Green Anole

I saw them at the pet store for $5 a piece. They looked cute, but so did my Iggy. I am wondering if anyone has one and what I should know before considering a purchase.

They're cute, stay small, and are easy to care for. They also change colors.

The are also very quick and some bite.. they can also drop their tails.

They will eat crickets, and require room to climb and run around (a 10gallon tank is fine) Mist them often.

Can they be housed together? They had 3-4 at the petstore all together. Is there a way to tell males from females by looking at them?

Yeah, I've kept them together fine.

Males display their throat flap.. it's bright pink when extended.

Thank you, I didnt want to make the same uninformed decision I did with the Iggy.

Yep.. only takes one mistake to wisen up. (at least if you're smart lol)

Anoles are fun to catch.....Actually I caught one yesterday when I was on my snake hunting expedition with the new snake hook :D They can be kinda snippy and are fast (definately something you do not want getting out in the house ;))....but they are not even close to being as quick or mean as fence lizards...I have had those guys draw blood :)

I had an anole draw blood on me once. Darn thing wouldn't let go.

I agree, fence lizards are like greased lightning. I really love the emerald swifts though.. such color.

if you house more than one male together they will fight, sometimes to the death. females can live together or with one male just fine. they do best with some type of uvb/uva lighting and need a good vitamin and especially calcium supplement. if you are using supplements for your iguana you can probably use the same ones for the anoles. they are really cute little guys and tame down pretty easily. they are really fast and flighty at first but if you spend a little time with them they calm down pretty quickly.

We have several lizard supplements here already. Between the Beardys and the Iggy, we have a lot on had. I thought a couple might be nice to suprise my wife, she loves lizards. I did a lot of research on them just now and they look like something I can handle well, and work with easily.

They're fun to watch since they're pretty active.

Mle, I had two males together and they were fine, and so did my cousin.. weird. I wouldn't recommend that anyone try it though.. lol

i had two males together for a while--thought the one was a female actually and they were ok at first. they were actually my husbands and when we got married we put them in with my female and suddenly they were both very angry boys. you know how the boys will fight when there is a pretty little girl up for grabs. :)

Yes, well I had no females to fight over. lol

Well I finally picked them up tonight. I went out to get that RTB and came back with 2 Green Anoles instead. The wife likes them. I put them in a 10 gallon tank in the kitchen.

Hope they do well!

Why no rtb?

The cheapest one in town is $150 another one in town is $180. I really want one, but I didnt want to spend all my spending money. How ever I did find out I got $400 extra when I was down there so I might get the RTB tomorrow.

Sounds good.

Well the anoles both died. One died a week ago it looked like he drowned. The female died today. The best I can figure is a cricket killed it. We feed it very small crickets usually 1 at a time. My daughter cried for hours. She was the only one who could handle this thing. She went to check on it and mist it like she does 3-4 times a day and it was dead with a big red spot on its side. It was so sad. She cried for about half an hour, then went to work cleaning out its cage. The poor girl is almost nine, and she puts so much work into her animals. She studies, reads and asks tons of questions. I don't know how to deal with my kids best when this stuff happens. She wanted to take a pic of the dead body so she could remember her, I thought that was kind of morbid so I talked her out of it. I let her go through the process of taking care of everything I hope it gives her a sense of closure. I offered to help, but she declined. I hugged her and told her I loved her a lot. I also reminded her how good she takes care of the cats, dog, beardies and stuff. I did cheer her up a little though. I told her she could have one of the new BPs we got today since she is such a hard worker on the animals. I told her we had to work real hard on it's husbandry to make sure it gets heathly again and stays that way. I know she is going to do something that involves animals all her life. It just broke my heart to see her so upset today. I did get a big sense of pride to see her take care of everything after wards. It seemed so mature for an eight year old to do.

Sorry to hear it.

Sounds like she's an excellent animal caregiver.

Ball pythons are much easier to keep healthy for a long period of time than the wild caught anoles are. I think she'll enjoy keeping a BP very much.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss.
Sadly green anoles are caught shipped and house (while at the store) in really poor conditions. Remember many people will see anoles as food sources for other critters so they are not always bred and cared for as "pet" quality.
You may be able to find a reputable online dealer of anoles that can help you achieve a healthier stock to begin with.
I also wanted to say that I agree with Mledee on the housing and husbandry. Ecspecially the uv lighting. Many people overlook this in their husbandry towards these little critters.
Good luck and again I'm sorry for the loss
Rusty