My “Australia’s Bad Things” category continues with “NOT” Bad Things. I know many of you are waiting for the real scary creepy crawlies and they are on the way. Soon. But first….
Brisbane is lizard city, they are everywhere. 59 species from all five Australian families have made Greater Brisbane their home. What are these five families? Geckos, Flap-Footed Lizards, Dragons, Goannas and Skinks.
Water dragons are the most spectacular. They hang around by the river on the banks, the males nearly a metre long. Not seen one of those inside the house yet, but as you know, I had a small Common Bearded Dragon around my pool.
But we do get loads of these in the house.
Our Regular Gecko
This one seems to turn up every evening at the same spot. It is outside of the house but inside the wooden window shutters. It’s a good spot for him because the light from the kitchen attracts insects and our gecko is hiding in the ” he’s behind you!” position on the shutters. I think it’s a very successful hunting ground for him.
These are called the Asian House Gecko. They can be little babies, about an inch (30mm) long, or adults that grow to about 5 (150mm) or so inches. Here’s a toddler.
Baby Gecko
And here’s another adult, this one was in the garage.
Adult Gecko in the Garage
We love geckos in our house, we think they are cute. My daughter is happy when one is in her bedroom, she knows it will look after her if any insects come in. These little things do scare easy though. If you corner one as I did in the early days, I was just trying to catch it to let it out, they can shed their tail. So now, if one finds its way into our house we let it find its own way out again. Seems fair.
Sometimes I “rescue” the tiny ones as they will have more chance of catching an insect outside of the house than in. The best way of catching these little things? I use a dust pan and brush and gently guide them into the pan before taking them outside.
But nothing surprised me more about geckos than when I found out it was them that make the really loud “CHUCK, CHUCK, CHUCK” noise at night. Cute little geckos. Big noise!
Asian house geckos update
I have since decided they are not so cute anymore. Please see…
Praying Mantis Update
In my last post about intruders I suggested that in all probability the Praying Mantis is my favourite insect. I am currently rethinking that theory after watching the following video…………
The title’s incorrect….Asian house geckos are the worst things in the world…I can stand an iguana in the house but those pesky little devils? Oh no!
I’m glad you reminded me, I no longer think these things are cute, they are the opposite, they are a pain. The reason I’m glad you reminded me is because I did an updated post and forgot to link it to this page.
I have done so now, please see the update towards the foot of the above post and click on the link to see exactly why I no longer like these things.
So, I agree with you, although they are not quite yet the worst thing in the world, mosquitoes will take a lot of catching up.
Cheers, Bob
I don’t know why i’m so hooked on your posts but it’s 1am and i’ve been reading your posts for about 2 hours. I also live in Brisbane and it’s great to read about my city from another person’s perspective. Just wanted to let you know that 30cm is roughly the length of an A4 piece of paper and 150cm is about 15cm short of the average female adult. I think you may have meant mm.
Sorry about the addiction Lisa, I believe some doctors are working on a treatment program, you might want to consider that if things get worse 🙂
As for those measurements, thanks for pointing it out to me. I am aware of the difference, but funnily enough this is the second time I’ve made this stupid mistake. I have a video somewhere about a water scorpion that I described as 50 cm long! Obviously I can’t easily change my narration in a video, but I can change the above and will.
Cheers
Bob