Geckos for bugs

We live in SC. In various areas, Geckos abound. In others, they do not. Literally 15 minute drive between Geckos everywhere and completely none.

We want some. They love bugs, and they're super easy to live with.

Anyone know how to buy Geckos in the "couple of dozen" scale where I could cheaply throw them outside and hope for the best?

Apparently, gecko trafficking is illegal in some jurisdictions: 'OSLO, Norway - A man has been arrested for trying to smuggle two dozen snakes and geckos by duct taping them to his body.'

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-norway-snakes,0,660116.story

This thinking is why ecosystems collapse and species go extinct.

yamaha wrote: This thinking is why ecosystems collapse and species go extinct.

Dude, lizards are already in my ecosystem, it's likely developers and whatnot chased them off of my particular neighborhood.

yamaha wrote: This thinking is why ecosystems collapse and species go extinct.

I'd like to get my hands on the motherberkeleyer who thought we needed mosquitos. I would pull his guts out with a hot hook.

If they're already nearby I doubt there is any ecological damage to worry about, unless you have spotted owls on your property or something

I remember you have a lot of kids. Maybe take them out on a gecko-catching expedition in a nearby park?

What's the best way to catch a gecko? We've got five-lined skinks around here, and they're way faster than I am.

Small lizards are pretty stupid but they're fast. If you cover them with some container like a shoebox and slide a piece of cardboard underneath that will trap them. The hard part would be transporting lots of them, your best bet would probably be a box with a hole in the center of the top, and that hole surrounded by sandwich wrap, slick side facing the inside of the box. They should have trouble sticking to that.

Teflon is the only material geckos can't stick to.

I can't think of too many things that would be more fun than a car full of about 199 escaped geckos.

So we're contemplating some sort of gecko forced labor camp?

On a slightly serious note, if geckos abound nearby but not in your location it probably means that you lack some component of necessary habitat. We know it isn't food. Trucking them in doesn't mean they will stay, or thrive.

Oh BTW I have geckos around here and they don't seem to be doing anything about the bugs. Maybe there would be more bugs without them but there are still lots of bugs with them.

Fun little critters! They like to hunt on the window near my desk at night. Might have never noticed them otherwise. The keep spiders in check too!

Bruce

Put up some bat houses?

Bats do help with the bugs when you're outside. The downside is that they swoop right in your face to eat the bugs that are buzzing around you.

Do you have feral or outside cats around? They'll put a dent in the geckos fast.

I didn't know there were Geckos in SC. I thought you had to go further south for them.

In reply to Brett_Murphy:

I have two inside cats and one (or both) of them found a gecko that somehow sneaked inside.

It was left outside the bedroom door and it was dented before my bare foot found it.

Geckos glue their poop to your walls.

http://market.kingsnake.com/

http://market.kingsnake.com/index.php?cat=31

You want House Geckos or Mediterranean Geckos

We live near a creek and a pond. In the summer, if we leave our front porch light on, its intant bug mania. The frogs from the creek and pond figured this out. Ive seen 6 different breeds of frogs/toads on my porch at a single time when I leave the light on, feasting on the winged smorgasbord. Luckily, between the frogs and the bats, we seem to have a pretty low mosquito count.

Now to get some peacocks for the tick problem around here

These little critters:

are everywhere down here. They eat bugs by the boxcar and they still can't keep up. I've heard them called geckos, they are actually 'anole lizards'.

These are also pretty common:

The pic doesn't do the blue color justice, it's a bright electric blue. Sometimes the blue continues the full length, those are really cool looking.

If you're getting anoles, please only do the green: http://www.reptilesncritters.com/green-anole-lizard.html

All others are non-native, invasive species.

Margie

We have lots of the green anoles and blue tail skinks in our yard. We also have green and gray tree frogs as well as red bellied snakes. Our cat has mastered catching the green anoles without any serious damage.

Let me know if you're planning a trip to Cola & I'll try to gather a crop for you...

Geckos are an introduced species in SC. It also gets much colder in the winter in our part of the state than it does near Columbia or the coast, so our reptiles and amphibians will be different up here. I haven't seen a gecko in the upstate, but there are plenty of frogs, skinks, and anoles.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Do you have feral or outside cats around? They'll put a dent in the geckos fast. I didn't know there were Geckos in SC. I thought you had to go further south for them.

Ahh, that may be the issue. We have a few feral cats about. At the apartment we used to live in, about 10 miles away, geckos abounded. No cats there. hmmm, silly cats.