My latest Guest Rant is dedicated to America’s green anole lizards, the Rodney Dangerfield of beneficial predators. They’re cute. They eat bugs. They don’t bite people. And yet, compared to ladybugs and lacewings, they get virtually no respect/press coverage from mainstream gardening media.
Pest control you don’t have to plug in, spray or pay for.
The scarcity of garden-centric information about anoles and their relatives is unfortunate considering all the good reptiles can do for those of us who want to embrace Integrated Pest Management principles and enhance biodiversity in our gardens.
Sadly, there’s more information on the internet about how to keep anoles as terrarium pets than there is on supporting backyard populations, so I’ve reached out to an anole expert, Dr. Yoel Stuart, an ecologist from Loyola University Chicago.
Dr. Stuart researching anoles in Florida.
Taxonomically speaking, green anoles are known as Anolis carolinensis. They arenative to temperate and subtropical regions of Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, so I suppose they have southern accents.
Lizard, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Anoles Make Excellent Gardening Companions
Think of them as friends with ecological benefits. Anoles devour cockroaches, spiders, ants, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, basically any arthropod they can fit in their sweet little mouths, along with the occasional slug. What more could a gardener ask?
Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful,
Anoles are gorgeous. Scales along the top side of their svelte bodies are the color of fresh guacamole. Below deck they shift to a sultry buttercream. Their alert expressive eyes are adorned in a powder blue shadow that should never go out of style.
Here’s looking at you kid.
For reasons researchers don’t fully understand, special hormones enable green anoles to blush a deep shade of brown, a trick that TV’s insurance flogging gecko from Australia could never pull off.
Slowly turning to rust.
Males are larger than females, up to about 6 to 8 inches long on average. They have a loose flap of skin, a dewlap, beneath the neck that can be inflated into a bright red bubble visible from several yards away. Males may use this colorful display to make themselves appear more threatening to rivals and predators, as well as to be more appealing to females. Like lions, male anoles often have multiple mates within their territories, but I’ve never heard one roar.
A male. The color of coffee on a cool morning.
You Need Not Worry About Hordes of Anoles Overrunning Your Home and Garden
Females produce only a small number of eggs, perhaps a baker’s dozen, during a mating season that extends from spring through early autumn.
Look out for babies before bringing containers indoors.
Watching anoles can be just as entertaining as watching hummingbirds and butterflies. I watched an anole hunt recently within the canopy of a dwarf Joe Pye.
From the racing stripe down the spine and medium size, I deduced it was a mature female. I had seen her before and knew the boundaries of her territory—a distance of just a few yards, extending from the Sunshine Ligustrum to the fence line.
Bee, don’t bother me.
I stepped back to watch. She paid scant attention to me or the bee buzzing above her forehead. She preferred waiting for bite-sized prey to come into the target range of her thick pink tongue. She swallowed her lunch in a single gulp. No need to chew.
At one point, she flipped downward with a flourish. Gripping tightly onto the Joe Pye with her strong back toes, she worked the lower flowers, and then she flipped upright once more to grab a quick snack as it flew by her head.
Sit-and-wait predation pays off.
I moved closer, which she didn’t like. She dove into the Mexican petunias, and I noticed something curious. Part of her tail was brown, while the rest of her body remained a cheery green.
Brown tail with a green top. White shoes after Labor Day?
To solve this mystery, I contacted Dr. Stuart. He said the strange coloring was a sign of autotomy, which is a somewhat gruesome self-defense strategy in which lizards willfully amputate the end of their tails and leave them behind as a wiggly consolation prize for attackers.
Dropping tails may help anoles escape predation by birds, cats, dogs, snakes and even other lizards, but replacing them takes time and the new model may not be able to change colors with the rest of the body.
Our Female Anole is Fine and Healthy
Her kids, fully independent since the moment they hatched, pop up when I least expect them. I’ve seen them hanging out in a blanket of low growing Texas betony, hunting aphids in the milkweed and hugging the stem of a Texas hibiscus. Seeing their tiny faces every day reinforces my commitment to gardening without pesticides.
