The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Wildlife in the garden (birds, butterflies, and how to attract them) => Topic started by: Hilary on October 19, 2011, 05:17:04 PM
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This Gecko fell out of a plant when I opened the balcony door.
It lay there while I went to get the camera and take its photo several times.
Only when I touched its tail did it wiggle away.
We have them on both balconies but hardly ever see them and I have never heard them.
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Charming little critters, aren't they?!
There are lots of Hemidactylus species; I wouldn't like to say definitively which one yours is (the easy guess is Hemidactylus turcicus, the Turkish gecko).
We have one that lives in the electric box by the front door - nice and close to the outside light. But in May-June+ we get lots of mayflies there and he seems to take no notice :( Maybe he is sick of them (no they are not just the shed skins).
We have others round and about. They do call - a sort of 'cack', but not very often.
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Geckos have a really alarming habit of dropping off their tails as you try to encourage them into a paper cup when they've fallen into the shower. The tail then continues to wriggle around which is frankly disgusting. The ones in my electric box cackle a lot.
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This gecko looks like it has only recently regrown its tail.
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How quickly can they regrow a complete tail?
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I have read that replacement tails grow back in as little as two to three months or as long as two years, but the replacement tail is never as long as nor as colorful as the original one. There are short videos showing tail regeneration of leopard geckoes, such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDdVs4qM1XU.
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Fascinating topic.
I too came to similar conclusions as Jorun.
The time-lapse video for the leopard gecko is quite interesting.
On average a gecko seems to grow its tail back in about 2-3 months. The new tail differs from the original anatomically as well as in appearance. It has a single long tube of cartilage rather than vertebrae and long muscles instead of the shorter muscle fibres of the original. It is also less flexible and some but not the complete function is restored. By the way the ability to drop a tail, which is designed to distract predators, is called tail autotomy.
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We have gecko's too. We have at least two kinds. One is called the drop-tail gecko. The other is just called a gecko. These last live in the dry stone walls in our garden and are quite numerous. I guess we must have plenty of insect life for them to feed on. They live in my two green-houses too, scuttling about between the pots and on the coarse gravel of the floors. I can't say I've ever heard any 'cacking' noises. Maybe ours are mute?