Juvenile And Baby Green Anole Care Guide (With Suppliers)

Green anoles make amazing pets. They are capable of changing their color and can even look at two different places simultaneously. But do you know how to care for juvenile and baby green anole? Let’s help you!

Their uniqueness makes their owner fall in love with them. They are inexpensive, and anyone can own them.

However, they are not hardy and can significantly get stressed if you do not meet their basic requirements.

For this reason, we came up with this article to help you care for green anole babies and juveniles.

We will cover everything you need to know to keep your green anole babies happy and healthy.

You don’t want to miss this!

This article has been reviewed by Dr. Dilber. Read more about our knowledge control process here.

Do Green Anoles Make Good Pets?

Green anoles are pretty lizards. Their emerald green back and pink dewlap make them beautiful and attractive.

They are also super active, and they enjoy climbing and jumping from one branch to another.

Even more, they enjoy human interaction and will willingly let you handle them. Green anoles are widely spread in the US and thus readily available for people living there. 

Therefore, green anoles make good pets. However, green anole owners must be familiar with how to care for them properly.

Impoverished habitat and improper handling can easily cause them stress and even cause them to drop their tails.

How Much Does A Baby Green Anole Cost?

Green anoles are US natives. They are popular in the US and are readily available in most pet shops.

Therefore, they are quite inexpensive for people living in those areas. The average cost of a baby green anole is $10 or less.

However, the cost of maintaining a green anole may be a little higher as it is inevitable to provide a suitable habitat for them to live a full life.

Where Can I Buy a Baby Green Anole?

Buying a baby green anole is not as complicated as buying an elephant. These beautiful creatures are not rare.

You can get them in the next pet shop in your area. Generally, green anoles are popular. Let’s see some of the other places you can acquire your green anole from.

Pet Stores

Green anoles are available in most pet shops. However, it would be great if you only bought your green anole in a reputable pet shop to avoid buying a neglected pet.

The green anole you pick should be active and alert. But, pet shop attendants are sometimes inexperienced and might not offer proper care for the pets in their store.

Thus, it would help if you consulted a vet immediately after bringing your pet home for a checkup.

Breeders

Getting your green anoles from a breeder would be the best choice. They are passionate and experienced about their pets.

Therefore, they can guide you on how to care for them properly. Breeders can also guarantee you healthy and well-kept green anoles.

Besides, due to their numerous experience in breeding, they might be able to provide your preferred gender.

Classified Ads/Facebook Groups

With current technologies, breeders and pet owners meet and sell the available pets through Facebook groups.

They can also advertise their pets using digital channels such as Facebook Ads. Therefore, if you are passionate about green anoles, you can join other members with the same interest.

Buying your green anole from classified Ads and Facebook groups is good as you get to choose the best seller depending on the reviews.

Reptile Rescue

Green anoles are also available in reptile rescue centers. Green anoles from these centers are almost free. 

However, you must prove that you can properly care for your chosen pet. Also, you must have patience with your adopted green anole as most of them have a bad human interaction experience.

Thus, they might take longer to get assimilated. But, the wait is worth it as it gives you more satisfaction to know you gave a homeless green anole a home.

Accessories for Any Green Anole

Preparing a home for your green anole should be the first step to owning them. Green anoles easily get stressed. Because of this you need to provide a comfortable home for them.

Their tank should have all the accessories to match their natural habitat. For instance, plants, climbing, and hiding decors must be present.

Plants ensure that their habitat looks natural. On the other hand, climbing and hiding decors encourage their natural behavior to climb and hide.

Glass décor is also necessary. Male green anoles are quite aggressive when protecting their territory.

 As such, they tend to fight even with their reflection on the glass. Therefore, the lack of glass décor can stress male anoles. 

Additionally, water and food dishes should also be available. But, baby green anoles drink water from dew or drops on the leaves.

Thus, water dishes might not be necessary for the beginning.

To get started, here is a list of items you’ll need to set up a standard habitat for your pet green anole.

For instance, the Xiaoyztan Rock and Tree Designed Resin is a 2-in1 product. Aside from serving as a food bowl, it also decorates your lizard’s habitat.

Last update on 2022-12-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Green Anoles Common Health Issues

Just like all other pets, green anoles can encounter several health issues in captivity. 

However, most of these common issues come as a result of improper habitation. Therefore, with proper care and suitable habitation, your green anole can live a healthy and happy life.

Let’s look at some of the most common health issues in green anoles.

Metabolic Bone Diseases

Metabolic bone diseases are brought about by improper diet and lack of sufficient UVB lighting. 

Green anoles require adequate calcium and vitamin D to have strong bones. Symptoms of metabolic bone diseases include lethargy, swollen joints, soft bones, and deformities.

