# A gecko in the house. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868 "2017-10-14T22:55:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/21 "2017-10-16T12:08:58Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The place had a gecko living behind a large photo on the wall. It would come out regularly. It didn’t bother us and we never bothered it. > **Why should we?** Why?– Well…because…it’s a CREEPY CRAWLY LIZARD!!! And inside a house, creepy crawly things are scary and gross. I do.not.like.critters in my house. (Unless they are furry and purr. 🙂 ) Now, outdoors, they are free to live in peace in my garden, happily communing with the ants and the bugs, while they engage in political negotiations and peace treaties with the neighbor’s cats. But indoors they scare me. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/22 "2017-10-16T16:24:10Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > You people living in the southern climes amaze me. As a resident of the Great White North, where the largest and most terrifying of nature’s beasts usually found in urban houses is the common housefly, if I found a lizard in the house I’d consider it a Major Emergency. Like, the kind that 911 was invented for! 😃 > [@chappachula](#): > > Why?– > Well…because…it’s a CREEPY CRAWLY LIZARD!!! > And inside a house, creepy crawly things are scary and gross. [These guys are tiny, cute,](https://www.anywhere.com/img-a/florafauna/house-gecko-flora-fauna/2-house-gecko-2.JPG?w=800&h=480&fit=min&dp=1) totally harmless, and [quite useful.](http://www.reptilefact.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Common-House-Gecko-Food.jpg) I enjoy having them. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/23 "2017-10-16T17:00:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > and [quite useful.](http://www.reptilefact.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Common-House-Gecko-Food.jpg) I enjoy having them. I’ll ask him to bring his friends. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/24 "2017-10-16T17:32:46Z")
I could send my son over- he catches the dang things nearly every night! Warning: if you catch one in your hand, it will probably shed its tail. Seriously, that’s a standard defense. When caught, they shed their tails. The tails keep wiggling for a few minutes after separation. That may attract the predator’s attention, giving the little guy a chance to escape. That’s why you see many with stumpy tails. (They grow back, but usually not as long or as nicely as before). ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/25 "2017-10-16T17:52:14Z")
They’re everywhere here. I try to catch them because my cat will tear up a lizard and the rest of my apartment trying to play with it. At work, there are no cats, but there are a few “EEK! A LIZARD” types who will squash one for no damned good reason. I’ve never had one shed it’s tail, but I’ve never tried to hold it’s tail either. One of the easiest ways is to use a sheet of paper in either hand and induce it to run onto the paper. Then I walk it outside and put it down near water. Usually in Tony’s plants next door. If it weren’t for the cats, I’d leave them alone in the house. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/26 "2017-10-16T17:58:37Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Warning: if you catch one in your hand, it will probably shed its tail. Seriously, that’s a standard defense. When caught, they shed their tails. The tails keep wiggling for a few minutes after separation. That may attract the predator’s attention, giving the little guy a chance to escape. That’s why you see many with stumpy tails. (They grow back, but usually not as long or as nicely as before). Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) reports that our gecko has a stumpy tail, do doubt due to a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/27 "2017-10-16T18:04:59Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > (They grow back, but usually not as long or as nicely as before). Does the color match? I’m thinking of [this guy](https://imgur.com/a/KZX7P) that I once saw at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC (_outside_ any of the exhibits–he was apparently a visitor, too.) Note the different color of the tail. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/28 "2017-10-16T18:11:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Does the color match? I’m thinking of [this guy](https://imgur.com/a/KZX7P) that I once saw at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC (_outside_ any of the exhibits–he was apparently a visitor, too.) Note the different color of the tail. That’s not a gecko, it’s a [Carolina Anole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_anole), popularly known as “chameleons” because they can change from brown to green. They also shed and grow back their tails, but not as easily as geckos. The [re-grown tail](http://www.mdavid.com.au/nature/images/geckoceilingr.jpg)will usually be shorter and slightly different in color. Your anole looks like it has a re-grown tail based on the color difference. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/29 "2017-10-16T18:24:01Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s not a gecko I didn’t claim that it was, merely that it had the trait of tail regeneration. