Green anole eggs. How best can I breed and take care of my green anole eggs? This is the ultimate green anole breeding guide you’ve ever read and in this guide you’ll find all the information on breeding and caring for your green anole eggs.
Green anoles have recently become popular as house pets due to their ease of breeding. When you have a pair of green anoles, they often breed and produce eggs.
But, to increase the chances of production, it is necessary to meet the perfect hatching conditions.
Most anole hobbyists have no idea of how to care for their anole’s eggs perfectly. As a result, they end up with little or no green anole hatchlings.
For these reasons, we came up with this article to guide you on how to perfectly care for your anole’s eggs and breed more.
Keep reading to gain more knowledge on caring for green anole’s eggs and produce more.
Contents
At What Age Can Green Anoles Mate?
Green anoles have a short lifespan of about 2-3 years. Therefore, they mature pretty fast and reach a sexual maturity age at 8-9 months. When green anoles are ready to mate, the males bob their heads and extend their dewlap to attract females.
And, if the female is ready to mate, it arches its neck to show receptiveness. The male then bites the female’s neck, places its tail under the female’s, and then mounts her back.
Green anoles portray polygynous behavior. Meaning, the males mate with more than one female within their territory.
However, females mate with one male except in cases of intrusion in their territory.
Females can store sperm in case of delayed fertilization. The gestation period of green anoles is 5-7 weeks. In the wild, the females dig and bury their eggs in moist soil. The eggs don’t need parental care to hatch.
Best Season to Breed Green Anoles
Green anole’s sexual structure (testes and ovaries) increases during the warm season. Thus, the best season to mate green anoles is during the warm months.
In the wild, green anoles mate between April and August. It is during this warm season that their production level is high.
The breeding period of green anoles depends on the female’s reproductive cycle. Female green anoles only become sexually receptive during the ovulation period. Their ovulation cycle can last for up to two weeks.
The female can lay six to nine eggs in a year, depending on the number of their ovulation cycle.
During courtship, the male initiates reproductive interactions by showing off their dewlap and bobbing their heads up and down.
The female may become receptive or deny the male by showing the same behavior as the male.
Also, the male may deny receptive females when they are busy protecting their territory.
Male mates the female, depending on the female’s ovulation cycles and the number of females in their territory.
Green Anole’s Eggs
It is critical to prepare your green anole cage before breeding them. For instance, green anoles require a large tank with plenty of artificial or live plants. Plants help the male anole to set up a territory.
Also, you should ensure to include only one male in each cage to prevent territorial fights. Protecting a territory is more important for green anoles.
Thus, including more than one male can make them deny receptive mating females.
Additionally, it is necessary to ensure that the substrate in the mating green anole’s cage is humid enough to keep the eggs wet.
A single mating is enough for green anoles to produce fertile eggs throughout the breeding season.
How Do Green Anoles Lay Eggs?
Unlike other lizards that lay their eggs in a single clutch, green anoles lay their eggs in series. For instance, one green anole can apply one or two eggs every two weeks until the breeding season is over. Thus, one anole lays approximately 6-9 eggs per year.
The eggs are tiny, round, and bumpy. On average, they have a length of 6 millimeters and a circumference of 14 millimeters. They are white and sometimes with brown-shade speckles.
Will Green Anoles Lay Eggs in Captivity?
Green anoles are easy to mate even in captivity. And, with proper preparation, green anoles can not only lay eggs in captivity but also hatch them successfully. But, keeping the babies alive is challenging especially, for beginners.
How Long Does It Take For Green Anole Eggs To Hatch?
Before releasing eggs, green anoles dig holes in moist soil or substrate where they bury their eggs. The eggs do not need parental care to hatch. Instead, they stay buried in the moist soil for approximately four to six weeks before hatchling.
It is critical to ensure adequate humidity and temperature for a successful hatchling. The best temperature for hatching anole’s eggs is 800F.
Incubate Green Anole’s Eggs
Hatching green anole eggs is not complicated. They even hatch on their own if left in their natural state.
But, it is imperative to provide perfect conditions such as providing constant temperatures and humidity for better hatchling chances.
Do You Need An Incubator For Green Anole Eggs?
You may require an incubator to hatch green anole eggs. However, you don’t have to purchase one if you don’t have the resources.
Instead, you can create one using the DIY materials available. Also, remember that green anole eggs can also hatch in their original cage where they were laid if kept in a constant temperature.
