Gecko: The Moth Killer!

I have a personal passion for geckos and took a look at Wikipedia for some hard facts such as the following:

They are a small member of the Gekkonidae family, approximately 3” to 6” (7.5cm – 15cm) in length; somewhat aggressive, definitely prolific and (usually) nocturnal. They are frequently seen crawling up walls or across ceilings, in search of prey that are attracted to porch or interior lights. They prefer warm and humid climates and can be found almost world wide, given appropriate climatic conditions.

It was also stated that geckos had been introduced to a number of countries by being stowaways on sailing ships (clever!) and through discussions in Honduras Living I learned that Dr. Gene Ostmark (a highly respected scientist and human being) has been credited with the deliberate introduction of geckos to Honduras.

So much for the clinical data…

They are a delightfully useful creature to have around the house because they eat all kinds of insects, spiders and moths, as I discovered last night. They are also well known for their chirping call and are quite vocal in their conversations with other geckos.

I’ve gotten into the habit of verbally welcoming them to my home when I hear them and this morning was listening to one chirping away, well after daylight when it was supposed to be asleep. Maybe it was the one I saw last night with the moth, and it had a belly ache after such a large meal!


It has also been documented that geckos can “drop” off their tail when they are alarmed, and after reading that I’m feeling somewhat more reassured. I had moved a heavy plastic crate last week, which made a loud shrieking noise against the ceramic tiles and only then noticed one of my house geckos making its escape.


Its tail stayed on the floor, wriggling and writhing, and I was horrified at the thought of having accidentally hurt the poor creature. Now my thinking is that this would be a brilliant survival tactic, with leaving behind an edible, moving morsel for an aggressor while rapidly removing itself from the scene.


I’ve also witnessed the occasional one simply falling off of a ceiling or patio roof, landing with a splat and then being able to run off, so they appear to be pretty tough.

One thing that I deliberately do is to try and not use pesticides or more toxic cleaners in my apartment as I think geckos could be easily poisoned and I would much prefer having them living here to keep the bugs under control for me.

I was certainly surprised last night to find one climbing up the outside window screen and since the camera was within reach, I took a series of photos of the gecko killing the moth. They are incredibly fast moving and once they capture something large in their jaws, they clamp down and proceed to shake it while gulping more of the main body into its mouth. Just like a dog shaking a rat!

So, there’s a bit of information about one of the most interesting, and useful, creatures I’ve found here in Honduras.

PS Thought I was quite clever and made a movie of the photos I took. Blogger isn't clever as every time I tried to load the movie, the whole computer froze. Argh....

PPS Jan 14th I saw "Stubby" (the tailless one) and a larger gecko come out from behind the fridge, during the daytime. "Big Guy" caught a large house fly while I was watching so I'm quite pleased to have them as permanent house guests!