MolassesLass Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 My house seems to be overrun with geckos. The dogs have now noticed they exist and are waking me up at night scratching at the walls and trying to climb on things and I've had enough. So, what can you do to rid your house of geckos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeeGee Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Id love to know as i have the same problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MolassesLass Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Anyone tried this product? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Poison all your insects. Geckoes eat cockroaches, crickets, moths... that sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MolassesLass Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Are you having a go? I cannot see how it would be possible to stop new insects coming into my yard -- even if I could kill every insect inside and out. Pest control companies have said they are not allowed to treat geckos, so that sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Are you having a go? I cannot see how it would be possible to stop new insects coming into my yard -- even if I could kill every insect inside and out.Pest control companies have said they are not allowed to treat geckos, so that sucks. I was being semi-facetious. It depends on what kind of geckoes you have. I challenge you to keep Asian House Geckoes out of your house any other way. If you live in the tropics, that's what you'll have. They are pale with little pale brown dots and make a squeaky barking sound. If we're talking about a native species, they rarely go indoors. It might be possible to encourage them to move out of your walls at least, but I don't like your chances. They are designed for cracks and crevices. If there's food, they will want to stay. They eat insects. Thus, to get rid of geckoes, get rid of your insects. Given geckoes are one of the few non-toxic ways of keeping insect populations down, I can't imagine why you'd want to get rid of your geckoes. Plus, they are thoroughly charming creatures! Even the introduced ones. Is it possible to counter-condition your dogs to the noise they are making? Or perhaps teach the dogs to leave them alone? Seems easier to me than getting rid of the geckoes. You might be able to reduce the numbers by making it harder for them to get inside and then systematically catching every one you see and putting it out. Check around your house for cracks where they can get in, maybe? They can get through very small cracks. We have a native species that lives under our house, presumably in large numbers judging by how many we see. Never found one inside, though. They like to hang around lights to catch the insects attracted to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradders Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Our exterior walls are concrete so we get heaps of them inside and out.. we don't have a lot of insects as the Gecko's keep them away, which i'm pretty happy with.. THey also know to live above about 2M high otherwise they are fair game for the cats! gotta love the food chain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MolassesLass Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks for the constructive post this time. They don't look like the Asian ones, they have no colour at all - not that it matters. Given geckoes are one of the few non-toxic ways of keeping insect populations down, I can't imagine why you'd want to get rid of your geckoes. I've already said why - the dogs are trying to chase them up the walls and ceilings in the middle of the night. Plus they are extremely gross-looking and they sit in the rails for our sliding doors and get squished. This means that I regularly have to deal with dead ones or live zombie ones dragging around squished back-ends or half-mangled heads and once I've had one drop on me, snapped in half and bleeding. It's quite traumatising. Is it possible to counter-condition your dogs to the noise they are making? I'd rather kill the geckos since the dogs chasing them is only half the issue (and it's not the noise, they see them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilly Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 My brother sprayed around the outside of our house with a outdoor surface spray to spiders, wasps etc and basically all the geckos disappeared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 It's gecko mating season, in a few weeks it will all be over. The house is full of Gecko Love right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I find the geckos are less interested in being in the house if I remember to turn more lights off at night. I think it has to do with attracting insects and the geckos follow the light and hang round there. You could try training the dogs to leave the geckos alone or putting gecko hidey spots up above dog reach so the dogs can't see them, though they can probably still smell them. And I do find that the door squish method effective in um getting rid of them too. I guess you must have many more than I do. I kind of like them and agree finding mushed gecko feels sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks for the constructive post this time. Well, I thought the first one was moderately constructive. It's not like you would have to systematically kill every arthropod that put a toe inside your house and yard. Kill most of them and your geckoes still won't have much to eat. I hate using chemicals around the house and would rather live with the geckoes. Once you start messing with the ecosystem it's easy to create imbalances because you don't know what relies on what. What eats the geckoes? If you kill off all the insects, spiders and so on, what else was depending on them? I don't know, so I tend to err on the side of caution and try not to mess with it if I can avoid doing so. That's my greeny, conservationist opinion, though. If you want to discourage the geckoes and get their numbers down, my original comment still stands. Fumigate the house. Then use some surface spray, and bug zappers or plug-in insecticide dealy. You don't have to have an insect-free property, just less of 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyosha Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 You find it traumatising to see a couple get squished by the door so you want to kill all of them?!? If they're native ones they're protected and it's illegal to kill them deliberately. That's why pest control people can't deal with them. They like eating spiders you know... I love my geckos, I don't have to deal with redbacks, housespiders or whitetails since they've been here, and I never have to brush down cobwebs from the outside of the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I love geckoes, can we see some pics of them please. I wish we had them down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I love geckoes, can we see some pics of them please. I wish we had them down here. Will post some tonight when I get home. I have taken a few pics of them lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss B Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 They don't look like the Asian ones, they have no colour at all - not that it matters. Are they a clear/pinkish colour? They are most likely Asian House Geckos - Hemidactylus frenatus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MolassesLass Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 You find it traumatising to see a couple get squished by the door so you want to kill all of them?!? It's the blood and gutz gruesomeness of the severely injured but still moving ones that I find traumatising. I find it very distressing to be faced with the grossness of putting them out of their misery (how does one do this humanely to a lizard?!) versus letting them suffer to death. If there was a pest control spray for them they would just drop off the walls and be whole bodies that they could easily be transferred to the bin. If there was some ultrasonic sound that kept them away that would be even better. But there doesn't appear to be anything like this, so I have to make do with what is available. They like eating spiders you know... I love my geckos, I don't have to deal with redbacks, housespiders or whitetails since they've been here, and I never have to brush down cobwebs from the outside of the house. Mine are broken then, we have spiders in the corners of a few rooms. Spiders are fine though, I like watching them and their webs. Trust us to get the stupid AND useless variety! They don't look like the Asian ones, they have no colour at all - not that it matters. Are they a clear/pinkish colour? They are most likely Asian House Geckos - Hemidactylus frenatus. Yes clear/pinkish, basically albinos except they have dark eyes. Definitely no brown spots though, which is what corvus said made them AHGs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Molassesslass you live in Logan and I live at Beenleigh so I'd be surprised if we didn't have the same type of gecko. I have asians at my house and I know this because when I was a kid we had the native ones and they look very different (more rounded). The native ones would have a heart attack if discovered in the house by a human but would gather round outside lights eating the bugs. They have the ability to change colour to blend into the walls and background. I've got loads of asians here (no natives) and they only started to develop after I stopped getting an annual pest control so like someone said, if you kill off their food supply then they will move elsewhere. So get the pest control people in but don't mention about the geckos! I have had a ssevere asthma attack from pest control spray so prefer the gecko system but don't have a problem with the dogs. I do know someone who is terrified of geckos and can't sleep if she thinks one is in the house, so we all have our little likes and dislikes. For instance blue tongues scare the crap out of me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Spiders eat baby geckos, but I've never seen a gecko eat a spider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adnil444 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I have lots of geckos too but I want them here - they keep down the other insects. I never get cockroaches or spiders etc in the house at all. The geckos are mainly in my garage and once I did have the pest guy in but he said you are much better off with the geckos than the insects and he was right. My dogs don't seem to get bothered by them which is good, they have grown up with them and if they do come across one in the yard, they leave it alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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