A few weeks prior I had packed wood on the side of the outside fireplace for when next we wanted to use it and I didn't bother checking it before setting the new fire alight close by. As things started to get warm and smokey, there was a mad flash and flurry of movement and I ran over to find this pretty gecko, faxed, confused and trying to escape. I relocated it and one of it's buddies to the fence line where it would be safe and didn't turn into a kebab.
It's one that I haven't found here before and I'm almost 100% certain that it's a Common Tropical House Gecko. The scientific name is Hemidactylus mabouia.
The genus name Hemidactylus, which comes from the Greek words hemisys or hemi meaning “half” and daktylos meaning “finger”, refers to the rows of skin folds under these geckos' digits, which are grouped in two halves.1
Did you know that Geckos are identified primarily by their toes? Similar to how our fingerprints are used. Confusing species' feet are scanned and then inspected to find the patterns that align with the correct species. I find that fascinating and learned it when I first started studying in University.
Geckos are by far one of my favourite animals. I have no idea why but I've always liked them. Around the world there are over a thousand different species. The fact that they can scale walls, trees, even flat smooth surfaces like windows sets them apart from many other species of reptiles.
This is a common species in my country, but it seems to be limited in range in the area that I'm in, perhaps they were introduced by the horticultural industry (quite a few species of geckos and frogs have been moved like this from gardens and plant nurseries), but it hasn't been confirmed from any of the sources I've scoured to learn more about this particular gecko.
You can see that this is a nocturnal2 species by it's pupil which is a vertical slit opposed to the diurnal3 species which generally have a round pupil. This particular gecko was about 17cm from snout to tail tip and didn't seem to mind me holding it to relocate it away from the fireplace. I found it interesting to note that it's tail is divided at the tip, this happens sometimes when a gecko loses it's tail, certain species have the ability to regrow them.
They use this as a survival mechanism. When threatened they will drop their tail which will writhe and wriggle for a few minutes after being shed as a way to attract a predator's attention while the gecko uses the decoy as an opportunity to escape. I am always very careful to not touch their tails when I have to capture one for relocation as this will most likely cause it to shed it and as I'm not actually a threat, it would be a horrible waste for the gecko as it would then have lost it's decoy and would have to spend energy and time regrowing a new one.
They are wonderful animals to have in your garden and around your house as they eat all manner of irritating insects like mosquitoes, flies and beetles.
I was very happy to find this guy and took the opportunity to snap a few mug shots for ID purposes. This one didn't seem to mind very much as it was soaking up the sunlight and would have later gone to find a new sleeping spot for the rest of the day. Whenever we find little critters like this, I give LL the opportunity to hold them if the animal is calm enough. I think it helps her to feel involved and close to the natural world. She's extremely gentle and talks soothingly to these little reptiles before they go on their way. She understands the difference between wild animals and pets and she's quite respectful of it. Of course she sometimes lets her excitement get the better of her and she wants to keep one, but I never let her and I think she will grow up with a good understanding of the reasons behind that.
Anyway, it was a nice encounter that ended with only braaied pork and not braaied gecko so I think being observant and quick on my feet helped. Next time though, I'll be sure to check the woodpile for any buddies before I light the fire.
1 Source
2 Nocturnal ~ active at night
3Diurnal ~ active during the day
Crepuscular ~ active at dawn and dusk
Other identification information was found in The Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa by Bill Branch, 1994. Page 194 - 195.
@zeraton you have now done it. Every time that I want to use this template I feel guilty that I'm keeping people awake with Outdoorsy Andy OMG. I'm going to have to change it. 🤣
17cm? Is that right? ... that's one HUGE gecko 😲
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Hi @braaiboy
Yes, well that was it's full length. From snout to vent it was probably about 10 to 11cm. A big species for sure, much bigger than some of the more common species like the Marble Leaf Toed Geckos that get inside houses in Cape Town which are about 8cm long, or the smaller Day Geckos, so it was awesome to find one that size. I'm well chuffed.