Five Steps to Collect and Incubate Green Anole Eggs
You can prepare and incubate your green anole eggs in these five simple steps to achieve successful results.
Fill a container with the substrate.
You can use Tupperware or any other container with a diameter of approximately 3-4 inches.Fill the container with a substrate matching the one at the cage where your green anoles lay their eggs.
The container should have a lid to prevent insect contamination or predators. Poke hole on the cover to allow an adequate flow of oxygen.
Scoop the eggs using a spoon
Carefully scoop the eggs from their original substrate and place them in the container. Then, place the container inside a cardboard box.
Install heat lamp
Temperature is very crucial when hatching the eggs. Thus, fix a heat lamp on top of the cardboard box. Then, place a thermometer at the bottom to monitor the temperature.
You should adjust the lamp until the temperature ranges between 80-850F. Also, monitor the temperature every twelve hours to maintain a constant temperature.
Place a UV lamp
Green anoles eggs also require a 12 hour light every day. Therefore, make sure to provide a UV lamp and turn it off and on every 12 hours.
Mist the eggs
Humidity is also very essential when hatching the eggs. Thus, ensure to mist the eggs twice daily to prevent the eggs from drying.
Continue monitoring temperature, light, and humidity every day until hatchling takes place.
Determine Fertile Green Anole Eggs
After mating, it’s almost impossible for green anoles to lay infertile eggs. Green anoles can store sperm and use them to fertilize their eggs even during the next season.
However, if there is no male in your anole’s cage, the egg may be infertile. But, to confirm if the eggs are fertile, you can place the egg on top of a torch and see if there are visible veins.
Baby Green Anole Care
A hatchling, baby green anoles, look more like their parents. However, they are tiny and brownish. Their heads seem larger, and their tails are short. They weigh approximately two inches at birth.
Baby anoles are delicate and rarely make it to the juvenile stage, especially if you let them stay in the main cage. But, with proper care and habitat, you can achieve 100% success. Caring for baby green anoles may be challenging for beginners.
But, with passion and determination, even beginners achieve good results in helping their baby green anoles thrive in captivity.
Diet
A good diet is essential for baby green anoles. They are insectivorous. Thus, their primary diet should include insects. Protein, calcium, and vitamins are also vital in a green anole diet.
Therefore, to provide a highly nutritious diet for your green anole, you need to gut load the insects before feeding them.
Also, it would help if you brushed up their meal with calcium and vitamin supplements. Lack of calcium can cause metabolic infections in green anoles.
You can also offer fruits and vegetables to your green anoles occasionally. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and carbohydrates.
Green anoles don’t necessarily require fruits and vegetables. Therefore, you should only offer them as a treat.
Feed your baby green anoles every day. Additionally, ensure that the insects are not larger than the space between the anole’s eyes.
Water
Water is essential in baby green anoles. Most green anoles die of dehydration. Therefore, you must always provide clean water for your green anoles to survive past the juvenile stage.
Baby green anoles may not be able to drink water on their own at birth. Thus, you should always ensure to mist their cage and put a drop in their nostril to keep them hydrated.
Baby green anoles rarely drink water from a bowl. Thus, misting the plants is essential for providing the babies with drops from where they enjoy drinking.
Habitat
A clean habitat with adequate temperature, lighting, and moisture is critical for keeping green anole babies healthy. Dehydration, diarrhea, and impaction are the primary culprits for killing baby green anoles.
Therefore, it is essential to clean the anole’s cage regularly and remove any food leftovers immediately to prevent diarrhea.
Also, you should ensure that you are using the best substrate to prevent impaction. Soil and peat moss makes the perfect substrate for baby anoles.
Keeping your baby anoles cage clean is the best practice by performing a general cleaning once every week.
Accessories
Heating and lighting bulbs, thermometer, plants, hygrometer, food and water dishes, climbing logs, and hides are critical for your baby green anoles.
Babies require an ambient temperature of 75-850F and 85-90 at the basking spot.
They also need 12-hour lighting and 80% humidity. A thermometer is essential for maintaining an adequate temperature and a hygrometer for moisture.
Wrapping Up
Green anoles are lovely pets. Knowledgeable lizard hobbyists perceive them as attractive and easy to breed. Any enthusiastic beginner can manage and easily reproduce green anoles.
But, to help baby green anoles survive and thrive in captivity, it is inevitable to provide a suitable diet and habitat.
Keeping the babies hydrated by regularly misting them is crucial. We wish you all the best with your green anoles.