The first hours decide it
An anole is a few grams of lizard with a high surface area for its size, and indoor air — especially heated or air-conditioned air — pulls moisture from it steadily. That is why this search runs on a clock in a way a lost snake search does not. Start immediately, keep the room's doors closed so the search area cannot grow, and move other pets out of the room. Note exactly when it was last seen and where the vivarium stands: most small lizards are found within the same room, usually within a few metres of home, because a frightened anole's first instinct is to climb something and freeze, not to travel.
Search where an anole climbs, not where you would look
Think vertically. Check the top and back of the vivarium itself first — many escapees are found clinging behind their own enclosure near the warm light fitting. Then work around the walls at height: curtain rails and the folds of the curtains themselves, picture frames, the backs of tall furniture, bookshelf tops, and any houseplant, where a green anole against leaves is almost perfectly camouflaged. Use a torch even in daylight and angle it along surfaces; the beam catches an eye-shine and the outline of a tail that flat room light hides. Move slowly and look before you reach — grabbing at a half-seen anole usually converts a recoverable lizard into a faster, deeper-hidden one, and an anole that drops its tail in a fright has spent reserves it cannot afford.
Water stations double as recovery traps
Place several very shallow dishes — bottle caps or jar lids with a few millimetres of water — along the walls and beside plants near the vivarium, and lightly mist the leaves of the nearest houseplant; a dehydrating anole will come down to drink droplets. Beside one water point, build a small refuge: a plant pot on its side or a low box with a damp paper towel inside and foliage over the top, warmed gently by placing it near (not on) the vivarium's heat source. A cold, thirsty lizard looking for a humid, warm hiding place may choose it over a skirting board, and it gives you a spot you can check every hour without tearing the room apart.
Run quiet checks through the evening
Anoles are day-active, so as the room cools and darkens a loose one will settle somewhere it feels hidden rather than roam. Do your most careful torch search at that point, revisiting the high spots slowly, and again first thing in the morning when it may move toward the warmth of the vivarium lights coming on. Keep the room calm — vibration and repeated furniture-moving push a small lizard deeper into cover and burn the energy and moisture it needs. If there is any chance a window or door stood open, extend the alert beyond the house: KinsLe's Lost Pet Alert System sends a free alert to nearby members, and a thumbnail-sized lizard in a neighbour's conservatory is exactly the sort of sighting someone might otherwise dismiss.
Once you have it back
Catch it by cupping a clear container over it and sliding card underneath rather than grabbing — a dehydrated anole is fragile, and its skin and tail will not forgive a snatch. Return it to the vivarium, mist the foliage, and make sure drinking water is immediately available; many recovered anoles drink at length. Watch it over the following day: a lizard that stays limp, keeps its eyes sunken or half-closed, or will not drink needs a reptile vet promptly, because dehydration at this size can damage organs before the animal looks dramatically ill. Then find the escape gap — usually the cable port or a door corner — and close it, because an anole that has found a way out once will use it again. And because a thumbnail-sized escapee is so easy to overlook, having neighbours already watching for it through KinsLe's Lost Pet Alert System can be what turns up the sighting your own search missed.