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What they tell you: Green Anoles can be tamed, and need to be handled daily for their well-being.
The truth: The truth is quite the opposite. Green Anoles cannot be tamed. Handling an Anole causes stress. No matter how much your Anole may seem to "like" being handled, it's only tolerating it.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles can be kept in one gallon pickle jars with aquarium pebbles as substrate and a couple of sticks to climb on.
The truth: This statement is just plain stupid. Any person who has even slightly skimmed over a book on Green Anole care knows that a gallon jar will not suffice as an enclosure. A ten-gallon aquarium is minimum for one Anole. Aquarium pebbles as substrate is abrasive and promotes mold growth, and thus is a very poor substrate choice.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles need a heat rock.
The truth: Heat rocks are not only not needed, but they are dangerous as well. Heat rocks can easily overheat and burn the underside of your Anole. That is, of course, an Anole that will even use a heat rock. Anoles are arboreal, and thus need a heat source from above, not on the ground.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles can eat canned, freeze-dried food.
The truth: Green Anoles need some sort of live insect as their main food source. They do not usually eat anything that's motionless.
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What they tell you: You should feed Green Anoles mealworms.
The truth: While this is a better food choice than freeze-dried food, it's still a poor choice. Mealworms have very low nutrition value, and are hard to digest because of their chitinous exoskeleton. Crickets are your best bet.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles are chameleons.
The truth: Although Anoles do have the ability to change colors from green to brown or vice versa, they are NOT chameleons, nor are they even in the same family as chameleons. This all started back in the 50's and 60's when Green Anoles were given away as prizes at fairs. They were often called "American Chameleons" as a gimmick to sell more of them. This name has unfortunately stuck with them through the decades and is still used by uneducated petstore chains.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles need Calci-Sand as substrate.
The truth: Calci-Sand is a poor choice of substrate. It's abrasive, unatural looking (considering Green Anoles do not live in the desert), and can be dangerous. If large amounts are ingested, a fatal case of sand impaction may ocur.
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What they tell you: No lighting is needed. Just put the Anole near a window or table lamp.
The truth: Not only do they need some type of lighting, they need a special type. Green Anoles need a light-source that emits UVB rays to promote good health. Ten to twelve hours of it a day. While some say to put the Anole near a window for these rays, this doesn't do anything. The window pane blocks out all but a very small percentage of UVB light. Putting the Anole near a window can also cause the enclosure to overheat and kill it.
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What they tell you: No heat source or basking spot is needed. Just stick it in a window for a while to heat it up.
The truth: Another fatal error on their part. Anoles have to have a 90-92 degree basking spot in some part of the cage. You provide this by pointing an incandescent lightbulb nestled in a goose-neck lamp towards a large branch or plant in one corner of the enclosure. Putting the enclosure in direct sunlight will not just heat it up, it'll overheat it and most likely kill the Anole.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles drink from a water bowl.
The truth: While some Anoles (mainly the ones with no other choice) will drink from a water bowl, most won't. Most prefer to lick water droplets that have collected on the glass sides of the enclosure, or on plant leaves. Provide these droplets by misting the cage with water at least twice a day.
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What they tell you: You can house 4 or more Anoles in a 10 gallon enclosure.
The truth: There's a "ten gallon rule" when it comes to housing Anoles. Following this rule, there should be at least ten gallons of space per Anole in the enclosure. In other words, you can house one Anole in a ten gallon enclosure, two in a twenty gallon, 3 in thirty, and so on.
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What they tell you: Green Anoles are nice and can be housed with any reptile under the sun.
The truth: While the Anoles may be nice, it doesn't mean the other animals you throw in there are going to be. Anything large enough to eat your Anole, can and will eat it when it gets hungry. I've heard stories of skinks, frogs, and even other species of Anole preying on unsuspecting Green Anoles. The animals that won't eat your lizard, may also have improper environmental requirements that do not match that of the Green Anole. Obviously you can't house an animal that needs desert-like conditions in an enclosure with a Green Anole, which needs tropical conditions. I discourage housing any other species of animal with a Green Anole, whether they're "technically" safe or not.
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