Its not a question of either /or. Most gut loading formulas lose their potency as the insect digests them, and infact most formulas usually kill the insects within a few days. Its best to feed the insects normal fresh, pesticide free veggies, such as cabbages, oranges, etc, and then dust them prior to feeding them to the anoles.Id recommend reptavite powder for anoles. You can feed the anoles german house crickets (they have the best chitin to nutrition ratio of all crickets, (the black ones are a bit too tough for anole digestion) for about 70 percent of the diet, and supplement them with waxworms (moth larvae , they go absolutely crazy for the adult moths too!) mealworms, (preferably the white recently moulted ones.)Overripe Banana, Papaya, and mango chunks, (cut very small or mashed, and dusted with vitamin powder), and even lorinector formulas used for parrots. Some companies sell nectar formulas for phelsuma day geckos, and they should drink this too.

Heres another of my rubbish diagrams to give you an idea of how a small-ish anole viv should be arranged.



With reptiles, easy is a purely relative term.

Hope that helps you chris.

thanks guys that great info,

i only want to keep one, is that ok or do they need to be in a group? and how would i sex them.

but now it seems that i cant get one, for fear of getting out ..etc.... learned not to fight anymore.

maybe in a few years i might get one.

but i can be able to get something else.


i want a pet that is non-fully aquatic, not something that can easliy escape, and non dangarous.

Then the leopard or african fat tial gecko are for you

Not dangerous, can't escape out of a properly set up habitat, and live for 20 years

Setup will vary from the anole, but they'll be cooler pets imo.

Get a Crested Gecko. They are way better than Leopards or African Fat-Tails and are just as easy to take care of.

Plus they are mostly vegetarian so you don't have to buy bugs for them everyday.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I have them running around all over my yard. This is their native habitat - have never tried catching any to keep as pets, however. Last year, I had a several that hung out on the back deck, but have not seen as many this year - perhaps because it has been so hot lately. I did see a baby on the front porch last week. They are good climbers -even able to transverse my vinyl siding and go up on the roof and into the gutters. They enjoy hiding under chair cushions and things such as rugs, left on the deck railing. I have a picture of one, which I took sunning himself on one of my larger plants, which I use as a screen saver. One year, when I brought in the plants for the winter, I discovered one hibernating in a flowerpot - (the plant was out in the garage) and came out when I turned on the heat to do some work out there. They are really very sweet, and completely harmless.

If you want to go a step further and get a larger tank then go with a bearded dragon. It is definately worth it and they are a very personable lizard. Almost like a dog...lol. Also, there are some really nice color morphs that I have seen lately.