What could they be?

[jakejeff]

My local pet store has a tank set up with about 15 different lizards in it and the singn say's "community lizards" any idea? I could only pick out some green anoles but the other 12 or so did not look like an anole? Never heard of community lizards?

Ps. has anyone ever seen baby leopard gecko's in a big box pet store in good condition? I have not?

[Linds]

Yikes! That does not sound good at all! My best guess is what they mean by labelling them as "community lizards" is that these animals are supposedly suitable to house together, in a community setting. We all know however this is a bunch of BS. So sad how stores cram all these different species in one environment together. It's a recipe for disaster, but then again, so are most stores

[rattekonigin]

At pet stores I've seen anoles together with those grass lizards (???), the ones that look a little like anoles but have REALLY long tails...Also, I've never seen a single leopard gecko at any pet store that looked to be in good condition to me, in the worst case I saw teeny baby leos with their toes severely burnt from a hot rock...

[Tim Winegard]

I have to agree with both of you guys, there isn't really such thing as "community" lizards. When I was younger I once house a crocodile gecko with a anole and nothing bad happened. But i have learned so much more from then and really two different species together is a bad idea!

[eyespy]

I literally have to do some deep breathing to keep myself from really freaking out in most pet stores. I'm lucky enough that there are 5 good ones near me, that know a fair bit about husbandry and are willing to listen and change if customers point out a problem. All of these are family owned, the chains seem to think they have all the answers.

Leos seem to be one species that have it especially rough. It might be that a significant percentage come from that horrible reptile mill in El Salvador, which churns out tens of thousands of them annually, in overcrowded conditions. Bearded dragons and iguanas are the other 2 species they breed en masse. Many of them have tested positive for high levels of coccidia and crypto here in the US. Since this story went public in July, more of the animals are being unloaded to Canada and Europe. There are pretty many herpers actively fighting to block exports from El Salvador and hopefully this will be stopped.