Not using pesticides and promoting a healthy insect community is likely the best way for gardeners to support anoles and all the other animals who depend on insect protein to feed themselves or their young. If you have plenty of insects around, Dr. Stuart says the anoles will be happy.
You can also help them by planting ground covers and shrubs that offer safe places for young anoles to hunt and hide.
If possible, keep your cats indoors, for their safety and the safety of the animals they can’t help but want to catch and lay at your feet.
Dr. Stuart also advises gardeners to leave some open areas of loose soil where females can bury their eggs.
Aside from predators, the greatest threat to anoles and other beneficial reptiles is habitat loss. You can help, even if you garden in a small space. Check out Dr. Doug Tallamy’s latest venture Homegrown National Park, to find out how you can create prime habitat.
And, if you would like to learn more about anoles, you can click through lots of information at Anole Annals, a peer-reviewed site that is endorsed and contributed to by Dr. Stuart. I signed up for the newsletter because I do love these little guys.
Reptiles may not be as popular as monarchs or ladybugs, but that does not mean gardeners should appreciate them any less. If you’ve had a close encounter with a beneficial reptile, tell someone about it. Our little green friends deserve more respect!
Too far north to have any, darn it. Always enjoy watching them when visiting the Carolinas. Also fun to watch my son in law try to catch them. Who knows, maybe I’ll have some in my lifetime as my zone has already gone from 5 to 6. I’d love to have the little lizards, but don’t want the kudzu or armadillos!
Tibs, glad you at least get a glimpse of them from time to time, though tell your son he may get a surprise if one drops a tail! I’m with you about the kudzu & armadillos, though the armadillos have the knack of letting you know when there are grubs in the lawn. Wish they would just leave a note on the door instead of digging up the yard.
Thank you for writing this. I love the lizards in my garden. We don’t have anoles- here in Northern VA a healthy population of five-lined skinks and broad-headed skinks. Every year I see baby ones, too. I am careful now not to leave empty pots sitting upright, because once found a young skink in there dead, that had fallen in. Now all my empty pots are stored indoors or at least tipped on their sides.
Jeane, How fortunate you are to have skinks. I’ve only seen them 3 or 4 times down here, but I’d like to learn more about them. Good tip on the pots!
I have very fond childhood memories of anoles and other small lizards when visiting my grandparents in Florida. They were everywhere and we delighted in finding them throughout the garden or stuck to the sides of walls. In our cold climate the closest we come is the odd salamander but they don’t have the same cheeky attitude.
Elaine, as I was driving to drop my son off at College in Key West we stopped at a Welcome Center. There, stuck to the wall was an anole with no tail! You are right about the cheeky attitude-the little guy refused to cooperate for a picture. I’ve only rarely seen salamanders here in Texas, but I think they’re cool. Thanks for reading.
I remember the fun we had with these lizards while we were growing up in subtropical Corpus Christi, Texas. My brother had very curly hair and would often hide a baby anole there. We noticed that a new, unfurled bamboo leaf looked just like the lizard’s tail. Concealing a leaf in our hand, we would say, “Look, a lizard”, pretend to grab one and pop it in our mouth, but actually put in the leaf. It was fun to wiggle the leaf with your tongue while exclaiming how lively, yet delicious the lizard was. The lizards would often hunt among the grape vines and could keep us busy for hours, observing them. I was surprised when I first saw an anole in a New York pet store. “People actually pay for those”. We had lots of them for free when we were growing up. The only thing more supprising is seeing tomato hornworms for sale at the pet store for reptile food, some over $4 each. Could have made a fortune.
I also grew up in Corpus Christi and they were everywhere. My brother used to make little cages out of strawberry baskets and send them up with his kites like little astronauts. Poor things….but they didn’t seem to mind. Gardening in N. Texas as an adult now for 40 years or so, I didn’t see Anoles around the house and assumed we were too far north for them. In the last 10-15 years they have been increasing. It always makes me happy to see them peaking out from under a leaf.
Janet, that story certainly paints a picture! I’m so glad you are seeing anoles on the re-bound–and on the ground. Thanks for sharing.
We only lived 3/4 of a year in Corpus, on the Cayo del Oso. Wildlife (& humidity) galore! Had to shake out the shoes on the back porch every morning to check for scorpions. It’s a great town.
