What Do Brown Anoles Eat?

What do brown anoles eat? In the wild, ants make up the largest share of the diet, followed by beetles, true bugs, spiders and roaches. Brown anoles also eat smaller lizards, including hatchlings of their own species and young green anoles.

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What Do Brown Anoles Eat in the Wild?

A gut content study looked at brown anoles living in urban gardens and a wetland in Ecuador. It asked a simple question: what does the species actually eat? Ants made up the highest percentage of stomach contents at every site sampled.

The lizards were not narrow ant specialists, though. The same study found true bugs, scarab beetles, leaf beetles and sap beetles in their stomachs, along with cicadas. Every one of those non ant prey families counts as an agricultural pest.

That is part of why researchers see brown anoles as a possible pest control ally. Wildlife agencies describe both brown anoles and their native green anole cousins as useful garden predators. Both species catch beetles, flies, spiders and roaches around homes and landscaping.

Brown anoles forage mostly on the ground and low vegetation. Green anoles spend more time higher up, in shrubs and trees. A brown anole in leaf litter meets a different mix of prey than a green anole hunting from a fence post.

Plants are a footnote, not a food group. The University of Florida’s guide to the state’s introduced reptiles notes that brown anoles “will also eat vegetation” alongside insects and small lizards. In practice that means an occasional nibble, and a captive diet should not include produce.

Do Brown Anoles Eat Other Lizards?

Yes, brown anoles are documented predators of smaller lizards. That includes hatchlings of their own species. It also includes young green anoles.

Cannibalism and lizard on lizard predation show up repeatedly in anole research. This predation is part of a bigger competitive picture. Florida wildlife researchers have tracked how green anoles, once the state’s most familiar dooryard lizard, have shifted upward in the habitat.

That shift followed the arrival of brown anoles from Cuba and the Bahamas over a century ago. Where shrubs and trees give them room to climb, green anoles retreat higher. That helps them avoid both predation and food competition.

Where there is nowhere left to go, green anoles tend to disappear from that patch of habitat entirely. Brown anoles also reproduce faster, adding a second edge on top of direct predation on hatchlings. Gardeners who want both species around are advised to plant tall shrubs and trees, giving green anoles vertical room to retreat.

Do Male and Female Brown Anoles Eat Differently?

Male brown anoles grow larger than females, with bigger heads and stronger jaws. That size difference lets adult males take on larger prey items than females of the same age. Our full brown anole male versus female comparison covers the size gap in more detail.

In a mixed group enclosure, that gap matters at feeding time. A male anole can outcompete smaller females and juveniles for the biggest available insects if food is scattered loose rather than offered with tongs. Feeding anoles separately, or watching closely during group feeding, helps make sure smaller animals get their share.

What to Feed a Pet Brown Anole

A captive brown anole diet should mirror that wild pattern. Offer mostly small, moving insect prey, with variety rather than one feeder species every day. Crickets are the standard staple, since they come in the right small sizes and stay widely available.

Dubia roaches make a strong second staple. Anoles find their movement stimulating, and roaches carry decent protein for their size. A look at the full range of common feeder insects helps before settling on a rotation.

Small fruit flies work well for hatchlings too small for pinhead crickets. As the lizard grows, rotate in flightless fruit flies, small crickets and small dubia roach nymphs. Add occasional treats like waxworms or small silkworms, but keep them occasional rather than staple.

A diet built mostly around fatty treats can leave an anole overweight. Weak bones can follow, from an unbalanced calcium to fat ratio.

Feeding tongs make it easier to offer insects one at a time. A pair of feeding tongs with a soft rounded tip also keeps fingers away from a lunging anole.

Brown Anole Feeding Schedule by Age

Younger, growing anoles need to eat more often than adults. They are putting energy into both activity and rapid growth. These numbers echo the general feeding pattern most small insectivorous lizards follow.

The schedule below follows the feeding guidance published by Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital, an exotic pet veterinary practice: 2 to 3 live insects daily for hatchlings and juveniles, and 2 to 3 every other day for adults. Adjust down if a lizard leaves food uneaten, and up slightly if it clears everything and keeps hunting.

Offer only as many insects as an anole clears within an hour, then remove the rest, which is the vet practice’s cutoff. Leftover insects can nibble on a sleeping lizard’s skin or toes overnight. Remove uneaten feeders rather than leaving the cup topped off.

Choosing the Right Prey Size

The veterinary rule of thumb for anoles is strict. Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital advises that every food item be live and “only half the size of the anoles head.” Brown anoles are small, usually 5 to 9 inches including the tail, so that means small and medium crickets for life, never large ones.