Thanks for checking out my post and commenting. Hope you are having warmer weather in Pretoria than down here. Have a great Sunday.
Oh wow... that's almost a crocodile !LOLZ
Re PTA: I think we're actually colder than you guys down there. It's a little warmer than last week... but still hanging around < 10deg in the mornings... Winter is only just getting started, and I'm already crying for summer :P
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I'm glad he wasn't a baby croc, I've held one of those, even as babies they are really strong and can probably take a finger, I'll stick to geckos, I'm not Steve Irwin inclined.
Oh you and me both then. I looked up your temp and it said 24 degrees so I silently hated you just a little bit for that lol, but it's actually nice here today, so probably similar temperature, tonight will be stupidly cold again. I'm not a huge fan of winter, it's horribly unproductive and I just want to hibernate.
I've only ever passed through PTA but I know there are sections out there that ate really pretty. What's the best part in your opinion?
Cute gecko! But what you also failed to mention is that this particular one comes from a rare species known as: Pointy toe Gecko on the wall africanus :)
Awn, that's so adorable! The way you allow LL to interact with animals and nature in that way. Now, while we're on the topic of LL, I'm just gonna address the elephant in the room:
Or is it just me lol? 😂
And P.S: Don't you dare take down that outro pic outdoorsy Andy! No matter the cause, even at the expense of our precious sleep🤣
Hahaha Umnn I think it's maybe just you? 🤣 He was kinda cool in The Deep Blue Sea. Him and his bird against the sharks.
Thanks for stopping by and having a read, I am now going to have nightmares about LL Cool J and Sharks. I'm not quite sure which is worse tbh.
Ha! I thought as much XD
And he was wasn't he? Damn though, that scene was freaking intense!
The latter, I believe, is much worse. Dreaming about LL Cool J isn't necessarily a bad dream you know :)
It can be good.
great scientific value! nice pictures! thank you for complying with the rules and you will be voted for our DNA account
We appreciate your work and your post was manually curated by @none! from the DNA team!
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Thank you so much @none and @dna.org for the curation, I'm very pleased that it met the standards.
Have a great day 🦎
Hi Andy!
I like geckos too, although I don't like to touch them. We have a lot of them at home, and they eat as you said annoying insects, although there are fewer of them, now that we have a kitten.
We call the common gecko Tuqueque or Limpia casa (Cleaning house). And I didn't know about the tail, thanks for sharing it.
Happy week ahead to both of you!😊
Cleaning house, that is such a cool name for them. I can imagine that your cat enjoys finding them. I have lost count of all the geckos that I have rescued from my cats.
Thanks for having a read, I'm glad you enjoyed my post.
Have a great day.
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Wow, I just knew by now. Thanks for sharing. God bless.
I'm glad I could share something interesting with you, I'm full of these weird mostly useless little facts 😁
Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great day further Jonalyn 🌼
But I do love to know small facts even if they seems useless for now. I'd like to share those facts to my kids. My eldest son, who is 9-year old likes to ask me questions about little facts. 😅
Awww, cute man, it's such a lovely age and kids have such curious minds, they ask the best questions. My daughter is turning 5 next month and she asks such cute things. It's wonderful to be able to share information with them and see how it makes them thing about being an animals or wondering what frogs eat and how the stars in the skies work only at night. It's adorable. Enjoy every minute of it, it goes by so fast.
Hugs to you. Have a lovely day
We appreciate your work and your post has been manually curated by zoology team (oscurity,nelinoeva) on behalf of Amazing Nature Community. Keep up the good work!
What an amazing post!! beautiful photos, I really loved that you put the source from where you extract the information allowed me to enter the site and learn more about this species! keep up the good work and keep inspiring other users to create great content!
Thank you so much, I'm glad that I was able to share how I found this gecko and identified it with the little bits of interesting information I've picked up through the years as well.
Thanks @oscurity and @nelinoeva 🌸🦎🌸