Geckos

Geckos may be the nicest of the invasive species that have come to thrive in Hawaii. They like to hang around houses and eat bugs and usually stay out of the way. We see both bright green (at right) and more plain looking brown ones (below).

They seem to like hanging out on our lanai and so far they have stayed outside the house. Mid-morning we often see them running along the back edge of the lanai. Usually they are headed for a specific spot where they sit a while and then leap onto the nearby bush and disappear.

The males are very territorial (I have read) and will do little "pushup" routines where they go up and down and often inflate their throats. For some reason gecko seem to run in spurts going a few feet and then stopping often doing "pushup" display before continuing on.

In the day we tend to seem them on scurrying around on the ground and hiding. At night is when we see them using their Spiderman skills and crawl up high on walls or often walk upside down on the lanai ceiling. They especially like the corner between wall and ceiling. Again usually only at night we hear them vocalizing, a surprisingly loud for their size repeated screech.

Geckos feel a little like pets that you don't have to buy, feed, or take care of: they just show up and eat bugs.