Anoles - Shorthand Anole Care

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#1807599

Atrax27407
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Shorthand Anole Care

1) Do your research BEFORE you acquire an Anole. It is too late to scramble about when you bring your Anole home in a plastic "critter keeper" and wonder what you need to keep it alive. Your enclosure should be ready before you bring the Anole home.

2) Choose a healthy Anole. It should be active and have no visible injuries or fecal discharges from the vent. Small reptiles are difficult (and expensive) to treat. You aren’t doing the Anole a favor by "rescuing" it. With a slow metabolism, by the time the serious symptoms appear, it is often too late for treatment,

3) Have an adequate sized enclosure. A 10-gallon MINIMUM is the rule. If you can afford a larger enclosure, get it.

4) There is NO NEED for expensive lighting/heating arrangements. You need a UVB fluorescent TUBE. A 5% is sufficient and ReptiSun or ReptiGlo are the best of the lot. Heat can be supplied with an ordinary light bulb. If it emits heat and light, it emits UVA. Anoles do very nicely with nighttime temperatures in the 60’s (the minimum for most houses).

5) Remember to have a temperature gradient in the enclosure so the Anole can thermoregulate - 75 (cool side) to 83 (warm side) is good. The basking area(s) should be 90-92 degrees. They need to be able to warm up and cool down.

6) Make sure the enclosure has lots of branches (as thick as the Anole’s body) and either real or artificial plants. If you choose real plants, avoid those with milky sap. Any house plant that is adapted for medium or low light will work. Anoles love to hide and they are arboreal so caves, etc., are usless.

7) Feed your Anole a varied diet. Crickets, waxworms, and other appropriately sized wild caught insects that have been collected from pestide-free areas and well away from roadways are fine. Just avoid those that sting, bite, or are disease vectors. The more varied the diet, the healthier your Anole will be.

8) Make sure that you have only ONE MALE per enclosure. Two males will fight - sometimes to the death. Sex the Anoles by looking for a pair of enlarged postanal scales that are visible from hatching (you might have to use some magnification to see them). Males have them, females don’t. All other anecdotal ways to determine sex are inaccurate.

9) If you have a pair or trio, be prepared for hatchlings. Anoles are VERY prolific and each hatchling needs its own 10-gallon setup.

10) Make sure that the substrate is digestible. Indigestible substrates like sand, ground Walnut shell, etc., can cause intestinal compaction and death. The substrate should be something that the female can dig in to bury her eggs. Otherwise, she may refuse to lay them, become egg-bound, and die.

11) Keep the humidity at about 50%. Green Anoles live in temperate climate throughout most of their natural range. High humidity is not necessary and promotes the growth of molds and fungi. Mist the enclosure a couple of times a day. Anoles will generally NOT drink from water dishes but prefer to lap droplets off the foliage.

07/24/08 07:11pm

#1807897

Peas_on_earth
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Message To: Atrax27407 In reference to Message Id: 1807599

Shorthand Anole Care

Man, I’m so glad I stumbled onto this site. You’re the most knowledgeable person I’ve ever encountered about anoles. Your expertise is greatly appreciated.

07/24/08 11:51pm