Hello everybody, Sophie here with this month's cold-blooded creature, the tropical house gecko.
This is a really common little lizard here in Florida that most of you have probably seen at night running around your porch lights. It is also known as the Amerafrican gecko, and you can guess by the name that this is another invasive species.
In fact, there are 33 different species of geckos in Florida and only one of them is a native. That one is called the Florida Reef Gecko and it is actually the smallest gecko found in the United States.
Geckos are different from other lizards for a lot of cool reasons. Most geckos don't have eyelids and can't blink. They have to lick their eyeballs with their tongues to keep them clean and moist.
They also have sticky pads on their feet which enable them to climb walls better than Spiderman. They can even climb across ceilings. Geckos are not harmful to people at all and these guys are something you want to have around your house.
The tropical house gecko is native to sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. They probably came to Florida more than 100 years ago by hiding in cargo ships full of fruit and vegetables. Some of them may have been brought over as pets.
House geckos grow about 6 inches long and live 3 to 5 years, which is pretty average for most geckos. The females only lay 2 eggs at a time every few months. They are nocturnal lizards and eat mostly insects, especially the ones that are attracted to lights. That's how they got the name house gecko.
Most people in Africa really like having them around because they eat a lot mosquitoes, which are very dangerous and spread a lot of diseases over there.
The house gecko in the photo sitting on my shoulder jumped out from under one of my grandparents' shutters on Matlacha last year after Hurricane Milton.
He must have been really freaked out by the storm because he seemed to like hanging out with me. I let him warm up for a little while and then put him back where we found him.
House geckos don't make great pets since they're nocturnal and stay hidden in the daytime. They would be kind of boring and really should be running up and down your walls eating bugs.
Like I said before, this is a reptile you want hanging out at your house.
They are also one of the few invasive species that isn't really a problem for us here in Florida, so if you see one, don't hurt it. Thanks for reading and see you next month with another cold-blooded Florida creature.
Sophie Mckee
Oasis High School, Cape Coral