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/30 "2017-10-16T18:28:48Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s not a gecko, it’s a [Carolina Anole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_anole), popularly known as “chameleons” because they can change from brown to green. They also shed and grow back their tails, but not as easily as geckos. There are many of those in the woods here, AKA American chameleon. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/31 "2017-10-16T18:38:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I didn’t claim that it was, merely that it had the trait of tail regeneration. Since the subject of the thread is geckos, it was worth pointing it out. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/32 "2017-10-16T18:41:22Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > There are many of those in the woods here, AKA American chameleon. My son catches those all the time, too. They’re out in the daytime, while the Mediterranean geckos come out after dark. The male anoles are hilarious to watch in the Spring, when they start doing pushups to impress the ladies. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/33 "2017-10-16T18:53:20Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The male anoles are hilarious to watch in the Spring, when they start doing pushups to impress the ladies. I remember seeing them do that when I lived in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/34 "2017-10-16T19:13:34Z")
My brother, sister, and I discovered lizards one trip we went to Texas to visit family. We caught 4 or 5, a couple were “chameleons”, and a couple were more textured like an Eastern Fence Lizard. We took them home, but didn’t know how to keep them, and this was BG (before Google), so we let them loose in the back yard in a fence pile. Saw them on occasion for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/35 "2017-10-16T19:17:54Z")
So after having said that the only lizards I see here are “streakfields”, I walk onto the porch just now and making it’s way down a baluster was something that wasn’t one–I didn’t get a great look at it, but I think it was another Carolina Anole. (This is an especially weird coincidence–not only is running across a lizard not an every day thing for me, it isn’t even an every _year_ thing.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/36 "2017-10-16T19:35:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So after having said that the only lizards I see here are “streakfields”, I walk onto the porch just now and making it’s way down a baluster was something that wasn’t one–I didn’t get a great look at it, but I think it was another Carolina Anole. (This is an especially weird coincidence–not only is running across a lizard not an every day thing for me, it isn’t even an every _year_ thing.) They are beginning to keep track of everyone who posts in this thread. I for one welcome our new reptile masters. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/37 "2017-10-16T21:42:07Z")
Living in a mediterranean climate, my previous house was affectionately named “Spider Ranch”, as that seemed to be the livestock we were raising. Soon enough, the lizards moved in, as there was plenty of good eatin’. They weren’t geckos, just some version on stripers. They found their way indoors, much to the amusement of our indoor-only cats. Never a bother, really. I considered them to be contributing members of the household (by eating the bugs). ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/38 "2017-10-17T00:11:08Z")
I lived on Guam for a couple years. Lots of geckos and anoles everywhere. The geckos were more common but anoles were still pretty abundant. I never had problems with geckos as they kept the population of flies, ants, and cockroaches lower. But the tail thing was creepy. Anoles on the other hand could be aggressive. They were small but bigger than geckos and I had a couple jump on me and scratch me (not harmful but sure freaked me out). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/39 "2017-10-17T01:19:44Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Anoles on the other hand could be aggressive. They were small but bigger than geckos and I had a couple jump on me and scratch me (not harmful but sure freaked me out). They never attacked me. I found some dead, closed up in a window. I am told that to capture them for pets, plastic sheeting is spread out under a tree, and the tree shaken. The anoles fall out, and can’t walk on the slick plastic. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868/40 "2017-10-17T03:54:56Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I remember finding the flattened remains of one inside the door jamb of my house in the North way back when. Poor fellow. I read this thread earlier today, as I have seen a few house geckos lately. This evening, I happened to discover a dead gecko that was half flattened high, stuck on the door. Dried out, no idea how long ago it died. Weird to read about something obscure like that and then see it a few hours later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gecko-in-the-house/798868.md?page=3)