Oh my goodness! That’s a great story! You’ve actually solved a mystery for me. I’ve never had problems with tomato hornworms, so they must be anole food! Thanks for sharing your anole memories!
Jenny, in the evening, there are white, smaller anoles, along with the bright green ones on the front porch ceiling and walls hunting for dinner. Are the white ones the babies?
I think the babies might look a lighter color in the evening, when in brown mode. The babies do appear more translucent than the adults. Could also be a non-native gecko. Both will eat bugs, so good for you!
My son researched them, found out the anole we see all the time in our garden is a female and named her Jasmine. So now we say “Hi, Jasmine!” when we enter the garden gate.
Sarah, that is fabulous! I think I’ll start naming ours, too. We see them all the time, so why not? Thanks for reading!
Wonderful photos!!! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed them, Mary Jane!
This is a very well-written and informative article. I always enjoy reading Jenny’s articles and love having the little anoles in my garden as well. They always seem to pop up from my plants to check out what I’m doing in my garden!
Denise, thank you so much for your kind comments. You are right about those anoles popping up-I almost nicked one while pruning a shrub the other day. Fortunately he popped in the nick of time!
Welcome residents in my garden as well. Not only are they efficient pest controllers, but they are adorable as well.
Not sure where they over winter. but on a warm winter day, they bask in the sun and seem to watch me as I do outside chores as often as I watch them.
Cynthia, I agree. Adorable is the best way to describe them, and they do seem to be intelligent. I’ve read they burrow underneath a blanket of leaves and their metabolism slows down. Sounds a lot like me in December….
I love these little guys. It always makes me smile to encounter one in my yard.
Dear PlantBirdWoman, thanks so much for sharing. Anoles make me smile, too.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching anoles change color right before my eyes. They change surprisingly quickly, and seem to do so to match the background color they’re near. It’s really awesome (in the true sense of the word) that they and other similar critters can do that.
Sally, It is just amazing watching them do that-slow motion changes. I sometimes try to blend into the background myself, at large gatherings these days, when I realize I’d rather be in a garden with anoles. Thanks for sharing!
Great intel, Jenny, and fun to read too! Lots of beautiful blue skinks here in central VA but no anoles.
Leslie-Blue Skinks-wowza! That’s a new one for me-ours are kind of coppery. Post a pic sometime. Thanks for weighing in. I was listening to your Garden Fit podcast on the way to clients today-great ideas for gardeners with quirky backs like mine!
Love having reptiles in my garden! We encountered an anole yesterday in an outdoor electric box. He’s living near the toads with plenty of insects.
They do find interesting places to hang out! Thanks for sharing!
We have had anoles for several years now. We watch one go from front yard to back yard scurrying across the wood fence early mornings. They have been an entertainment for sure. When I first told Jenny that she said it’s a sign of a healthy garden. Yahoo!!!
Thanks, Ginny! I’m glad they are entertaining!
Wish we had these engaging animals in Chicagoland! Had a lot of fun with anoles as a kid, keeping them as pets in Michigan. Best I can do now is encourage and enjoy the praying mantids in my garden now. Thanks for this great ‘rant’.
B, I’m glad you enjoyed the ‘rant’. I saw a praying mantid in the garden just yesterday-they never fail to amaze me either!
Hi Jenny, we had them in Jacksonville FL b4 moving to CO.
Be assured, they have very strong Southern accents! Specifically, Cracker Coastal NoFla accents. They drag out most one-syllable words into two.
Y’all be good now, heah me?
Diane, glad y’all agree! Thanks for sharing!
This was a very good article because I buy green anoles in bulk and release them in my front yard and back yard in an attempt to have them take over from all the other anoles which are non native such as Cuban, brown or striped where I live in Florida.
Howard, that is impressive! I hope the green anoles are holding their own. Research in recent years shows green anoles are adapting to the competition from brown anoles by moving higher into the shrub & tree canopy. If you haven’t already planted insect attracting native shrubs for them, you might also give that a try. I wish you and your anoles all the best. Thank you for sharing your experience!