Anoles are one of the best types of reptiles for beginners. There are two types of anoles that are commonly found in pet shops and I will be talking about in this caresheet. They are the green anole (Anolis carolinensis) and the brown anole (Anolis sagrei). The green anole is native to the Southern US around Florida, but the brown anole also lives there. It was introduced by escapes from the pet trade and some came on planes or ships. They can get up to 9" long from head to tail. The females are usually smaller. Both sexes of both species have extendible dewlaps on their neck, however the female's are usually smaller and duller in color. Anoles also have distended pads on the end of each toe. These are actually of millions of microscopic hooks that can latch on to irregularities of almost and surface, even glass. The head is large compared to their body and is wedge shaped. Male anoles have a crest along their back that is rarely extended, only during fights with other males. Green anoles can change color from green to brown. They do not do this to camoflauge, but to help regulate their body temperature and to express their mood. They generaly turn brown while basking and gren while active. When they are stressed for any reason, the area behind their eye turns dark black. The females often have a white checker pattern down their back. Brown anoles are a dark brown with yellow and whitish specks. Anoles can move their eyes independently like a chameleon. Sometimes, they are called "american chameleons" because of their color changing abilities. Anoles cannot make any sounds because they don't have vocal cords. Anoles can also lose their tails is they are grabbed roughly. Behavior- Two males will fight. They can drop their tails if handled roughly. Anoles are communal reptiles. They are arboreal and live on trees, rock walls, and houses up to 15" tall. They are very adaptable. They spend most of their day basking in the sun and hunting insects. The males set up territories, which are especially guarded during breeding season, when the males are competing over females. During territorial disputes, rivals will do pushups and extend their dewlap to try to scare the opponent away. If that doesn't work, they fight in mouth to mouth combat, sometimes to the death. The winner gets the territory or female. Anoles are very alert because they are so vulnerable. They will go running at the slightest movement of a larger animal. Fortunately, most anoles get used to being watched by humans in captivity and wont hide. Sometimes, the anoles will drop into a stream to escape predators. They can also force their tail to fall off to distract a predator. It will grow back slowly. Cage- They like to climb. 10-20 gallon cage with lid. Anoles can be housed singly or in small groups. A 10 gallon cage is big enough for a pair. Because they like to climb, you should turn the cage on it's side. Add 5-10 gallons for each additional anole. If you live in a warm area, you can build a large wood and screen cage and put it outside. You need to have a substrate, branches for climbing and some plastic or potted plants. You also need a heat light and maybe a UVB light. Substrate- Soil, bark, or anything that holds moisture. A substrate is the stuff that you put on the bottom of the cage. With anoles you generally want to have a slightly moist substrate to help raise the humidity. Possible options are: soil, bed-a-beast, bark chips, newspaper, paper towel, very large gravel, moss, Astroturf, or none at all. My favorite substrate is the bed-a-beast mixed with Repti-bark. If you mix in some soil with this, you can grow plants in it. I always grow them in pots or jars because I can move them around later without digging up the roots. The problem with large and very fluffy substrates is that crickets can hide in it. They will also hide under layers of newspaper. I always pack the substrate down to prevent this. You should not use sand because if the anole accidentally eats some with their food it can clog their gut. Some people put a drainage layer with fluorescent lighting eggcrate or gravel separated from the main substrate by mesh. Humidity- 40-80% relative humidity. Mist with water every day for drinking. Anoles are semitropical lizards that live in the Florida area. This means that they like a humidity of around 40-80%. These numbers are for the humidity in the cage when nothing special is going on, like misting. This is what the anoles need most of the time. I have found that you can still keep anole in humidities as low as 25% as long as you look for shedding problems and mist the cage more often, several times a day. If the humidity is too high and there is not enough ventilation, mold will grow in the cage. There should not be so much humidity in the cage that there is always fog on the glass. Methods for controlling humidity are: substrate moisture, misting, ventilation, and heating. Some people also say that having glass on the top and the ventilation from the sides will help raise humidity. Heating- Range of 70-95 degrees throughout cage. Use a reptile heat lamp. Because reptiles are cold blooded they need to have an external heat source. You can use an incandescent heat bulb that warms part of the anole's cage to about 95 degrees. A 40 watt bulb is the best wattage for a 10 gallon cage. The rest of the cage should be around 70-75 degrees so they can pick the temperature they want. If it gets cold at night, you can use a heat pad glued to the outside of the cage, or a low wattage ceramic heat emitter for reptiles. Don't use a light for nighttime heating. The reptile's behavior can signal if it is comfortable or not. Ideally, an anole will spend about