Holding anoles?

Discussion in 'Anoles' started by Camillo, Jul 28, 2002.

  1. Camillo

    Camillo New Member

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    Now, everywhere I've gone, I've heard "Anoles hate to be held! They get stressed out! Don't hold anoles!", but I've had quite a different experience.

    As usual, I've had to handle my anoles occasionally, such as to check them for illnesses or to transfer them from one cage to another. Dezzy is afraid of humans, and I respect him for that. I make all handling situations as quick and painless as possible *it usually involves using my hand to chase him where he wants to go; I don't start it that way, but that's how it ends up*.

    Cammy, however... Well, let me begin. We've had to hold her to transfer her a few times *cage cleanings, switching cages, the whole thing*, and we've done that. Once I've gotten her to crawl onto my hand, I just put my hand into the other cage right next to the leaf. But by that time, she's gotten so accustomed to the warmth of my hand that she won't let go. She closes her eyes and lets my hand warm her up. After a while, she'll be running up and down my arm as if it were a tree branch. And so, I got out the camera and took as many pictures as I could while this was going on. Then, after "walking the anole *on my arm and in one room, of course*," she would want to go back into a cage, and I would let her. No one stressed, no one freaked out. After reading a few articles preaching as to how it frightens the anoles too much, I decided to try harder not to let that happen. So today, when I needed to work on the "tree" *enormous fake plant I made that resembles a tree and takes up most of the space in the cage*, I chased Dezzy off the tree pretty quickly. Then I tried my luck with Cammy. No matter what I did, she kept climbing onto other leaves. Finally, she jumped onto my hand and, no matter what I could do, she was clinging to it. Finally, I gave up and just worked on the tree while she was clinging to my hand. I took a container, put the tree in there, filled it with vermiculite, put a lot of distilled water in, stirred up the vermiculite, and put Cammy and the tree back in. Now, from the watering part and on, she was on the tree, since it was now on the ground, but she was on my hand most of the time.

    Judging from the fact that she is always green when I hold her, I'd say she likes it. I think that disproves the notion that all anoles hate being held. Now, I'm not advertising that people go out and "train" their anoles to like being held; I'm just telling my story.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Axe

    Axe Well-Known Member

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    We've found both the norm and what you've experienced.

    I think the general "don't hold htem" argument is basically based on the fact that most (especially new) anole owners, get their anoles at a pet store. These anoles are already adults, and more often than not, wild-caught. So handling can and does stress them.

    BUT, if they're captive bred, and have been around humans since day one, and shown a lot of attention, like any animal, they'll learn to trust you (and other people), and don't mind being held, and like you said, enjoy the warmth of your arm.

    So yeah, really as with most species, it depends on the individual and its history. For a wild-caught adult, who's seen all his lil friends being carried off by predators, I wouldn't want some big 6ft tall mammal messin' with me either, hehe. But, if I'd always been around humans from popping out of my egg, I wouldn't be so stressed.

    We caught some wild brown anoles last year, and bred them. Once the eggs had hatched out, we released all the adults, and kept the babies for 6 months or so. Here we are nearly 8 months after we released them, and they're all still thriving (and all the females we released are currently gravid) living out in the back yard near the iguana enclosure. Unlike most wild anoles, these seem to be a lot less skittish when we're around, and will let us come within inches of them before scooting off. Normally, most of 'em (the wild ones) run at the mere sight of you from a distance.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Camillo

    Camillo New Member

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    If that's the case, it seems that Dezzy was caught as an adult. For a while, he went through a stage where, every time I would come within four feet of the cage, he would flash his dewlap at me. At least, I'm assuming it was a territorial display :).
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Axe

    Axe Well-Known Member

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    Hehe yeah, probably... that's the same with male bearded dragons... gettin' a big black beard from a distance... it's a pre-emptive strike against a potential threat/predator to try and scare them off :)

    So yeah, it was either a territorial or defensive display. But, if you have them in a fairly low-traffic area (that is away from the general public walking past in your house), but still somewhere you can go to every day and see it, but without having your attention right on it... it should get used to it.

    We had one wild-caught anole that started off fairly skittish... we had her in a tank here by the computer, so she could see me all day, completely ignoring her, while I worked on the PC. Eventually she quite warmed up to me, and when I was sat here, or walking around the bedroom, or others came in here, it didn't bother her... barely raising her head :)
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. Camillo

    Camillo New Member

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    Yeah. The cage is near the computer in a way that I can see it, but the part of the room that the cage is in is pretty closed off to the rest of the house. So you can see them, but you're far away.

    Dezzy's gotten used to me. He used to freak out every time I would walk into the room. Now, he understands that I'm just the groundskeeper. He only runs away when I touch him now. He still runs away. He just doesn't let me affect him anymore. That's really helpful when I'm cleaning the cage, because... well, I don't wanna scare the little guy to death EVERY DAY!:)
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. 12percentt

    12percentt Embryo

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    We hold ours every day too. I followed the advice not to stress them out, but we called the pet store that said they need to get used to being held. Shorty is actually spoiled. She likes to have water on a cotton ball on our hand, and they both love the heat.

    :lol:
     

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