Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus)

These geckos have taken over my house and are starting to get into appliances. When I first saw them I thought ... cute. Second - alright he's got a friend. However they've grown to almost 20!!

I've since read on forums that although they kill insects and bugs in your house. They have killed off native gecko species in the Brisbane area as well have exploded in numbers recently. There have been many cases of them getting into and causing the breakdown of computers, air cons, fridges and microwaves.

I'm all for nature, peace and love but not at the expense of aussie geckos AND appliances I can't afford to replace. Besides that these little buggers DUPLICATE like crazy, poo on everything and make so many loud "chuck, chuck, chuck" noises...  

I've found a pile of eggs already in the bottom of my monitor..  

I miss the old house geckos.. they were cute and stayed out of your way.. lol. I don't know if anyone else has this problem but I thought I would try eblah and see if anyone can help.. Oh, I tried insect spray and bombed our house over the holidays to only find their skin tone had changed to a shade darker.. lol.

PLEASE HELP!!!  

Quoted Text

Oh, I tried insect spray and bombed our house over the holidays to only find their skin tone had changed to a shade darker.. lol.

I feel your pain lurveit, and I am sorry but I had to laugh at them getting darker! Yes the pointier nosed one's are the intruder species. I honestly don't know how to get rid of them though. You don't want to kill the true blue Aussie one's but you are obviously being over run by them!

Heather I have no idea sorry but, that kind of cracks me up, what a random problem

Omg .. 51 views already  

There are so many users... guests whatever that LOVE browsing this website... lol  

Thanks girls... laughing at me! No.. I get it. It's such a random thing. However, I had a shindig on the weekend and a few people stayed over to only tell me the next morning about the scary "chuck, chuck, chuck" sounds... hahahaha

My aunty was down a while ago staying at mine for a visit and woke up with one of them just staring at her.. haha... okay this really is a problem STOP LAUGHING... but I get it...      

xx

Hey cool story!!! But just glad its not me  ..I couldn't kill them  

Lurveit, that picture you posted  ..is that the good ones or the bad ones?? I've seen them around here, just at night and usually only one or two. Haven't seen any this year yet though.

We have a few of them, some are like your picture, they dont seem to be a problem. We find them under wood piles in the yard or under bricks but never in the house. I could never kill one either.

Asian House Gecko ??? I didn't know that there was one, and I didn't know we(Aussies) had a problem . I only have one word to say "Cane Toad"  

get rid of them now   before they take over  

ps I couldn't kill them either

Quoted from LB

I could never kill one either.

You say that now...  

The thing is - I really don�t want to go around killing them however, I really don't want the native geckos that have been living fine in my area to completely die off because of this gecko. Especially since they're the ones that have their little family in your house, keep to themselves and make no noises!  

Also, I can't afford to replace appliances in my house and most qld's aren't exactly thrilled when they find their air cons or computers broken due to these things laying eggs and chewing wires. Don't get me wrong geckos are really cute and I've never had any problem with them being in my house until now.. there is way too many and anyone that�s been in my house gets that there is WAY to many!  

Maybe if I place honey on a lid.. they could get stuck and then I could carry them over to your house LB   haha.. enjoy! I give it 6 months... hehe

- - -

They're so far only in qld and northern nsw - they like the tropics for laying year round.

I googled this yesterday.  There's no good info on it, but a number of people claiming that spraying Dettol on them kills them.  Same with Cane Toads, but I have no idea why. I guess its a personal choice based on how you view the things but it seems like it would be easier to just put one outside if you can get close enough to put Dettol on it.  It seems like there should be something to spray regularly as a perimeter that they don't like and would keep them out, but... well I googled "Kill Hemidactylus frenatus" and not "perimiter"  

Have you tried your local pet store? maybe they've got some ideas on how to get rid of them.

The Asian one's have a pointy nose and the 'native' one's have a more rounded nose and are cuter (IMHO) The fact the introduced one's are killing off the native one's, by whatever means, is awful in itself. I can only suggest sprinkling something dreadful around like chilli powder, cayeen (?) pepper or even moth balls where the Geckos seem to be mostly. I leave my back light on for security and the native geckos, of a night so that they can get big and strong . They are also territorial and when you hear the çhuck' sound it is one gecko warning another that they have stepped over the invisible line into it's territory I know they are very partial to sticky fly paper (from seeing some at someone else's place) and it was just sad the way they died stuck to the fly paper plus something like the fly paper does not discriminate between native and introduced! Try leaving an outdoor light on all night, that may also help.

Thanks Suzi, mine are the rounded nosed and cuter variety.  

Maybe your local Chinese Restaurant has a recipe for them, don't they cook them on skewers ?

   how can you say that @1  let alone think it

Quoted from MeanDean

I googled this yesterday.  There's no good info on it, but a number of people claiming that spraying Dettol on them kills them.  

I was at the shops yesterday so I bought some dettol... BUT I don't think I'll use it. I really don't want these things dying a horrible slow death.   

I'll head down to my local pet store on the weekend... see what they say.  

Thanks everyone... xx