gecko/Lizard

Question
Hello,
My daughter (7) caught a Lizard or Gecko I am not sure. His tail broke off and he turned green. I asked her to release him back in the garden, but she is so atteched to it and begged me to keep him. I love all the animals, and I researched for a while, but it did not say much about that. My question, can we keep him without the animal being harmed and what do we have to do to keep him alive and happy. My daughter did find some flies and fed to Alex (thats what she named him) Can you please let me know what we should do???? oh we are from Georgia and Alex was climbing up on the Wall.

Answer
Hi Nicole, It sounds like you have a green anole and a young daughter who is a budding reptile keeper!  Green anoles are native to your area, can climb vertical surfaces and will turn from brown to green. Their tails are designed to come off very easily as a defensive strategy against predators. The severed tail distracts the predator while the lizard escapes.
The standard advice with reptiles is to avoid wild caught specimens in favour of captive bred ones but the truth is that virtually all the green anoles in pet stores (they are a common reptile pet) are also wild caught.
Wild caught specimens can succumb to the stress of suddenly being in captivity. The trick to acclimating them is to give them as natural and stress free an environment as possible. That means at least a 10 gallon tank size, with lots of branches and leafy plants to hide in and climb on and absolutely no handling. He will need a heat source to regulate his body temperature, a regular incandescent household bulb can provide that. They don't tend to drink from bowls but rather from droplets on leaves so a good misting once a day is recommended. He will also continue to need a steady supply of live insects as food. You may find it easier to use small crickets which are available at most pet stores. I have included a care sheet but you should be able to access countless others by searching under "green anole". Good luck with Alex!


http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=17&cat=2211&articleid=3304