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Gecko in the house

Friday, September 23, 2005 | 3 comments

Tonight, when Esme and I went out to have dinner, I saw a gecko jumping down the stairs in very fast, almost flowing movements. We have heard the gecko a few times before (it makes loud kissing noises), and even saw it inside our apartment a few times. And a few days ago it scared Esme on the stairs.

When it got down, it hide close to the door, but didn't get out. When we came down it went out, but when I opened the door Esme saw it outside, close to the door. The gecko went back in again, running in a very funny wriggling way, almost like it was swimming. With Esme's help I managed to catch it. I wanted to take some photos of the animal and have a closer look. So I went back upstairs and put the gecko in a plastic box I used for keeping baby crickets.

Gecko in the snake's terrarium
Gecko in the snake's terrarium

When we came back, I put the small plastic box in the snake's terrarium, since I wanted to take a few pictures, and if the gecko managed to escape, it wouldn't be running around in the house.

Gecko in the snake's terrarium
Gecko in the snake's terrarium

As soon as I opened the box, it got out. Also, it had defecated in the box, and it smelled really bad. The gecko hid at first under a rock. The snake that lives in the terrarium is quite small (22 cm) and happy with crickets and grasshoppers for food. So I was sure it was no problem that the gecko was inside the terrarium as well. Besides, the snake was hidden, probably sleeping.

Gecko against the glass of the terrarium
Gecko against the glass of the terrarium

I tried to make a few pictures without stressing the animal too much (at one moment it urinated on a piece of rock, see previous two pictures, also its color seemed to have changed). After the photo session I carefully took the little animal out of the terrarium. Close to the wall in our house where we had spotted it (or a similar gecko) some time ago, I opened my hands to let it go. Esme asked if she could have it walking on her hand, and held her hand close. The gecko walked on her hand, jumped down, and ran down the stairs. I also opened the door up that leads to the roof, in case it decided to go that way.

Later I read a bit about the house gecko, since my best guess it's a house gecko, which seems to be introduced in Mexico.

House gecko related

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