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Green Arboreal alligator lizard (Abronia graminea) Care Sheet
Arboreal alligator lizards a diurnal, arboreal, medium sized, slender lizard with stunning colors and unique biology. Their care is simple but they are not recommended for the novice keeper as not all are handle-able and they do have specific care requirements. They are not easily found in the pet trade, and many animals offered are wild caught. However, with large breeding efforts in Europe and in the U.S. by Jason Wagner, there has been a steady increase in healthy captive bred animals available in the past few years.
**NOTE- know your local laws if planning to own these animals. They are listed as endangered on the ICUN Red list and may require paperwork to prove they are c.b. (ours are c.b. and due to our state laws paperwork was required from the breeder. In the past four years of owning this species we have also successfully bred them ourselves.)
Life span: Estimate at least 15 years in captivity.
Size: approximately 12 inches long nose to tail tip. Females are typically a little shorter in length than males but have slightly broader body shape. Almost 50% of their length is tail.
Appearance: One interesting feature of these beautiful lizards is their coloration. In general most wild animals are bright green with yellow around their eye and on their bellies. However, many specimens that are brought into captivity slowly have their green turn to a teal color and their yellow becomes white. The theories behind this change range from light spectrum and quality of the UV bulbs available to them vs. natural sunlight, and a possible dietary change related to carotenoids in the insects they eat. They have fairly large scales organized in rows down their bodies that have small black lines or specks. Babies are colored to blend in with branches and moss and are a copper base color with black spots and stripes which slowly develops into the same green as the parents as they mature during their first year. This general green or teal body color is not a rule to the species and there are some variations that are grey and copper. There is also known to be an eye color variation where some specimens have blue eyes and some have black with blue being more commonly seen in collections. These animals also have long prehensile tails and shed their skin whole the same way a snake does.
Captive Care:
-Cage: Vertically oriented with a minimum 5 gallons per animal. We keep our pair together most of the year (if we notice a female is pregnant we remove her until after offspring are born and she has begun to put on weight) in a 30 gallon tall tank. Most keepers recommend a full screen tank similar to what you would keep a chameleon in, but we believe that should be based on your local climate. We live in the northeast US where it gets very dry in the winter. In summer we are able to keep them in a screen cage but by fall it starts to get low enough ambient humidity in the house that we switch to a tall glass tank with a full screen lid.
-Décor: Abronia are extremely arboreal but will also occasionally burrow into moss and soft substrate. They should be given lots of branches of varying size to climb, foliage to hide in, and moss to burrow under. They will frequently curl up inside plants and balls of moss to sleep at night.
-Temp: Due to their native habitat being cloud forests abronia are able to withstand fairly cold temperatures. They will slow down their activity and feeding but can survive temperatures as low as 40 for short periods of time. During the winter we cool ours to a high of 68 during the day with a basking temperature of 72, and down to 54 at night. In the summer months they have gotten up to 90 in the basking spot, ambient temp of 86, and night time ambient of 80. It is generally not recommended to let them get over 90 degrees ambient especially for prolonged periods of time. If anything abronia tend to be more heat sensitive than cold sensitive.
-Lighting: Full spectrum lighting with UVB is best. Do not use a spotlight or heat light for these animals as you can kill them with excessive heat...unless you live somewhere VERY cold. Allowing reptiles to thermoregulate is always a beneficial way to keep them but any lights that give off heat should do so minimally to avoid cooking the animals or raising the ambient temp to an uncomfortable level.
-Substrate: We use a coco fiber layer 2-3 inches deep with a top layer of 2 inch deep sphagnum moss. This keeps the humidity level up and allows the animals to burrow if they want to.
-Water: Water dishes are not necessary, but may be used to help keep humidity levels up if you are having trouble doing so. However we do not recommend you leave standing water for long periods as it can cause bacterial or fungal growth. We mist our animals heavily twice a day making sure to wet all the leaves and branches, get the moss damp, water any live plants thoroughly, and get water droplets on the glass. Most of the time when you mist the animals will come right out to drink or can be seen drinking from where they are. They seem fairly stimulated by water. We have also read that some keepers use foggers with this species. We have not tried it but can see where it could be beneficial as they live in a cloud forest in nature.
