Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I cannot really understand what the deal is with these guys. i originally had just 2 anoles, male and female (see the pic a few threads below this one in the forum) and they reside in a 10 gallon tank. There is plenty of hiding space, the temps are right, the UV bulb is always working. They are fed regularly. Cage is misted 4 times a day at least. The thing is, they are always brown. Rarely do they turn green. The times i can remember when they were green were when I took them out of the crappy little plastic thing my cousin had them in with no bulb or heat oranything, and placed them in the 10 gallon overnight till i got eveyrthing setup. They were laying on top of each other, and they were green. Then when the tank was all set up, they were brown, prectically permanently. The DO turn green however when i take them out of the tank to clean it, and place them in an enclosed bucket for like 15-20 minutes. I open the lid to put them back in the tank, and they are bright green. I thought they were supposed to turn green when calm and happy? Lol, these guys seem quite the opposite.

Also, about a month or 2 ago, my cousin happened to buy another Anole, a male so I had to seperate the cage in half. he was always green to start off with, now he's almost always brown too. he however does turn like a moldy brown green sometimes, but that's about it, and of course, turns bright green just like the others when replaced into the temporary tank when cleaning the 10 gallon.

I have no clue, I'm lost. I don't want to be a bad parent here, lol, but I mean I feel as if I'm doing everything correctly.

OK well here's a shot I just took of the 2 males in the tank..One on the left is making a liar out of me. He is the one who is more prone to turning green. The one on the right is the male who shares his side with a female. The male and female never fight or headbob at each other. So I can't see stress coming from that as being a factor. In fact they seem to be ok with one another as my one picture shows a few threads below this one in the forum. I dunno, as you can see theres a lot of hiding area in the right part of the tank where the seemingly always brown male is.

What is the temperature of you cage?It is either its not warm enough or they are stressed.
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Geckos
1.1.0 Gecko gekko(Geico and Gekko)
1.1.0 Eublepharis macularius(male Blizzard and Hi-yellow female)
2.0.0 Hemitheconyx caudicinctus(striped and banded phase)
1.0.0 Tarentola mauritanica(light phase)
1.0.0 Hemidactylus turcicus
Other Lizards
0.1.0 Basiliscus basiliscus
1.0.0 Physignathus cocincinus
0.1.0 Anolis carolinensis
1.0.0 Chamaeleo calyptratus
1.0.0 Iguana iguana(Rex)
Boidae
1.0.0 Python regius
0.0.1 Boa constrictor imperator
Turtle
0.1.0 Chrysemys picta

I don't know exactly, but considering the house temp is at least 70 degrees at all times and they have that heatlamp up top, it should be sufficient.

I's say go get a decent digital thermometer (the kind with a probe) and check it out... Shouldn't be too expensive...

you should get a thermometer(i use the cheap standard ones)The temp should be between 85-90
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Geckos
1.1.0 Gecko gekko(Geico and Gekko)
1.1.0 Eublepharis macularius(male Blizzard and Hi-yellow female)
2.0.0 Hemitheconyx caudicinctus(striped and banded phase)
1.0.0 Tarentola mauritanica(light phase)
1.0.0 Hemidactylus turcicus
Other Lizards
0.1.0 Basiliscus basiliscus
1.0.0 Physignathus cocincinus
0.1.0 Anolis carolinensis
1.0.0 Chamaeleo calyptratus
1.0.0 Iguana iguana(Rex)
Boidae
1.0.0 Python regius
0.0.1 Boa constrictor imperator
Turtle
0.1.0 Chrysemys picta

The cage setup is to small, this is your problem. It sounds to me as if you have (correct me if I am wrong) 3 Anoles. 2 on one side of a 10 gallon and 1 on the other side correct?

If the above is true you technically have them seperated in two 5 gallon aquariums. Some would say this is WAY to small. I would say it is just a tad to small. you should at least upgrade to a 20 gallon. I know this can be a pain in the A** especially when you already have it set up real nice (which you do btw, I like the look.) Some out there would say you need a 30 gallon at least.

If you have the cage to small they can not move arround the way they want to and this will cause stress. The best analogy I have found is this.....Put yourself in a walk in closet. Not to bad you have room to move as long as you were given food water light etc you could live. Now put your cousin in there with you. Gets a little cramped huh. Now take half that and put somone else in the other side. Now your just pissed, the only time your not stressed because of cramping is when your asleep.

So in clossing pony up some cash and get a bigger cage if you want to help them out. Oh and if you have not done so read this site. http://www.kingsnake.com/anolecare/ The guy is a little fanatical but he has a track record that proves he is doing something right.

Shaon94

Yeah believe me I was sseriously not happy when my little cousin brought home another one he just HAD to have from a local reptile show. I tried everything I could to passively aggresively sway him into taking it to his home. My family were like oh just put him in with the other two, and I'm look, shut the hell up already you can't, and I'm not willingly tossing another male in there to get its head chewed off.

So i basically had no choice to section off the 10 gallon. I figured however that it might not be "so" bad, because when i just had the 2 in there, they never left from the one side of the tank anywya. They were always up on the wooden perch in the leaves under the lamp, coming down only to snag a cricket. The other one, well, he came to my home in a 5x5 inch little plastic temp aquarioum, and who knows where he came from before that, so i was hoping he would find this to be a taj mahal in comparison.

I think I will try actually making my own 30 gallon. Probably not worth the hassle to do it yourself however.

Actually you would be supprised how much money you can save by doing it yourself. My recommndation would be to build a tall 30 gallon. If you look out on the web finding a tall 30 gallon teranium is not cheap or easy to find. So if you have the tools, etc. It could be very rewarding.