Geckos: The Animal Answer Guide

9. Gecko Problems (from a human viewpoint)

105 Chapter 9 Gecko Problems (from a human viewpoint) Are geckos pests? Whether geckos are pests or not depends on one’s perspective. In areas of the world where geckos regularly come into houses, they are usually welcome. They eat insect pests, such as flies, mosquitoes, and moths as well as other invertebrates, like spiders, that many people do not like. However, the cost for these “gecko services” is that the homeowner may have to deal with gecko droppings. These may be deposited on walls or on furniture or inside drawers or cabinets. Although unsightly, gecko droppings, which normally include a fecal pellet that is blackish and an attached, white, pasty to solid urinary product, are small and relatively easy to cleanup. Some diseases, most notably Salmonella (see below), can be transmitted by gecko feces, but in most cases the risks of disease from this source are less than from disease-carrying insects that the geckos eat. Geckos can also disrupt the quiet of a home with their vocalizations, but only a few geckos, such as the Tokay (Gekko gecko) are loud enough to be truly obtrusive. Most species of geckos that will live with humans are nocturnal and spend their days hidden behind pictures on the wall or inside cupboards. At night they dash out to capture prey or to interact with one another and are barely noticed by homeowners who are accustomed to them. No gecko can be said to be a significant agricultural pest, but occasionally geckos are accidentally involved in food processing. For example, I once was asked to identify a gecko whose skull had been honey-roasted and included in an airline bag of almonds. 106 Geckos: The Animal Answer Guide 106 Geckos: The Animal Answer Guide Do geckos have diseases and are they contagious? Like all animals, geckos can suffer from a variety of ailments. Many of these are the result of poor housing conditions or inadequate nutrition and are not directly related to human health. However, geckos can carry certain zoonoses, infectious diseases that can be spread from animals to humans. The most well-known of these is the bacterium Salmonella, which is normally present in the digestive tract of many healthy lizards. It can be passed in the feces of geckos and can infect a person if ingested. This usually occurs if that people put their hands in their mouth or touch food following the handling of the animal itself or something else that has been in contact with the feces. Salmonella usually causes diarrhea, fever, and cramps in humans but can spread systemically and become life threatening. Luckily, its spread to humans can easily be prevented by following basic sanitary rules, like hand washing. It is possible that some of the parasites carried by geckos, such as lung worms and certain ticks that can serve as disease vectors can survive in or on human hosts, but the likelihood of the accidental transfer from a gecko to a human is small. Cryptosporidiosis, a protozoan-caused disease that is often fatal in geckos, is caused by a species of Cryptosporidium different from any of those that are known to cause the disease of the same name in humans. Small, red trombiculid mites that are found on many geckos in the wild are also not dangerous for people. In A “mite pocket” in the axilla (armpit) of a Kaokoveld Gecko (Pachydactylus oreophilus) contains a cluster of trombiculid mites. Such mites are common on wild geckos and usually cause no serious damage to their hosts, although heavy infestations can result in local skin irritation. Courtesy of Johan Marais. 107 Gecko Problems some cultures geckos are believed to cause leprosy or other diseases affecting the skin, but such beliefs are unfounded. How do I keep geckos away from my house? Geckos in houses are largely self-limiting. Unless there is a large population of insects, only a few geckos are likely to be resident inside any particular building. However, if even this is too much, there are some steps that one can take to make a home or other building less attractive to geckos. Most importantly, a well-sealed building will generally exclude geckos, so screens on windows and doors are particularly effective. Avoiding open food and garbage containers will decrease both insect pests and their gecko predators. Some household pets, especially cats, are very good gecko catchers, although wary geckos that keep...