A night on the reptiles

Turns out it was a beautiful Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko, native to the Sydney Basin and one of our local wildlife treasures (and yes, its melon can be easily confused for its tail). Since then, I’ve discovered tiny new hatchlings in my garage every year – which I gently relocate outside. Who needs to spend gazillions on toxic pest control when you have a team of cockroach munchers doing the job for free?

This gecko (one of around 2,000 species worldwide) is named after its peculiar leaf shaped tail which can be dropped off (still wriggling) to distract potential predators. Geckos store nutrients in their tails, so losing them is a last resort – though they will grow back.

Unlike most lizards, geckos make a range of different noises to communicate. I know of one elderly Queensland resident who searched her house day and night, trying to find an elusive gecko “chirping” away annoyingly. She eventually tracked the “culprit” down. It was her smoke alarm running low on batteries! Our Leaf-tailed gecko might make a brief squeal, if you tried to pick one up, otherwise they are normally mute.

Geckos hunt at night by being still and stealth-like, allowing their prey to come to them. They will then move with incredible speed to catch and devour spiders, insects or worms. 

All geckos have specially adapted feet which helps them stick to virtually anything. The only surface they can’t attach to is dry Teflon! The secret to this amazing ability is the minute hairs on their toes called setae. There are 6.5 million of these on a single reptile which generate enough comparative force to support the weight of two humans!

The Leaf-tailed gecko, much like a chameleon, is a master of camouflage. It adapts its colour to the rocks it clutches on to. This is done through light-sensitive proteins in their skin, not by sight. Their copper hued eyes are striking though, with a fixed lens that enlarges in darkness.  

They don’t have eyelids and can’t blink, so they have to lick them clean instead. These eyes are 350 times more sensitive to light than their human equivalent, allowing them to see in colour at night. Many geckos are parthenogenic – which means they don’t even need a male to reproduce – and they can be pregnant for years before laying their eggs. 

Curiously these little creatures have a striking resemblance to some politicians. If you shine a torch into one of their ears, the light passes right through to the other side! Their wild survival in our suburbs is a remarkable thing but they still fall easy prey to marauding cats. So please, keep your moggy in at night.

Footnote: 

The Asian House Gecko was introduced accidentally into Darwin in the 1960s. Since then, its numbers have exploded to many millions, and it has now spread down to Coffs Harbour displacing native geckos in the process. So far it hasn’t reached Sydney but unfortunately it is heading our way.