green anole lizards

[akane]

I would like to try breeding feeder anoles to see if we might be interested in day geckos. No lizard experience and my reptile experience overall is fairly new. I am trying to use bio-active enclosures so my substrate choices may be a point of disagreement for some. That's not really one thing I am looking for help with since I will discuss it with the bio-active group. I can admit I did not do enough research into breeding greens. I was planning browns in the spring because they cannot be acquired now so I wasn't in a hurry but decided to go with the bigger greens and take advantage of a 2 for $10 deal. I can learn fast and correct things or I wouldn't have gotten them. There were only 3 to choose from and 2 really looked male. I'm thinking the other one is too but oh well I'll pop him in his own tank if so and I know where I can get a female that was seen breeding for a bit higher price or we might stop by a reptile specific store on the way to pick up a sumatran python. I haven't planted the tank yet. I plan to put ivy in the pot already buried in the corner where I placed some tall thinner driftwood up the tank. Then I have a huge pothos to get cuttings and divisions off of. My light is a used reptile light with bulb but I dunno if the bulb is uvb. I will check the markings and replace if necessary. There is also an infrared for basking on the bigger driftwood or edge of the slate. They are in a 29g.

Is the small one still too young to tell gender? It has been following the big one and when the bigger one was hanging on the screen it grabbed it belly to belly and hung there until they both fell and then they ended up at the top of the wood together again. There was no biting or throat display but some head bobbing afterward. The larger one seemed concerned by the location of the smaller one for awhile after that.

The smaller one seems a bit skinny. What would you start out feeding them? I only have earthworms on hand at the moment but tomorrow we are picking up waxworms which we regularly keep on hand and of course crickets are available. I've read crickets can eat on lizards if extras are left in the enclosure? One source said just to leave orange slices for them and they'll prefer that food and moisture source over lizards for any potential extras you can't remove again. 1 source said mealworms pass undigested and one said they are a good rotation option. The reptile store if we make it there (closed on new years) has hornworms and other options I wouldn't mind picking up. So out of all of that step 1; male, female, too young, healthy, too skinny?

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/lizard/DSCN4085_zps7fcsms94.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/lizard/DSCN4085_zps7fcsms94.jpg.html)

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/lizard/DSCN4088_zpswm5keur8.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/lizard/DSCN4088_zpswm5keur8.jpg.html)

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/lizard/DSCN4093_zpsjl1msfyt.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/lizard/DSCN4093_zpsjl1msfyt.jpg.html)

[Minkness]

Can't help you with the breeding portion, but they are definitely skinny and looks like there is a calcium deficiency as well. Looks like you do have a 1.1 pair though. Look at the throats. If there is a brightly colored 'fan' that can be extended, it is a nale. This is used for courtship by flashing it and 'dancing' to woo the lady.
Good luck.

[sirtalis]

I agree with Minkness on them being underweight. From personal experiance these can be a real pain to establish in captivity. You'll want to provide as much cover as possible and a lot of humidity, probably 70-90% air humidity. And for food as varied as possible. I would leave a ton of small crickets in the cage without problems. Once their established they can be fun but they stress easily so avoid contact and possible cover the sides of the aquarium with paper for week or so to allow them privacy. Here's how I kept them. Two 20 gallon aquariums stacked with the bottom removed from the top. This created a kind of 40 gallon tall enclosure. For the top I had a screen and about 1/2 was covered with tin foil to keep heat/humidity in. I had a uva/uvb light for the day and no lighting at night. I think the hottest basking area reached 100 f (ish) the rest of the cage was a constant 80-90 depending on the location. For substrate I mixed 50% potting soil and 25%dirt from my backyard 25% sand/eco earth with a bit of cypress mulch mixed in. I threw in a bunch of small insects and earthworms for an attempt at a bioactive enclosure. I also used lived plants, cant remember the exact types but I think one was a small orange tree from my mothers garden and the rest from from a local nursery I just picked out nice looking plants that would fit in the enclosure. All of the plants were kept in their original pots and to maintain an ideal humidity I would just water them early in the morning before I turned the light on. For food I would throw in a couple of crickets and usually leave a small dish of hornworms, waxworms, mealworms, etc.