half of it's time under the heat bulb and the other in a slightly cooler area. When the entire cage is too hot, the anole will try to bury itself in the substrate or anywhere it might be cool. If you ever see your anole doing this, immediatly bring it to a cooler area and mist it with water. Continue to provide the correct heat, though. A common mistake is to use a normal flourescent desk lamp as the only heating. While the bulb may feel warm, the heat probably doesn't carry all the way to the anole. Lighting- UVB flourescent bulb if possible, otherwise give vitamin D3. Anoles need a white colored light for them to know it's daytime. Most of the time, the heat bulb will be the only light you need. You should also try to provide your anoles with UVB and UVA light from a special reptile flourescent bulb. The UVB allows the anoles to make vitamin D3, which is used to absorb calcium from their diet for bone development and eggs. The UVA makes everything look more natural to them. We humans cannot see UVA, but the anoles can, and it makes a big difference to them. You can get the UV producing flourescent bulbs from most petstores. Aim for at least 3% (3.0) of the total output being UVB. Keep in mind that the bulbs only produce UV light for a year or so. Their output still looks the same though so you can use them for something else. The best light source if the sun. If you live in a warm climate, you can put your screen cage outside as long as there are no predators. Do not do this with a glass cage or it may overheat in minutes. Putting it in the window doesn't help because window glass filters out UV, otherwise our houses would be faded on the inside. You can get away with not providing UVB by dusting the anole's food with vitamin D3 and calcium. Watering- Mist everyday with water. Won't drink from bowl. Anoles don't drink water from a bowl. They only recognize water that is in droplets on the leaves. You should spray them in the morning with water from a misting bottle and sometimes in the evening. Don't fall for any of the products that claim to deliver vitamins through the water misted on the reptiles. Feeding- Small insects like crickets from store. Anoles are mainly insectivores and eat several small insects a day. You should feed your anole mainly crickets from the pet store, but wild insects are good as long as they are free of pesticides and are not poisonous. Whenever you can, feed your anoles flying insects. Houseflies and butterflies are some favorites. After all, those are when the anoles eat in the wild. You can also feed your anoles mealworms, waxworms, and some beetles. Make sure you gut load your insects before they are feed to the lizards. You do this by simply feeding them healthy food such as fruit or a commercial insect food. Potatoes don't cut it for insects meant to be fed to lizards. Remember, you are what you eat. Every few days, you should coat the crickets in a calcium/vitamin powder before you feed them. Don't feed you anoles any unusual insects like fireflies or ladybugs, they are poisonous. Medical Issues- Not enough calcium causes MTB. Treat cuts with antibacterial lotion. There are lots of bad things that can happen to your anole. One of the most common ones with anoles is metabolic bone disease. This is when the anoles don't get enough calcium and their bones get soft and flexible. If the anole is still growing, it may get a bent spine. You can prevent this by giving your anole lots of calcium in its diet and using a UVB light on it. If it already has MTB, take it to the vet for a calcium injection. If an anole has dropped its tail or has another cut, apply some antibacterial lotion to the wound. Sometimes, anoles will rub their noses on the screen trying to escape and will rub their noses raw. For this, you need to clean the abrasion every day or more and apply antibacterial lotion if possible without getting it in their mouths. Getting your anole- Choose and active anole. Don't get two males. If you pick out a healthy anole, you will almost always have a good pet. But if you get an unhealthy one, you will be stuck with a reptile that is always sick, not eating, and is very boring to watch. The most important thing to base your decision on is the physical condition of the anole. You should get the fattest anole because an anole that is eating well is likely to be healthy in other areas as well. You should not get an anole that has mites, ticks or other parasites on it. Pick out individuals that are alert and active. Do not get more than one male per cage. Males are generally larger and have two enlarged scaled at the underside of the base of their tail. When the pet store employee is catching your anole, make sue to tell them which ones you want and get them put in separate boxes or bags. Bring some tape and small squares of cardboard with you to cover oversize ventilation holes. You don't want to have to try to catch a lose anole in a car. Go straight home with your new anoles and keep them covered and warm, but not hot. Have your cage completely set up before you release the anoles. I recommend that you just open the box and set it on its side in the cage and the anoles will come out at their leisure. Do not disturb the anoles for several days. Shopping List 10 gallon glass cage Lid Heat light dome 40 watt heat bulb Plastic or live plant Sturdy branch for climbing and basking 4 quarts of substrate (reptibark, bed-a-beast, forest bed) Spray bottle Vitamin powder Calcium powder Thermometer (preferably water resistant of the dial or digital kind) 24 small crickets 2 anoles (only one male) Small plastic cage for housing crickets Cricket food 20" fluorescent fixture 18" fluorescent UVB bulb Timer