Anoles

[Raven]

Does anyone know anything about Anoles? I know they are native to Florida and I was wondering if they would be okay as pets somewhere more up north where it's a little cooler. I was just visiting Florida and I saw a bunch of them scattered around on the ground near my hotel. They have them at the pet store here and I know what they eat, how warm the tank should be, and how big the tank should be, but I still don't know if they would be okay where it's cooler than Florida.

[lv4dogs]

As long as you keep their aquarium at the right temerature & humidity level they will do just fine.
Seems like you answered your own question

I know what they eat, how warm the tank should be

[Raven]

Yeah I know, I just wanted to be sure.

[Kfamr]

Could you tell me some about their diet and what their set-up should be? Living in Florida I could just catch one, which I have, but i've never kept them longer than a few hours. I've also had eggs hatch in the palm of my hand after digging them up while gardening.

[Raven]

They eat small insects and bugs. Two are wood roaches and crickets. Anoles only eat live prey as the prey must move to be detected by the lizard. They should be in a 10-20 gallon tank with a lid because they can climb glass. They humidity in the tank should be 40-80%. They'll rarely drink from bowls of water so you should spray the plants in the tank with water so they can drink it off the plants, like they do in the wild. If there is always fog on the glass, the humidity iss too high. You can keep the humidity at as low as 25%, as long as you check for shedding problems and mist the plants more often. The heating in the tank should be a range of 70-95 degrees throughout the cage. You should use a reptile heating lamp instead of a light bulb because the heat of the light bulb doesn't carry all the way to the anole. That was probably more than you needed to know, but that's okay. :)

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by Kfamr
Could you tell me some about their diet and what their set-up should be? Living in Florida I could just catch one, which I have, but i've never kept them longer than a few hours. I've also had eggs hatch in the palm of my hand after digging them up while gardening.

I'm not sure if you are talking about catching a wild one & keeping it as a pet or not. If so I'm not sure that would be a great idea. Especially with an adult one. They are already adjusted to living in the wild & may not adjust well at all to confinment. What they eat in the wild may also vary slightly as to what you would feed them in captivity. Even though what you would feed them as a pet is healthy they just may not be used to having that available in the wild & may not eat at all.

It's best to spend the $3-$5 & get one from a pet store, that has been raised since birth to live in captivity.

[Kfamr]

No, i'd buy one. Ive always seen them at PetsMart and have wanted to keep one for a while. :) I doubt i'll ever do it though, because currently I don't have the money or room.

[IRescue452]

I live in Wisconsin and I've had anoles. As long as the tank has a heat rock or other heating device they do fine (also keep a cool area in the tank where they can get away from the heat). The problem I've come across most is anorexia in anoles. Some of them just won't eat anything you offer and you either have to force feed them or watch them waste away. I don't know why some are like that, maybe the are stressed from living in captivity or from something else? I don't know if any other lizards are known for this problem. This is a great website (that I probably should have seen back when I had anoles) http://members.aol.com/Mite37/TPFGA.html