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Keeping Anoles as Pets

Posted July 8, 2009

The green anole is a common lizard in the pet trade and makes a very good beginner pet. They are sometimes called chameleons because of their color changing ability, but they are not chameleons in the true sense as chameleons look very different and come from another part of the world.

If your green anole is always brown than it is an indication that the anole is under stress.

Anoles are found through-out the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean islands, but only the green anole, the most common species, is native to the U.S.

One of the advantages anoles have over other lizards as pets are their relatively small size (around 8 inches in captivity) and their inexpensive price tag. But even tho they are cheap to purchase, they are not cheap to take care of, as with all lizards.

Housing

Anoles can be kept singly or in groups, but the males should either be kept singly or with another group of two or more females because they are very territorial and may display a fight with other males. Male anoles do this by flashing a colorful dewlap (fold of skin under their chin), and they also do this in courtship displays.

The minimum tank size for 1-2 anoles should be a 10 gallon aquarium and at least a 20 gallon aquarium for 3 or more. The more anoles you have in the tank, the more basking areas and hiding places are needed.

The housing enclosure should be maintained at around 60-70% humidity with a daytime temperature of 75-80 F and nighttime temperature of 65-75 F. The basking area should be around 85-90 F that is only available during the daytime.

Diet

The anoles diet in the wild consists of grubs, cockroaches, crickets, moths, spiders, and other small arthropods that will fit in it's mouth. Avoid feeding them beetles and arthropods with very hard shells, and the size of the prey should be no larger than 1/2 the size of the anoles head so they won't choke on them. Most people will feed their anoles crickets or mealworms.

You should feed anoles daily, letting them have as much as they want to eat. But if you leave any prey in the enclosure uneaten, than you need to provide food for the prey. This is especially important for crickets, as they will feed on anything available, including your anole.

Behavior

Most anoles in the pet trade are caught in the wild, and are highly stressed from the capture or other forms of depraved conditions in the industry. They are usually dehydrated, and dehydrated lizards will not eat or not eat very much. You can tell if an anole is dehydrated if it has loose folds of skin or the eyes are sunken.

It's a good idea to get your anole checked out by a reptile vet immediately after you acquire it to make sure it doesn't have parasites.

Some anoles may become comfortable with being handled, but for the most part it will cause them stress. They may also drop their tails if you grab it or they feel highly threatened. The tail will grow back eventually but it will not look the same as the original.

The main downside of keeping anoles as pets are that they require the same care as the more expensive lizards and people that are looking for an inexpensive pet have a hard time grasping that. So the anoles will often times be neglected and not taken care of properly.

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Keeping Anoles as Pets