-Feeding: When kept at warmer temperatures these lizards are voracious eaters. We offer 3 to 4 prey items per animal up to 3 times a week in the summer. Females should be offered food with vitamin supplements if you are breeding them but will typically stop eating for up to a month before giving birth. After giving birth however they return immediately to a strong feeding response and should be allowed to indulge to regain strength and weight.
Acceptable prey items are: crickets, moths, wax worms, small roaches, horn worms, meal worms, stick insects, and flies. Prey should be appropriately sized and not left in the tank over night if they are not interested in eating. Most individuals will quickly adapt to feeding off tweezers and some will even feed from your hand. As with any animal being kept in groups you should always watch while feeding to prevent fighting. Prey items should be dusted with vitamins and calcium with D3 once a week, twice if breeding females.
-Breeding: These animals should not be bred without properly preparing the females overall health for birth. Abronia graminea typically breed around two years of age and should be kept separate from the opposite sex until they reach full maturity and are of a healthy condition. Breeding typically happens between September and December. Females have a general gestation period of 6 to 8 months and can have babies as early as March or late as July. Females can give birth up to once a year, though they do not always give birth every year. They are live bearers and clutch sizes vary widely. Some have reported clutches as small as 3 and as large as 15. Our first time breeding resulted in 5 healthy babies. The easiest way to tell if your female is pregnant is by her girth compared to her food intake. If she isn't eating more but is getting much rounder in her abdomen and has been paired with a male she could be pregnant. After about six months after breeding she will significantly slow down and possibly stop eating but will continue to look full or even grow larger around in her belly. They most likely give birth in tree hollows where the babies can safely camouflage and hide and the mother can rest for a few hours to days to birth. Birthing can take anywhere from a few hours to three days. I have not found any information regarding adults eating their offspring but it is better to be safe and remove babies once they have emerged from the birthing area. Our female dug a small 4 inch long burrow under the moss and first inch of coco fiber on the bottom of the tank to hide and have her babies. The babies quickly emerge after being born and begin exploring the area around and are easily caught and surprisingly relaxed when handled. Babies are kept the same as adults but with special care taken to not let them get over 80 degrees as they are more heat sensitive. They also should not be kept in groups of more than three and even then should be closely watched for signs of aggression. In their first few months of life it is extremely important to provide them small prey often and they will eat as soon as a few hours after being born.
If you have experience to the contrary, please feel free to let us know your input!
**NOTE- know your local laws if planning to own these animals. They are listed as endangered on the ICUN Red list and may require paperwork to prove they are c.b. (ours are c.b. and due to our state laws paperwork was required from the breeder. In the past four years of owning this species we have also successfully bred them ourselves.)
Life span: Estimate at least 15 years in captivity.
Size: approximately 12 inches long nose to tail tip. Females are typically a little shorter in length than males but have slightly broader body shape. Almost 50% of their length is tail.
Appearance: One interesting feature of these beautiful lizards is their coloration. In general most wild animals are bright green with yellow around their eye and on their bellies. However, many specimens that are brought into captivity slowly have their green turn to a teal color and their yellow becomes white. The theories behind this change range from light spectrum and quality of the UV bulbs available to them vs. natural sunlight, and a possible dietary change related to carotenoids in the insects they eat. They have fairly large scales organized in rows down their bodies that have small black lines or specks. Babies are colored to blend in with branches and moss and are a copper base color with black spots and stripes which slowly develops into the same green as the parents as they mature during their first year. This general green or teal body color is not a rule to the species and there are some variations that are grey and copper. There is also known to be an eye color variation where some specimens have blue eyes and some have black with blue being more commonly seen in collections. These animals also have long prehensile tails and shed their skin whole the same way a snake does.
Captive Care:
-Cage: Vertically oriented with a minimum 5 gallons per animal. We keep our pair together most of the year (if we notice a female is pregnant we remove her until after offspring are born and she has begun to put on weight) in a 30 gallon tall tank. Most keepers recommend a full screen tank similar to what you would keep a chameleon in, but we believe that should be based on your local climate. We live in the northeast US where it gets very dry in the winter. In summer we are able to keep them in a screen cage but by fall it starts to get low enough ambient humidity in the house that we switch to a tall glass tank with a full screen lid.
