Care of Green Anoles

Housing Your Green Anole

They may be small, but green anoles are active lizards, and love climbing and jumping. Choose a roomy enclosure with a lot of vertical space. Only have more than one creature in the same enclosure if both are female, and don't house with other species such as brown anoles. There should be a quarter inch of secure wire mesh at the top of the tank, and a layer of moist substrate on the bottom. This could be potting soil, peat moss, top soil, bark mulch or recycled paper. Soil is a good choice, perhaps with a layer of bark on top, since you can grow plants in it. Plants provide cover, and help maintain humidity. Provide branches and bark for basking and climbing, along with hiding spots.

As with other reptiles, heating and lighting need to be just right. Have a full-spectrum fluorescent light right above the top of the cage. This promotes good calcium metabolism in your lizard, and should be kept on for between 10 and 12 hours a day. You can provide heat with an incandescent light at one end of the cage, so your green anole can regulate its own temperature. The temperature of the basking area should be around 90° F, while the rest of the tank can hover between 72° F and 80° F. Use under tank heating, and measure the temperature in different spots in the enclosure. Night-time temperatures should be 15° to 20° F lower.

It's important to keep humidity levels at between 60 and 70%, so mist the inside of the tank for 10 seconds twice a day. This also gives green anoles a water supply, since they usually won't drink from bowls, but lick drops from misted plants. You can try covering part of the top of the tank or adding more plants if you are finding it hard to keep humidity levels high enough.

Feeding Your Green Anole

Green anoles are predominantly insectivorous and good eaters. Feed your anoles up to three insects every two or three days, and vary the type you give to provide a better diet, and allow your pet to develop different hunting techniques. Do not feed your lizard anything larger than the size of its head or over-feed, since this causes dehydration. Offer a mix of crickets, small locusts, mealworms, wax worms, small earthworms, small cockroaches, flies and even moths, butterflies and spiders which you can find yourself.

About once a week, dust the crickets with a vitamin supplement powder. If you keep crickets around in bulk, 'gut-load' them by feeding them vitamin-rich cricket food before feeding to your lizards. Green anoles have also been known to eat pollen, nectar and other liquid-type fruits. They may not eat a banana for example, but lick the juices instead.