Provide adequate UVB light and brush your green anole’s food with calcium and vitamin D supplements daily for babies and juveniles.

Consult your green anole’s vet if you suspect it to have a metabolic bone disease.

Gastro-Intestinal Disease 

It is a bacterial or a parasitic infection common in green anoles. Gastrointestinal problems also occur due to inappropriate diet, toxicities, ulcers, and microbial imbalance.

Symptoms of gastrointestinal infection include diarrhea, caked stool around the green anole’s vent area, and loss of appetite.

Immediately consult a vet for a proper diagnosis.

Respiratory Disease

Respiratory disease is common for green anoles that are not well kept. It is caused by too much moisture or inadequate temperatures in your green anole’s cage. Respiratory diseases also occur due to the proliferation of bacteria into the respiratory tract and bad substrate. Inflammation of the mucus membrane leads to production of mucus in the respiratory tract that leads to labored breathing.

Symptoms include discharge in green anole’s mouth and nose, labored breathing, and lethargy.

Increase your green anole’s temperature, and consult a vet immediately.

Mouth Rot

Mouth rot is common in pet lizards, including green anoles. It is caused by improper moisture and temperature in the green anole’s cage.

Symptoms include reddened oral tissues, loss of appetite, thick pus in green anole’s mouth, discharge from mouth and nose.

Immediately consult a vet to prevent excessive damages.

Play with your Baby Green anole (Toys, Games)

Green anoles are quite active and love climbing and jumping. Their general activities make them unique and interesting.

They are, however, shy and don’t like to be handled. Green anoles prefer playing on their own. 

To keep them happy and active during the day, you need to furnish their terrarium with playing accessories.

These accessories include branches, plants, locks, and many basking spots. Lack of these accessories can cause stress to green anoles.

What Should You Feed Your Baby and Juvenile Green Anole?

Proper diet is critical to keep your green anole happy and healthy.  Green anoles are insectivorous. 

Thus, their primary diet consists of insects.  You should feed baby anoles and juvenile anoles every day.

The size of the insect should not be bigger than the space between your green anole’s eyes. 

It should also consist:

Proteins

Proteins are the most important part of the baby and juvenile green anoles. Because proteins play important role in the growing stages of animals. Protein helps to boost immune system, muscles, and tissue growth. Therefore, you should ensure that the insects you are offering are rich in protein.

The best way to enrich the insects with proteins is by gut loading them. Gut loading is feeding the insects with nutritious food a few hours before feeding them to your green anoles.

To ensure your green anole is healthy, the best commercial foods to give it are the Fluker’s Freeze Dried Mealworms Pet Food and Zilla Reptile Munchies For Pets.

Zilla Reptile Munchies For Pets

Zilla Reptile Munchies for pets is one of the best ‘one-stop’ options to go for. It is made with the love for pets with nutritious ingredients that will not just enhance growth but also boost your lizard’s immune system.

The product is a mixture of fruits, vegetables, and proteins garnished together for a balanced diet. It is also fortified with calcium to aid strong bones and prevent possible calcium deficiency that can cause metabolic bone disease.

A bottle of 4-Ounce is sold for 12.99 USD.

Last update on 2022-12-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Fluker’s Freeze Dried Mealworms

If your pet green anole shows signs of allergy to a particular brand of commercial food because of the chemicals in it, then you can trust Fluker’s Freeze Dried Mealworms.

It is a bottle of neatly packaged naturally proteins with no chemicals that can irritate or harm your pet. This product is a great source of protein, minerals, vitamins, and other important nutrients your green anole needs.

Thus, your don’t have to worry about malnutrition if you feed it to your pet anole. It is a quality product sold for 16.99 USD.

Last update on 2022-12-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Veggies and Fruits

Even though green anoles are insectivorous, they occasionally eat fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates. But, since green anoles do not require these nutrients as much, you should only feed them as an occasional treat.

Some of the fruits and vegetables you may feed your green anole include apples, bananas, lettuce, zucchini, grapes, oranges, and honeydew melons.

Water

Like they say, “Water is life.” Thus, every creature, including green anoles, require water to survive. 

However, baby green anoles may not be able to drink water from their bowls. Thus, you should provide water by misting the plant leaves in your green anole’s cage.

Baby and juvenile green anoles drink their water from drops in leaves. 

Dietary Supplements

Calcium and vitamin supplements are crucial in your baby and juvenile green anole’s diet.

Lack of adequate calcium and vitamins can cause metabolic bone diseases in your green anoles and other diseases. Vitamins deficiency also leads to a compromised immune system, improper cellular metabolism, and bad skin or coat health.

Therefore, you should always dust your baby green anole’s food with calcium and vitamin supplements.