Their appropriate prey size stays small for the lizard’s entire life. That is unlike a bearded dragon or blue tongue skink, which grows into much larger prey over time. A rotating stock of live feeder insects in small sizes lets you match prey to whichever anole is eating.

A hatchling and an adult sharing a colony enclosure need different sizes on the same night. Keep a few different species on hand as well. One feeder species offered daily gives less variety than a rotation of two or three.

Avoid wild caught insects from yards or gardens that may carry pesticide residue. Skip fireflies entirely. The University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine warns that fireflies carry lucibufagins, toxins that damage heart muscle, and that a single one can kill a bearded dragon.

The same warning covers other lizards and amphibians. Keep an anole indoors at dusk in firefly season, and treat any accidental ingestion as an emergency vet visit.

Calcium and Multivitamin Supplements

Insects raised on standard feeder diets carry a calcium to phosphorus ratio that runs backward from what a lizard needs. Supplementation is not optional. Dust feeder insects with a calcium powder that includes vitamin D3 three times a week, the frequency the exotic vet guidance above gives for anoles.

Add a reptile multivitamin powder once a week instead of every feeding. Oversupplementing fat soluble vitamins carries its own risks. A 5.0 UVB bulb running 12 hours a day, the vet practice’s lighting guidance, lets the anole make some of its own vitamin D3.

That is one more reason not to double up on D3 through both the bulb and constant dusting. Gut loading means feeding the feeder insects a nutritious diet before they reach the anole. Crickets and roaches fed fresh greens and a commercial gut load pass on more calcium and vitamins than insects fed dry oats alone.

Our full breakdown of gut loading feeder insects covers what to feed the insects themselves. It is worth reading alongside a supplement schedule.

Should You Use a Feeding Dish?

Loose insects roaming a planted enclosure can hide in substrate or climbing decor. That wastes feeders and can let a cricket start nibbling on a resting lizard. A shallow, escape proof feeder dish keeps crickets and roaches contained in one visible spot instead of scattering through the enclosure.

Dusting is also easier with a dish. Shake calcium powder over insects in the dish just before feeding, rather than trying to coat insects already loose among plants and branches. Gut loading products and calcium supplements both work best when the insects are contained for a few minutes before release.

Water and Hydration

Brown anoles often do not recognize still water in a bowl as something to drink. In the wild they lap water droplets off leaves after rain or dew. Misting the enclosure two to three times a day, so droplets collect on leaves and branches, is the most reliable way to keep a pet brown anole hydrated.

Keep a shallow dish anyway, one the lizard can walk through without going under, since some anoles learn to use it. A drip system onto leaves also works for keepers who cannot mist by hand. Aim for 60 to 70 percent humidity, the range the exotic vet guidance gives for anoles.

When a Brown Anole Won’t Eat

A brown anole that skips a meal here and there is usually not a concern. This is especially true during shedding or a temperature dip. Refusing food for more than a week is a different situation.

Pair that refusal with weight loss, lethargy or a sunken look around the hips and tail base. That combination is worth a call to a reptile veterinarian. Check enclosure temperatures first, since a cold anole cannot digest food properly and will stop hunting.

Confirm the numbers with a thermometer rather than by feel. The exotic vet guidance for anoles is 77 to 86 F by day with a 90 to 95 F basking spot, and 70 to 75 F at night. Our full brown anole care guide covers the enclosure setup behind those numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do brown anoles eat the most?

Wild brown anoles eat more ants than any other single prey type, based on stomach content studies from established populations. In captivity, most brown anoles show strong interest in crickets and dubia roaches, since the movement triggers a hunting response.

How often should I feed my brown anole?

Hatchlings and juveniles do best fed 2 to 3 small insects once daily. Subadults can move to every one to two days, and adults to 2 to 3 insects every other day. Watch body condition and adjust if a lizard looks thin or overweight.

Can brown anoles eat fruit or vegetables?

Only in passing. The University of Florida notes that wild brown anoles will nibble some vegetation, but insects make up almost the entire diet. Fruit or vegetables offered in an enclosure will mostly go uneaten, so build the diet on live insects.

Do brown anoles eat other anoles?

Yes, brown anoles prey on smaller lizards, including hatchlings of their own species and young green anoles. This predation is one factor behind green anole declines where brown anoles have become established.

What insects should I avoid feeding a brown anole?

Skip wild caught insects that may carry pesticide residue, and never offer fireflies, which are toxic to many insectivorous lizards. Stick to captive bred feeder insects sized to the width of the anole’s head.

How do pet brown anoles get water if they will not drink from a bowl?

Most pet brown anoles drink water droplets misted onto leaves and enclosure surfaces rather than from a still bowl. Misting two to three times a day, or a slow drip system, is the most reliable way to keep one hydrated. A shallow dish alongside it does no harm.