Green Anole Dietary Guidelines:

1. Don’t feed your green anole non-insects. Spiders, ticks, centipedes, and scorpions are hazardous. All spiders are venomous and an inopportune bite could cause some serious damage. The same holds true for centipedes and scorpions. If it has more than six legs, don’t use it as food for your anole.
2. Insects use warning coloration very extensively as a defense mechanism. If an insect is brightly colored or conspicuous, it is usually toxic or unpalatable. It is best to be safe.
3. Don’t feed your green anole insects (or ticks) that are disease or parasite vectors. It is not likely that your pet anole would be affected by West Nile Virus but it will probably pass through its digestive tract unscathed and then be present in his feces. Not a good situation. The same applies to internal parasites.
4. If an insect is feeding on a plant with milky sap, don’t use it as a food item. Most plants with milky latex-like sap are toxic. Insects have the amazing facility of not being bothered by the toxins but they also frequently concentrate them in their tissues. Thus, they can be even more toxic that the plant itself.
5. Don’t collect insects from areas treated with pesticides (no surprise) or from roadsides where the exhaust from motor vehicles will be a problem because of heavy metal concentrations.

Green Anole Food Recommendations:

This will not be a complete listing of all of the insect Orders but will focus on the larger and more frequently encountered ones. The first seven are those that have an incomplete metamorphosis. That is, the nymphs generally look like miniature adults.

Orthoptera: Crickets, grasshoppers, roaches, etc. This is a large and nutritious Order. Almost all of the members are suitable as green anole food. There are a few exceptions, however. Stay away from household roaches (American cockroach and German cockroach) since they are prone to carry diseases. Mole crickets and mantids are also inappropriate choices. Any other suitably sized specimen will do. If you choose to breed and raise some of these species, here are a couple of websites to visit for excellent instructions of food, housing, etc.

Dermaptera: Earwigs. Contrary to various “old wife’s tales”, earwigs don’t crawl into people’s ears and they are not dangerous. The pincer-like appendages at the end of the abdomen are completely harmless. Your green anoles will eat them.

Ephemeroptera: Mayflies, Lake flies, etc. These insects don’t feed while in the adult stage and usually only live a day or two. There are periodic massive hatches with millions and millions of individuals. They are only available for a few days and then they disappear until the next year. They are weak fliers and green anoles will pursue them with reckless abandon.

Odonata: Dragonflies and Damsel flies. Dragonflies are generally too big for green anoles to handle and so are the majority of Damsel flies but they will eat some of the smaller species.

Isoptera: Termites. Anoles will readily eat both workers and winged termites. Although not particularly nutritious, they are a source of protein.

Homoptera: Cicadas, Aphids, Leafhoppers, etc. Cicadas are obviously too large for green anoles to eat. Aphids are an excellent food source for hatchlings (they pop like grapes) and small anoles. Leafhoppers and froghoppers (spittlebugs) are generally less than ½” in size and are frequent prey for wild green anoles. They will voraciously eat planthoppers and leafhoppers (which make an excellent food for hatchlings).

Note: Leafhoppers are the exception to the “colorful is suspect” doctrine. They are frequently brightly colored and neither toxic nor unpalatable.

Hemiptera: True bugs. This Order includes some real “rogues”. Stink bugs, squash bugs, assassin bugs and others bite severely or have chemical defenses (noxious odors) or both. Their bites are truly excruciating. They are best left alone. They also include some toxic species like Box Elder Bugs.

Coleoptera: Beetles. Although this is the largest insect Order, beetles are a poor choice for a food item. In the wild, they comprise as much as 30% of a green anole’s food. They are not poisonous by default but they have a thick, chitinous exoskeleton that is almost indigestible.

In addition, blister beetles, rose chafers, and fireflies are toxic. Several others either secrete or even project caustic chemicals (i.e., Bombardier beetles). Some will also bite savagely. Despite their numbers, they are best left alone unless you can make a positive identification and know what you are doing. They do, however, make up about 30% of a wild green anole’s diet.

Neuroptera: Lacewings and ant lions. The adults make good food items but they are generally small and of limited nutritional value. They are beneficial insects.

Lepodoptera: Butterflies and moths. Moths are excellent prey items for your  green anole. If possible, they should be a daily menu item during the warmer months. They have good nutritional value and anoles can’t seem to resist chasing them. A good way to get a reluctant anole to eat is to put a moth in the enclosure. The qnole will go through gyrations rivaling a world-class gymnast trying to catch a moth. The exercise is good for them! Moths are easy to catch at both light and scent traps and are very abundant throughout the warmer months.

Butterflies, on the other hand, are relatively poor choices. Most of them are just too big. The smaller ones will be taken but their small body size makes them lacking in nutrition. Some, (Monarchs, for example) are even toxic. The exception is skippers which green anoles will take eagerly and have a relatively large body size. Common Dusky Roadside Skippers are a favorite.

Caterpillars are a good menu item. They are high in fat content and are good for fattening up a skinny anole. They should be used as a treat rather than a staple food item. Just make sure you avoid any caterpillars with spines or are very hairy. The spines and hairs usually contain a chemical irritant.

Hymenoptera: Wasps, bees, and ants. This entire group should be avoided. All of them bite and most of them sting. They can cause serious injury or even kill an Anole with their stings. If you have ever been “nailed” by a hornet, you get the point!

The exception is the larvae. The larvae of paper wasps and hornets are very much like caterpillars. They are high in fat and an excellent treat. All you have to do is raid the nest and not get stung. It may not be worth the pain and effort!

Diptera: Flies and mosquitoes. The ones to stay away from are the biting flies (horse flies, stable flies, etc.), houseflies, blue bottles, green bottles (they carry multiple diseases and parasites), botflies (an external parasite of green anoles), and mosquitoes. Mosquitoes probably spread more diseases and parasites throughout the world than any other insect. A number of them affect humans and can be transmitted either by direct bite or by passing through your Anole’s digestive tract and into his feces. Salmonella is the least of your worries!

Bee flies and hover flies make excellent food as do crane flies. The first two are strictly nectar feeders and they will add a bit of sugar to your green anole’s diet. They are active fliers and will give your anole a workout. Green anoles seem to be really enthusiastic about eating them. Crane flies look like giant mosquitoes but they are quite harmless. They are lumbering fliers and fairly easy for the anoles to catch. They might look too big for an anole to eat but they can get them down with a bit of patience. It looks almost like a sword-swallowing exhibition!

Of course, a piece of fruit left outside in the summer will soon attract a hoard of fruit flies. They are a mainstay food for hatchling anoles and very small juveniles.

Identification Note: A number of flies mimic bees and wasps and gain a good measure of protection this way. They can be easily confused with them. Close examination will allow you to separate them. Bees and wasps have two pairs of wings and flies only have a single pair.