Green Anoles(Anolis Carolinensis)-

First off, I am going to start with a shopping list for the purchase of the green anole. This will help aid you, if you decide you would like to get one for a pet. You can copy the material here, for personal use only, and print it out to take with you to the petstore.

Items:

Cage(either a custom-made reptile cage or a glass aquarium),
Anole food-crickets,
Cricket food-pellets or gut load,
Cage for crickets(must not be thin plastic, wood, or cardboard, as crickets will quickly chew through these materials),
Water bowl for crickets(gallon milk jug lids work nice for this),
Dripper system or mist bottle(for water for the anoles),
Branches or plants(either real or artificial),
Gravel or sand for substrate,
Heat rock,
Screen top for cage(only needed if using a glass or plastic aquarium),
Humidity reader,
Thermometer &
Hood for light(either flourescent or incandescent)
Plants-for anoles to climb on and for decoration.

(Note: If using incandescent lighting, make sure your anole(s) gets an adequate amount of direct sunlight each day. Provide a shady spot in the cage, so as not to overheat the animal. Do not put a glass or plastic aquarium in direct sunlight, this will cause the greenhouse effect and will result in a dead lizard. Amount of time for direct sunlight is 1-2 hours per day. Always make sure to wash your hands before and after handling reptiles. If using flourescent lighting, get a full spectrum light bulb.)

General Care:
Green anoles can be maintained with relatively little care on your part. These make excellent pets for the novice/first time herp owner. They are considered the "goldfish" of the reptile world, meaning that they are fairly hardy and relatively inexpensive. Their care consists of: feeding, watering, cage cleaning, and maintaining proper heating and humidity requirements. This may sound overwhelming, but once you've read the below information, you will find them as easy, if not easier, to care for than goldfish.

Housing:
Anoles can be kept in a basically simple structure, whether it be an inexpensive glass or plastic aquarium, or a more expensive custom-made screen reptile cage. I will discuss every option for housing anoles, including some you can make on your own, and then I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.

10 gallon aquarium:

I say 10 gallon aquarium, because that is really the smallest enclosure you can keep a single anole in and still be able to provide it with adequate heat, light, humidity, branches for exercise, food and water. Of course, an aquarium larger than 10 gallons is even more sufficient.

Advantages: Ease of viewing, ease in cleaning, they are cricket proof(providing that you have a screen top for the cage, this also makes an aquarium anole proof), and they offer more options for providing climbing areas for your anoles.

Disadvantages: Humidity build-up and with this bacteria build-up.
Anoles should be kept at a humidity level between 75%-90%. Anything higher, and the anoles will develop breathing ailments and bacterial infections, both of which could cost you the life of your anole(and if not, at least some unnecessary vet bills). That's why it is important that if you use a glass or plastic aquarium, that you take out two of the walls and replace them with screen. If this isn't a possibility, then at least get a screen top for the tank and mist it no more than twice a day. Humidity can be measured, with a device available at your local petstore or reptile store.

Screen reptile cage:

An all screen reptile cage, is probably the best method for housing any type of reptile.

Advantages: Escape proof(both anole and cricket escape proof); ease in controlling temperature, humidity and bacteria; and they provide the anole(s) with unlimited climbing areas.

Disadvantages: Can be expensive and many times you will have to build them yourself.

Placement of Cage: The placement of the cage, is really up to you. I am only going to give some suggestions and list places where a reptile cage can not be placed. First off, never place a reptile cage in front of, or near a window airconditioner. This will make your anole's too cold and they will die. Secondly, placing a reptile cage in front of a window, has the benefits of offering direct sunlight without having to drag the cage outside. But, a glass aquarium in front of a window, will quickly turn into an oven and will result in dead anoles. Periodically check your anole's cage to see that it isn't getting too hot. Make sure at least half of the cage is in indirect sunlight, so the anole can get out of the sun if it needs to. All screen reptile cages have the advantage that you can take them outside, to give your reptiles sunlight, without having to worry about escapes. Depending on where you live, you may be able to keep your anoles outside either all year long, or at least all summer long. Just watch the temperature outside, and if it drops below 60°, bring them inside. Do make sure that your cage is securely anchored when outside, to prevent any predators from getting to your anoles. You'd be surprised to find out how many animals think of your anole(s) as snacks. Cats, dogs, snakes, wolves, foxes, raccoons, and hawks to name a few.

Feeding: Feeding anoles, is one of the easiest things about keeping them, the other being watering them. Anoles do well on a varied diet consisting of: crickets, small mealworms, field plankton, waxworms, houseflies, and wingless fruitflies. All you need to do is vary the diet and feed them every other day. The amount of food per sitting, is usually giving them food until they no longer eat what you drop in there. This can and just may last them a couple of days. There is no worry about overfeeding, since an anole will not overeat. Their metabolism is much too high for them to get fat anyways. Make sure to remove any uneaten food, as they can and may make a meal out of your anoles while they are sleeping at night. Crickets and mealworms are especially good about doing that.

Watering: Giving anoles water to drink is another easy task. To do this, all you need do is either turn on your drip system for about 3 minutes(depending on the flow of water and position it to drip on the plants), or misting the plants with the spray bottle. Since anole's will only drink from the leaves of plants, or from the sides of the cage, a water bowl is not needed. Make sure to use mineral water for either method, as common tap water will leave hard water stains on the glass and/or plants.

Temperature: The temperature of an anole's cage should be between: 70°-85° F. A heat rock is the most convenient and easiest way to give them heat. A heat rock is a device that is shaped and colored to look like a real rock, but contains a heat coil(which you will have to plug into the wall) which provides the heat.

Lighting: Lighting can be provided by either flourescent full spectrum bulbs(which is the best way) and regular incandescent bulbs. Make sure to monitor the temperature of the cage, since even flourescent bulbs can heat up a cage.

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