If your breeding these for feeders I would suggest using leopard geckos or bearded dragons. I think a male and two female anoles would produce maybe 3-8 babies per year. Once male and two female leopard geckos will produce 24 much larger and quicker growing babies per year and a male and two female dragons will produce well over 100 babies per year. I feed my baby leopard geckos (I get on average 1-3 eggs per month) to my peacock monitor. Much easier to care for and breed

[Andy_G]

I kept these when I was about 10 haha. Fun little guys! I don't know how prolific they will prove to be for you as feeders and the few people that I know of who have lizard feeders just buy anoles as it's the cheaper and more efficient route, but that's not going by first hand experience so take it with a grain of salt. As far as substrate and bioactive stuff I will leave it to the people you prefer to speak with, but I will tell you that you want these guys to be humid. They look dehydrated and underweight (as you know). They love drinking droplets and I can't remember if they would even drink from a water dish but I am guessing they won't. I would definitely start by offering dusted crickets in moderation as they love them. I have heard that crickets are ok to keep in the cage as long as they have a source of food but this is a topic of debate that I won't touch any more than that because I don't know enough to form an opinion on it... I also don't know how great of a food choice the crickets would be once the calcium/d3 dust has come off, but keep in mind that i'm not a lizard guy. I know that it's another topic that frequents bioactive boards so you'll surely find answers there.

Males have a dewlap, which Mink described. It's not only for mating but also for territorial displays amongst males. Both males and females will head bob but only the males have the dewlaps.

[akane]

The tank had a heavy "rainstorm" the day before and I was told to mist it twice daily because they prefer droplets to bowls. Also they drown easy in bowls without a way to climb out. I have to repot the pothos plant. There is so much there that in it's current full shape and hanging pot it would take half the tank and not fit the logs. I'll probably trim it down anywhere it is rooting to get cuttings and then supposedly you water it well for a day before removing it and dividing. I was thinking of using cut in half pvc pipe or people use gutters for larger planters and running it along the back with hooks over the top edge. Then as the divided plants grow out they will make a hanging wall.

Anole are $10 easy here when I can't add them to an online order so not cost effective to keep buying feeders and it defeats the point of testing out raising lizards. The leopard geckos seem easier to keep the offspring alive but they aren't that much more prolific-just longer lived, and they are a bit bigger, some of my snakes are still on fuzzy mice and I only have 1 that eats adult mice until after this weekend, so that's potentially quite a few extra geckos and a higher investment. There's no way I could house bearded dragons. That's way too much space. I'm not replacing rodents so really 1 lizard a month or so per snake of which I don't have snake racks all over is plenty useful as an experiment. The brown anoles seem a little more productive and hardier with smaller females but no one will ship them (not even the pet store will get them in) this time of year and with holiday sales why not try the greens. It'll work or I'll have a partially setup tank to modify a little for something else.

[akane]

Well that question is solved. Now tell them they can't mate hanging upsidedown on the mesh top. They keep falling. Also that female is a little scrawny. I wonder if he can only catch her on the slower running surface. He's attempting to carefully sneak up on her on the log after displaying across the tank

[akane]

Oops, tried for another female and that was confirmed not so quite fast. He was smaller than my current female and the male grabbed it by the back of the neck so it's like mating or killing.... Definitely killing. It showed some red throat then and big male flipped it around to grab the flap, I grabbed the new lizard, and now he gets to live with the dekayi. Who lacks all ability to harm anything bigger than a slug or waxworm.

[daisymaisy]

Anoles are fun! As to breeding them, my pair has produced three babies over the past year (I didn't get them for breeding, it just kind of happened). They could be laying more eggs, but I don't do anything special to locate them and incubate them, so I'm not sure if there are more babies but they are getting eaten or something. I think your pair will fatten up with lots of bugs to eat. Mine love crickets and mealworms, anything that moves, really. Misting a couple times a day is important but it sounds like you've got that down.

I have three in my bioactive 55 gallon which also houses a rough green snake. I put the female and the smaller baby in an exo terra set up since the momma was looking a little thin and tired of the male bugging her I think. They are skittish and nervous and love lots of cover and places to perch.

One thing to think about with babies, they are really tiny so you'll need tiny food. I use fruit flies and pinhead crickets for the really small babies.

Good luck with your project!

[akane]

I keep releasing hornworms and crickets in there. I don't see them eat and I have no idea how many insects are just dying with some drowning in the water dish. The lizards are growing though. I didn't realize how much until I got the new one and my male fully displayed and went territorial.