Going to start a new web forum for a certain type of pet lizard. There are very active email lists about them but no forums. This will be my first time starting a forum like this so I was wondering how do you get people to join/participate in the forum?

Perhaps you can promote your forum on one of those active e-mail lists? That's sure to draw some visitors...

If advertising is not allowed, you can still post messages to the e-mail lists and list the forum URL in your signature and that should draw visitors as well.

You can also search for other websites on the same topic and e-mail the webmasters and see if they're willing to link to your forum. Most websites have a "Links" page, etc.

It will require a good amount of work. Visit www.sitepointforums.com and you will find a lot of information about communities...