Confused?

i've just been cleaning out my anole tank. I've had my anole since easter time and since i've had him he's been brown. whilst cleaning, i put him in a small plastic tank in the window to keep him warm. Almost as soon as he was put in there he's now turned green?!
His tank has a good heat around 32C at his basking point and 20c at the coolest end.
He was green when i got him, but at that time we had two and thought he may of changed and stayed brown since the other seemed to be the more dominant one. This has really bambozzeled me!
Any ideas of why this may of happened?

sometimes the color changes because of humidity also... If the plastic tank is like one that I am thinking of and has the plastic lid with air vents, it may hold more humidity in. Color change can also sometimes be a sign of stress, maybe he is stressed in the home tank for some reason, or maybe he was stressed in the plastic tank and also when you brought him home...

Could it be the lighting? What sort of light set-up do you have for him?

we got a heat light for him at one end of the tank with a heat mat that end underneath. and an exo-terra 5 uv bulb he has 12hr light cycles also.

20c seems a bit on the cool side. Was he in the sun when he was in the window? How is your humidity in the permanent tank?

He may be a brown anole and simply turn green when stressed though. One of my frogs does that. She is mosty brown but when stressed she turns sort of green.

Do anoles need UVB?

humidity is about 65-70% in the main tank and yes the plastic tank is in the sun. When he is in the main tank he does eat etc and seems fine in there and i have fed him in the plastic tank. May be i'll just move his main tank closer to the window but so it wont overheat and see how that goes. He was supposed to bea green anole but always stayed brown. I dunno, if only our pets could talk!

DON"T move it into the sun. You will have a fried anole. Is the light UV or UVB that you have for him?
And all the caresheets i have found online say the temp should be minimum 70 degrees (23 c). They will turn dark if too cold.

I suspect that the brown color is due to your anole being a bit chilly!
Anoles need a daytime temperature of 75° to 80° F with basking temperatures of 85° to 90°
20C is only abut 68F.
And I would advise against putting any sort of glass or plastic enclosure close to a window. If direct sunlight falls on it, it can quickly over heat and kill the occupant

well it could be that or it could be a brown anole, i mean my pet store has a couple in with the green anoles, ir thats what they said anyway.

Originally Posted by kris198921

well it could be that or it could be a brown anole, i mean my pet store has a couple in with the green anoles, ir thats what they said anyway.

I'm afraid not. Green anoles are easily distinguished from browns, even when the greens turn brown.

Ensure you have the proper temps, humidity, and UVB requirements. Make sure your UVB light is closer than 10 or so inches from your anole, that it is a UVB light, that the screen is wide enough, and that the bulb is no older than 6 months. Green anoles will also change green when in an excited state (though not necessarily the happy kind).