Toe-clipping is a simple and widely used method for permanently marking small lizards. Although some studies have shown negligible effects of toe-clipping on locomotor performance and survival in terrestrial lizards, less is known about effects of toe-clipping on arboreal lizards. We evaluated effects of toe-clipping on clinging performance of the small arboreal, pad-bearing lizard Anolis carolinensis. We also examined how clinging ability scaled with size within this species. We measured clinging ability in the same lizards with unclipped toes and with one (two toes clipped total) and two toes (four toes clipped total) clipped per each forelimb. We found that clinging ability decreased dramatically even after clipping only two toes (about a 40% decline) and even more dramatically after clipping four toes (about a 60% decline). We also found that clinging ability scales isometrically with body size within unclipped anoles. Because clinging ability was measured on a smooth substrate and was not influenced directly by claws, toe-clipping appears to directly affect toepad function. Toe-clipping may affect clinging ability because of the severing of a tendon that plays a key role in toepad function. Thus, we suggest that researchers should be cautious before applying toe-clipping as a marking technique to pad-bearing lizards.