-Décor: Abronia are extremely arboreal but will also occasionally burrow into moss and soft substrate. They should be given lots of branches of varying size to climb, foliage to hide in, and moss to burrow under. They will frequently curl up inside plants and balls of moss to sleep at night.
-Temp: Due to their native habitat being cloud forests abronia are able to withstand fairly cold temperatures. They will slow down their activity and feeding but can survive temperatures as low as 40 for short periods of time. During the winter we cool ours to a high of 68 during the day with a basking temperature of 72, and down to 54 at night. In the summer months they have gotten up to 90 in the basking spot, ambient temp of 86, and night time ambient of 80. It is generally not recommended to let them get over 90 degrees ambient especially for prolonged periods of time. If anything abronia tend to be more heat sensitive than cold sensitive.
-Lighting: Full spectrum lighting with UVB is best. Do not use a spotlight or heat light for these animals as you can kill them with excessive heat...unless you live somewhere VERY cold. Allowing reptiles to thermoregulate is always a beneficial way to keep them but any lights that give off heat should do so minimally to avoid cooking the animals or raising the ambient temp to an uncomfortable level.
-Substrate: We use a coco fiber layer 2-3 inches deep with a top layer of 2 inch deep sphagnum moss. This keeps the humidity level up and allows the animals to burrow if they want to.
-Water: Water dishes are not necessary, but may be used to help keep humidity levels up if you are having trouble doing so. However we do not recommend you leave standing water for long periods as it can cause bacterial or fungal growth. We mist our animals heavily twice a day making sure to wet all the leaves and branches, get the moss damp, water any live plants thoroughly, and get water droplets on the glass. Most of the time when you mist the animals will come right out to drink or can be seen drinking from where they are. They seem fairly stimulated by water. We have also read that some keepers use foggers with this species. We have not tried it but can see where it could be beneficial as they live in a cloud forest in nature.
-Feeding: When kept at warmer temperatures these lizards are voracious eaters. We offer 3 to 4 prey items per animal up to 3 times a week in the summer. Females should be offered food with vitamin supplements if you are breeding them but will typically stop eating for up to a month before giving birth. After giving birth however they return immediately to a strong feeding response and should be allowed to indulge to regain strength and weight.
Acceptable prey items are: crickets, moths, wax worms, small roaches, horn worms, meal worms, stick insects, and flies. Prey should be appropriately sized and not left in the tank over night if they are not interested in eating. Most individuals will quickly adapt to feeding off tweezers and some will even feed from your hand. As with any animal being kept in groups you should always watch while feeding to prevent fighting. Prey items should be dusted with vitamins and calcium with D3 once a week, twice if breeding females.
-Breeding: These animals should not be bred without properly preparing the females overall health for birth. Abronia graminea typically breed around two years of age and should be kept separate from the opposite sex until they reach full maturity and are of a healthy condition. Breeding typically happens between September and December. Females have a general gestation period of 6 to 8 months and can have babies as early as March or late as July. Females can give birth up to once a year, though they do not always give birth every year. They are live bearers and clutch sizes vary widely. Some have reported clutches as small as 3 and as large as 15. Our first time breeding resulted in 5 healthy babies. The easiest way to tell if your female is pregnant is by her girth compared to her food intake. If she isn't eating more but is getting much rounder in her abdomen and has been paired with a male she could be pregnant. After about six months after breeding she will significantly slow down and possibly stop eating but will continue to look full or even grow larger around in her belly. They most likely give birth in tree hollows where the babies can safely camouflage and hide and the mother can rest for a few hours to days to birth. Birthing can take anywhere from a few hours to three days. I have not found any information regarding adults eating their offspring but it is better to be safe and remove babies once they have emerged from the birthing area. Our female dug a small 4 inch long burrow under the moss and first inch of coco fiber on the bottom of the tank to hide and have her babies. The babies quickly emerge after being born and begin exploring the area around and are easily caught and surprisingly relaxed when handled. Babies are kept the same as adults but with special care taken to not let them get over 80 degrees as they are more heat sensitive. They also should not be kept in groups of more than three and even then should be closely watched for signs of aggression. In their first few months of life it is extremely important to provide them small prey often and they will eat as soon as a few hours after being born.
If you have experience to the contrary, please feel free to let us know your input!