THE GENERAL CARE & MAINT. OF GREEN ANOLES, by Vosjoli, has a lot of information on these lziards. The book talks about them in-depth as compainion animals with green anoles in large vivaria. I also recommend KEEPING AND BREEDING LIZARDS by Chris Mattison. There is a good amount of Lacertid info in that book.

I have kept and bred this species before. They do fine in ten and twenty gallon tanks with a bark-based substrate. I recommend a mix of orchid bark and organic potting soil, at least 2 inches deep. They like to burrow, but should also be provided with semi-horizontal climbing branches. Keep the substrate dry, but mist the tank at least every other day, or the animals will have shedding problems. Drinks both droplets and from a dish. Good plant choices: pothos and spider plants. These lizards like thick, leafy vegetation to crawl and forage in. I fed mine crickets, mealworms, waxworms and small "meadow plankton" supplemented with Herpcare's Cricket Dust. Feed babies everyday, adults every other day. Mine would also eat peach babyfood occasionaly, and they would even tackle tiny guppies places on a plastic deli lid. The can be very smart, and learn to nab things out of a dish in no time. Temps need not be extreme: at least 75 F in the cool end of the tank, at least 85 F on the basking sight, with 90 being the prefered basking temp. Humidity should be between 55 and 75%. Night temps can drop to low 60s. Maintain photoperiod with a light timer. I've had success breeding these lizards with UV light as well as plain fluorescents.

These lizards seem to really like humidified shelters. I gave mine a soaked clay pot to hide under, and the females would depostie a pair of small eggs under them about once a month. A cooling period of two months seems to encourage breeding, but mine layed eggs without a cooling session.

As for personality, they make poor handling pets, especially the males, who bite and are very spatic. One wild-caight male that I kept suffered from bloody nose on a regular bases for the first two weeks I kept it. On the other hand, I had a captive-bred female that would run up my arm every time I opened the terrarium, and she also took mealworms from my fingers. Still, these lizards get stressed fro handling, and are look but don't touch pet.

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