Anole Lizard
The Anole Lizard is common as a Pet Lizard
One of the easiest pet lizards for beginners to take care of is the Anole Lizard. They live in the tropics and subtropics and can be found across the southern United States. They are approximately 6-8 inches in length, including the tail. They are a climbing lizard with toes that stick like they have adhesive on them. The Anole Lizard comes in shades of green and brown, and both male and female have a pink dewlap under the neck.
The Anole Lizard is perfect as a pet because they are very small and don’t require much in the way of equipment. A 20-gallon aquarium is large enough to hold one. They like to eat insects, especially crickets and spiders. The lifespan of an Anole Lizard is only 2-3 years. They like to climb trees and bask in the sun so it‘s a good idea to put some perches and rocks in their home.
The best substrate for the Anole Lizard to have in his enclosure is reptile carpet. You give them water by spraying the tank with a mist, as they drink the droplets off the trees and tank and not out of a bowl like other lizards. They also require high humidity and high temperatures between 80 and 85 degrees. Their basking spot should be ten degrees higher in temperature than that. At night, temperatures should drop down to around 60 degrees. In addition, you will need a UV light that should be on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours.
The Anole Lizard eats all kinds of insects, but crickets are the ones they are most often fed in captivity. Out in the wild they also eat spiders, cockroaches, moths and grubs. They are one of the types of lizards that can drop their tail off for protection if a predator should grab onto it. The tail falls still wiggling onto the ground and gives the lizard a chance to escape. The Anole Lizard is also sometimes called a chameleon because of his ability to change colors form green to gray or brown, but he is not in the family of chameleons.
Breeding for the Anole takes place between March and October. Females lay eggs every two weeks on average and bury them in the dirt. They take five to seven weeks to hatch.
Many times you can see the Anole lizard in yards and gardens catching insects. They have even been known to frequent window screens and porches. A healthy Anole Lizard will be very bright green. Should you try to catch a wild Anole, the first thing he will do is bite you and the second is to defecate in your hand. The Anole Lizard has very small teeth so this usually doesn’t do any damage.
If you are an Anole Lizard in captivity as a pet, you will need to feed him vitamins on top of his food two to three times a week. Snakes and birds are his main predators, although domestic cats and children also pose big threats as well. If you do buy an Anole Lizard from a pet store, make sure that you are given complete instructions on how to care for him.