Hello,
Just stopped in to say we just recieved our first 2 anoles. A lady was selling her teenage son's "chameleons". on a message board I belong to. He no longer had interest in taking care of them. I always wanted some so I jumped right in and said I'd take them. Well when we got there I looked at them and thought, hmm these don't look like the Chameleons I'm used to seeing. She told me the type they were and I, not knowing much about these creatures tought ok. Once we now have them home and have done some searching online, we fine we have 2 green anoles. They of course are now brown from the move but one was green when we picked them up.

Any tips from experienced Anole owners on how to keep Kermit, and Oscar happy? They came in what looks like a 10-15 gallong aquarium and we are changing them over to a tall 20 gallon aquarium very shortly.

Thanks,
Ken and Dee

Hello,

Anoles are often called American Chameleons. If that is how they were purchased by the previous owner, they likely didn't realize it was just another name for "anole". lol

One thing that people often overlook with anoles is lighting. They require UV exposure. They aren't a species that needs or would utilize something like a mercury vapor. A reptisun 5.0 would be adequate for them.

Here is a caresheet on them: Green Anoles

Congrats on the new additions!

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Congrats, cant wait to see pics.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

I've kept anoles for many years. If you've got any questions or comments after reading the caresheet, don't hesitate to ask! It's not a very detailed sheet, it just covers basic info (I wrote it myself, so I can say that )

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Thanks for the info and links. I've been doing alot of reading on these little guys today. Last night Ken and my daughter both slowly got up and crept to the cage. Then he said wow, you have got to see this. Here Oscar the larger anole was shedding. He saw him flip off a large piece of skin and wondered what it was. That is why the crept over. He shed rather quickly and today the last visable piece fell off.

They are both still brown. I did see Oscar go green last night a few times. I'm sure it will take them some time to get used to seeing us and calm down from the move. They are both very active and you can find them both basking beside each other or hanging on the glass side of the aquarium. Oscar even showed me his dewlap and headbob shortly after moving in.

Of course I did not mention our other new aquisition from yesterday. She is upstairs in our tub temporarily. Yesterday, while at the pet store getting suplies was secretly purchasing another Red-eared slider. I'm calling her Bertha as she is at least 12" and very large compared to our 9 other RES's. He got her while I was in the reptile room trying to ID my new anoles. Silly me for turning my back on him around a tank of turtles. He is in the garage working on their winter setup as we speak so she can get out of our tub.

At this point we have 12 turtles. 1 Common eastern box, 1 baby false map, 1 eastern painted turtle aquired from a local rescue, 9 RES.
and our 2 Anoles. Gee our family just keeps growing. I do plan on getting a bearded dragon one of these days. I just love those guys.

If you can handle that many turtles then a pair of green anoles should be a piece of cake As for all the brown though, is their tank warm enough? If not, that could be a cause for it. Another potential cause is if they're both males. Males are territorial, and two of them together will only stress them out.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

I'm changing their setup today as they just don't seem happy, I can't get them to go back to green. They are currently in a 20 gallon aquarium. I checked the temps. Basking was coming in at around 95 and the rest was coming in around 80. I know it was warm in our place yesterday afternoon. They also only have 1 1/2 log to hide, a small hollow log and 1 branch to climb. They have 2 small fake plants and that's it. We are going to do some work on their new enclosure to make it more like what they need. I'm also going to get them some more food. The previous owner gave them crickets once a week. I haven't seen any running around yesterday. I did read the food should not be more then 1/2 the size of their heads. She said she buys large crickets. Heck the ones I saw in the aquarium were larger then their heads. I'm planning on getting small crickets this evening. I had some dried mealworms for my turtles and gave them some, but they don't seem interested in the dried nor anole food for that matter.

Any tricks to get these unhandled scared guys into their new enclosure without too much trouble or stress on them. They are going into a 20 gallon tall aquarium.

Thanks a bunch. It is soooo nice to have a group with experience to get advice from.

Dee

The sooner you get them in their set up and leave them alone the better. Being in a new situation is stressing them out. They need time to settle in. Moving them to your place and then moving them again is just prolonging the process.
The crickets should be about the length of the distance between the anole's eyes.
Are you misting the tank? Anoles generally drink by lapping at water drops.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

You might want to lower the temperature a bit. Keep it at around 70 degrees at the cool side, and 85 is fine for the hot side. The larger the tank, the easier it is to get a broad temperature gradient. Shooting for 95 is too much to ask for in a 20 gallon.

More foliage will always be appreciated by them too. These are arboreal lizards who feel most comfortable in the trees and bushes. Being so small, they're also on a lot of creature's menus, so they take security in the dense brush. Without enough plant cover they'll feel vulnerable.

The best size for crickets should be as long as the distance between the anole's eyes, though they can handle slightly larger prey. Be sure to gutload the crickets as well, and use a quality vitamin supplement and separate calcium supplement. They typically won't eat food that's not moving, so dried mealworms and anole pellets aren't going to be very effective.

Provide them with a small, shallow water dish, even though most anoles won't drink often from standing water. You'll also need a clean spray bottle for misting the tank. This will keep the humidity up as well as provide them with drinking water. Anoles tend to rely more on raindrops and dew for their water consumption, which a spray bottle can readily mimic. Be sure to dechlorinate all water first though. I prefer to use Reptisafe for my reptiles' water. It's made by Zoo Med.

As for moving the anoles around....good luck Anoles are ever jumpy, it's just their nature. They're a pet that's strictly for looking at and never really good for handling. Just be sure not to grab their tails. You may wish to herd them into a box or a bag or trap them in a corner and gently grab them behind the head.

Be sure to use a screen lid and not an aquarium top, and if you haven't yet, you will need a UVB light, just like for your turtles. For turtles I recommend a self-ballasted mercury vapor light, but for anoles you'll want to use a fluorescent UVB instead. Zoo Med's Reptisun 5.0 or 7.0 should do the trick nicely (you may wish to even try a 10.0). They're one of the brands I trust most among herp supplies.

Hmm, that's about all that comes to mind right now, but I'm sure I'm forgetting something I was going to say. Anyhow, good luck and keep us posted!

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

COngrats, post pics when you get the chance