Geckos on Kauai Cheung Chiu Shan

Geckos are ubiquitous in Hawaii.  Many island residents love the small lizards and think having them in the house is good luck.

There are several species of geckos on Kauai. I am fond of the little neon-green day geckos that perch quietly on foliage plants. Cute and functional, these little lizards wander about the leaves, looking for insects to eat. At one time, I thought about capturing a day gecko for my daughter as her pet. I gave up the idea after a few unsuccessful attempts that made me realize geckos are skittish and could slither away at lightning speed.

While I find the diurnal geckos endearing, I have an instinctive revulsion for their relative, the house geckos.  Subtly patterned and tan to dark gray in color, the house geckos got in my house by sneaking under the door.  Once established inside the house, they became the guardian of my home, voraciously eating all the termites, mosquitoes,  roaches,  and spiders in sight.

Being nocturnal, house geckos could be seen running along window screens, feeding on bugs and creepy crawlies attracted to the lights in my house.  To defend their territories and attract mates, house geckos made sounds that resemble the chirps of small birds. Following the noisy sounds, I spotted the rubbery-looking lizards climb the smooth vertical walls of my rooms and cross the ceilings with ease on their suction-cup feet.

A face-to-face encounter with a house gecko could be an uneasy experience. One night, while absorbed in reading, I was confronted with a gecko that dropped from the ceiling onto the pages of my open book. I was startled by the sudden, unexpected landing of the little creature with googly eyes.  Then the gecko popped its head up, looking at me for a second before it scuttled away. I was worried that my uninvited guest would leave droppings on the book.  Gecko droppings had already left terrible stains on my windowsills, furniture, and carpets. I could coexist peacefully with the house geckos as long as they stayed off my food and did not die in an inconvenient place.  While changing the sheets one morning, I found a suffocated gecko in my bed.  That was the last straw!  The gecko went too far when it decided to sleep in my bed. Shortly thereafter I made it my mission to eliminate the geckos one by one.

During the last few months, I noticed the absence of cheerful chirps in my house.  I was glad that I no longer had to deal with the irksome creatures in my life.  The disappearance of  geckos remained a mystery until a few days ago.  While I was watching some feral chickens foraging for food, it dawned on me that the chickens had feasted on baby geckos and tiny gecko eggs, consequently ending the reproduction of geckos in my neighborhood.

When I saw insects, sometimes geckos would come into my mind.  I had taken the harmless geckos for granted.   Wouldn't   it be nice if one of these days I could see again a neon-green gecko resting on the foliage plant in my yard?

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