Moreover, if you feed your pet anole any of the commercial foods mentioned earlier, you wouldn’t have calcium and vitamin deficiency issue to deal with.

This is because these foods are fortified with the ideal amount of calcium and vitamins that your green anole needs to stay healthy.

However, if you aren’t sure of the quality of foods you’re feeding to your anoles, it’s ideal that you supplement their diet (dust their feeder) with calcium and vitamin D3. For optimal results, we recommend Fluker’s Repta Calcium with vitamin d3.

Last update on 2022-12-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

What Should NOT You Feed Your Baby Green Anole 

Not all insects and worms are good food for green anoles. Some are dangerous and can kill or damage your green anoles. 

These foods include dead bugs, king worms, bloodworms, millipedes, stinking bugs, super worms, and strong insects or bugs.

Additionally, it would be best if you did not feed your green anole any insect or worm larger than them. 

It would be best to avoid wild captured insects and worms as they may contain herbicides or pesticides.

How to Care for a Baby Green Anole

Even though green anoles are known to be hardy, they still get stressed and can even die if not cared for properly.

Baby green anoles are born tiny. They do not need their parents to care for them at birth. 

Adult green anoles eat the babies, and you should therefore separate them immediately.

Here are few tips on how you can take care of your baby green anoles.

Daily Feeding and Cleaning

Baby green anoles need you to feed them every day. Their basic diet is similar to their adult counterparts.

However, the insects should be small and always dusted with calcium and vitamins.

Green anoles may be too small at hatchling and cannot drink water on their own. You have to put a drop of water on their nostril using an eye drop to hydrate them in such a case.

Always clear every uneaten food to keep their cages clean.

Handling and Bonding

Baby green anoles are tiny, shy, and skittish. They don’t like to be handled. However, with proper timing, you can make them adjust to handling.

But, they are super active and move around quickly. Therefore, it might not be easy to handle green anoles.

Improper handling can cause them to drop their tail. And, even though green anoles’ tails regrow, they rarely resemble the original one.

Shedding 

Green anoles grow continuously throughout their lives. And, since their skins do not grow with them, it is inevitable for them to through shedding.

Baby green anoles shed more frequently compared to adults. Baby anoles become dull and may refuse to eat during shedding.

To help them have a smooth shedding, ensure that there is adequate humidity in their enclosure.

Bathing 

 Adult green anoles need a water bowl to soak in when they need to bathe. However, it is inadvisable to let baby anoles soak or bathe in water.

Instead, it would be best to put them in a humidity hide box, especially during shedding. 

Brumation

Green anoles go into brumation during the winter season in the wild. In captivity, it is also critical to brumate them.

However, you do not have to let babies go into brumation. Only healthy green anoles should go into brumation.

Cleaning the Habitat

You should thoroughly clean the green anole’s enclosure once every week. You should use soap and water to clean all the accessories in the tank.

To maintain a clean environment for your baby green anoles, ensure to remove any food leftovers immediately.

Additionally, never use any cleaning substance containing phenol. Change the substrate once every month unless it’s messy and smelling.

Physical /Behavior Health Symptoms

Green anoles are typically green in color and sometimes brown. However, extended brown can be a sign of illness or stress. 

Physical health symptoms of a sick green anole include lethargy, sunken eyes, fewer droppings, lack of appetite, and weight loss. If you find these physical health symptoms, it means the green anole is suffering from a health issue.

When cold, they change their color to brown, and when hot, they turn their color to light green. 

Changing their color helps them to either absorb or reduce the heat depending on the current temperature.

Improper habitat can cause health issues that might stress your green anoles. Baby green anoles can develop dehydration, diarrhea, or impaction due to impoverished habitat.

Dehydration

Many babies anoles die due to dehydration. It is because they do not know how to drink water from a bowl.

They might also not be able to drink from drops in the leaves. In this case, it is your responsibility to hydrate them by putting a drop of water in their nostril.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea is also common in baby green anoles. It can be caused by parasitic diseases such as gastro intestine diseases or worm infestation.

Therefore, to keep your green anole safe from diarrhea, you should observe proper hygiene in their enclosure.

Additionally, it would be best if you quarantined all new green anoles.

Impaction

Baby green anoles can develop impaction if they eat larger food than they should. Additionally, they may also get impaction if they consume substrates.

Poor substrate such as sand is bad for green anoles. The best substrate for green anoles is peat moss and soil.

Wrapping Up

 Green anoles are awesome creatures that are fun to watch. When hunting, they can look at you with one eye while the other remains on their prey.

If kept in good condition, they can live a full-term life without any health issues. Their average life span is 4-8 years. 

All the best with your baby green anoles!