Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My male brown anole has been putting the moves on a gravid female fence lizard. Head-bobbing, push-ups, chasing, the whole nine yards. Someone tell me what will happen when he tries to fertilize her?

Len

Head-bobbing is not merely a sexual overture, it is also used for territorial display. It is NOT a good idea, at all, to keep an anole in with a fence lizard. For one thing, anoles require a humid tropical environment while fence lizards require more of a desert setup. For another thing, fence lizards will readily make a snack of the much smaller anole.

Your little male anole is trying to convince the much-larger fence lizard that he is a macho fellow who can defend his territory and that she'd better not mess with him--or eat him. He is trying to appear much more fear-inspiring than he really is, probably to save his life.

Take one of them out of that tank and provide them a proper environment. And, how about a mate of their own kind?

First of all if youve ever seen a male Anolis Sagrei there is nothing "little" about them. Secondly, if you could see these two there would be no doubt he is trying to mate. Third, anoles and fence lizards share much of their range and are very compatible.

Len

While one might occasionally see hybridization between members of a given genus, one would never see hybridization between members of two very separate genera, Anolis and Sceloporus. Their chromosomes are not compatible. Even if two species occupy the same range geographically, they occupy two different microhabitats within that range. Even different species of anoles occupy different microhabitats within a given range--some are tree crown specialists, some are tree trunk specialists, some stick to lower growing shrubs and other greenery near the ground.

I am well aware of the size of Anolis sagrei, and I still contend that they are much smaller than a full-grown Sceloporus and could provide a potential snack.

Thank you for answering my question, which is basically when he attempts to fertilize it wont work. As for size, not only are male anoles bigger than the average fence lizard but neither of them eat other lizards.

Len

Having those two lizards produce fertile eggs is like having a python and a boa producing hatchlings, impossible. And you should check the sizes again.

And here's another person who agrees, if it helps.

I had a fence lizard get it on witha green anole once. i got some of my sister's make up and dressed the female anole up in doll clothes. Then i tied little puppet strings to it and made her do a kind of honky-tonk dnace infront of the fence lizard. He resopnded by jumping up in a thong and man they went at it i got warts from watchin

That is cool my Anole and fence lizard were geting it on too,But both of them were males.Thats normal right

Its not going to happen