Hi, you can absolutely combine your love for plants with your new pet hobby however, you need to do your research under the topic of Vivarium. Housing for reptiles. I didn't what anole was at first but discovered it's a lizard. Do a research on environment specific to your anole. Some may be forest dwelling and some may be desert dwelling. Being cold blooded creatures, you'd probably be in need of something to keep the animal warm. So do go to pet stores, get ideas before plunking down cash.

Ianna

There are no vivarium forums in the gardenweb but I undertand that there are several websites that could help.

Good luck.

Anoles are very compatible with a planted vivarium, but understand that the lizard should always come first before the plants. They are small, cheap lizards initially, but require the same expenses as other lizards. Anoles are aboreal, meaning they spend most of their time climbing in trees, so you should have a tall terrarium, at least 24" tall but preferably bigger. They are also diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. This is good, because they are generally more interesting to watch than nocturnal lizards, but this also means you will need to buy UVA and UVB lighting so he can metabolize vitamins to stay healthy. For a substrate, potting soil and orchid bark are generally the best choices, but if you have soil, make sure there are no chemicals or perlite in it. Mist the terrarium to keep humidity around 70% as measured by a humidity gauge. You will need two thermometers, one for the warm side of the tank and one for the cool side. Use a heat lamp for the warm side to reach 90*F during the day. The cool side should be 75*F-80*F. At night, let it drop to 65*F-70*F. If it gets colder, you will need a reptile heat mat. Don't buy heat rocks, they are dangerous. Make sure the anole has lots of places to hide. They are skiddish creatures and usually do not like to be handled much. Almost all anoles are wild caught and almost all wild caught reptiles carry some sort of disease or parasite. That is why it is extremely important to bring them to a specialized herp vet within the first 2 weeks of home-bringing.

I'm sorry to overload you with information, but no reptile in any way is an inexpensive or easy maintenence pet, anoles are no exception. I hope you take this information to heart and still want to keep and care for him properly. Lizards are rewarding pets, but if you can not give him proper care, please find some one else you will.

Here is a good reptile forum to ask questions and gather info from. They even have their own anole subforum. :)

http://www.reptilerooms.com/PNphpBB2+main.html

I'll let you in on a little secret about big discounts :)

First research on specialized reptile forums what the best equipment is (but hurry, your anole is probably very stressed without all those things that he needs). Go onto petsmart's website and print off the items and bring them into the store. The store has almost everything online, and petsmart will MATCH the online price. They are the only petstore that I know of that will do this. I use these discounts all the time for the more expensive stuff like water quality tests and aquarium filters, heaters, etc. The cheaper things under $10 usually don't have much of a discount, but I've saved up to $20 on an item before with this. Its really a life saver because I don't have time for a job...so I only get a little allowance, and I still have to care for all my animals :) I hope that helps

Petsmart and petco are always having online specials with shipping. Its usually free shipping on any orders over $50. If you were to buy all the stuff for your terrarium, it will be over $50. I don't think petco has one right now, but I know petsmart has one going on. I can give you the code if you want, but you get the same discount in store and your lizard does not have to wait for shipping.

Anoles are not hard to take care of but they do need everything litlehippiegirl told you about in order to survive for any length of time. Also they normally do not drink from a dish, you have to mist the tank a few times a day. They will drink from the water drops. Seems like I recall my little three dollar lizard cost me about a hundred bucks for everthing for him.

Lisa