Gecko

Gecko

Are geckos welcome at your house? Leave a window open in Hong Kong and eventually you'll find one pays you a visit. Height doesn't seem to be a problem - the one in this picture climbed up to see us and we're on the twentieth floor.

Some people find them creepy, or object to the little gecko-poop gifts they leave behind. I figure that each little present means a bunch less bugs & mozzies, and am happy to let them get on with their work. The most prolific present-giving gecko we ever had lived in the kitchen, at about the same time we had a beetle infestation. It turned out the beetles were coming from a pack of beans that hadn't been sealed properly, and the gecko had taken up residence near the box. It must have been gecko heaven, just lean over and snap up the next beetle that pops its head out of the box.

Plus they change colour in a chameloon-like way, and according to wikipedia, that climbing ability is even better than it looks. Most of the time they are only using a fraction of the sticking-power of their feet. If a gecko put the whole surface of it's foot in contact with a wall, it could support a 120kg weight!

Superhuman qualities aside, I do wish that:
- a: They didn't scurry so quickly, making me jump, and
- b: They'd stay out of the nooks and crannies

Point b probably works well in nature, keeping them away from becoming someone larger's snack. In the house though, it means they get squished. Usually you don't know about it until weeks later, when you move something and a dried-up, flattened gecko falls out. There was one gecko that went out in a more dramatic way however. He found a dark, warm place to stay, which was just fine until the next time we made toast. Clouds of smoke and a nasty smell alerted us to his demise. Gecko on toast anyone?

MrB

Comments

eek, grilled gecko!

I think they're cute little creatures, but none has ever venutred quite high enough for us (59 floors up in an area with very little vegetation might be asking too much).

Be patient...

... maybe they're on their way! I guess that if they can make it to 20th floor, dizziness shouldn't be a problem, so maybe they just haven't made it up to the 59th floor yet? (assuming that with 59 floors you live in a newish building).

I'm thinking they start out one day with plans to reach the top, but get distracted by hunger pangs around the fifth floor. They drop in to the nearest flat for a snack, meet an attractive little geckoette, and settle down. Then the kids grow up, there's a big row, 'You just don't understand me!, etc', and gecko jr. heads out and up to greater things.

Or maybe your neighbours on the 58th floor eat a lot of toast?

Regards, MrB

PS Who has Hong Kong's highest gecko? Can anyone beat the 20th floor?

Those darned 58ers! Now I

Those darned 58ers! Now I know why I'm constantly smelling garlic bread...

I love Geckos

Can't beat 58 floors (I live on ground) but I love geckos. My 7 y/o son desperately wants to have a set of gloves/socks like gecko feet so that he can climb the walls and ceiling, too.

When we lived in HI, we had so many geckos it was amazing. They are very territorial. i've seen a large one chase a smaller one out of its territory, chirping loudly (these HK geckos seem to be very quiet), after grabbing it and shaking it like a terrier would. Fascinating! our cats would climb the jalousy windows to try to catch them--I had one cat that would jump from my dresser to the top of the bedroom door and then jump up to the high jalousy window, grab the gecko with one paw while holding on with the other, shove it in his mouth and drop the 8 feet to the ground, all in one fluid motion.

M

Gecko Power

I love these little guys. Except when they crawl across my forehead when I am sleeping. Then I want to get my tennis racket and see if I can make them fly out the window and onto the building across the way.

If I hit him just right, I can get him to go through the open window and land in the bath of a woman who insists on taking baths with her window and curtains wide open. I wouldn't object if she was young and pretty, but alas, she is not.