Tagging A. pulchellus and other similar anoles, plus other questions - A couple of questions for an ecology experiment (Oct/02/2009 )
I am a Puerto Rican Biology undergrad and I have to design and conduct an Ecology experiment for my lab (due for December, abstract in early November). I wish to see if the lizards return to their home range after being relocated and, on top of that, if their is a different "success" rate between males and females and/or adults and juveniles. I think that if they do, then it would be a sign of memory.
My questions:
1) Tagging methods. I cannot afford the digital tags so I would appreciate any suggestions that are cheap and effective (wouldn't we all? 
)
2) I've done some googling and the few papers that could contain the home ranges of some Anolis species are not accessible. So, my question is: Is there an average home range for Anolis species in Puerto Rico?
3)If not, can anyone here point me in the right direction in terms of the literature or, praise be upon him, provide it (I understand that I'm asking for quite a bit, but I make no demands)?
4)Regarding my memory hunch: The only way that it could work, as I see it, is if the lizard has traveled the area before (otherwise, what how would it remember a way back?). This means that it would have to be within its traveling range and, further, that it has a "home base" withing this range. Now, I ask, am I way off base with this?
Sorry for the hassle and thanks for your answers!
PS: First timer. Not even a science fair.
Fizzle on Oct 3 2009, 12:17 AM said:
My questions:
1) Tagging methods. I cannot afford the digital tags so I would appreciate any suggestions that are cheap and effective (wouldn't we all?
)2) I've done some googling and the few papers that could contain the home ranges of some Anolis species are not accessible. So, my question is: Is there an average home range for Anolis species in Puerto Rico?
3)If not, can anyone here point me in the right direction in terms of the literature or, praise be upon him, provide it (I understand that I'm asking for quite a bit, but I make no demands)?
4)Regarding my memory hunch: The only way that it could work, as I see it, is if the lizard has traveled the area before (otherwise, what how would it remember a way back?). This means that it would have to be within its traveling range and, further, that it has a "home base" withing this range. Now, I ask, am I way off base with this?
Sorry for the hassle and thanks for your answers!
PS: First timer. Not even a science fair.
ok with regard to the tagging maybe its better to paint the base of the tail with rep safe paint like they do with other species. I know anoles can be incredibly fiddly to work with as they dont tame so well and are incredibly fast!