# Asian house gecko in Melbourne?



## Daniel Humm (Feb 9, 2008)

A few nights ago my girlfirend spotted this little gecko outside. It was a pink/fleshy colour with boggly black eyes and little suction-cup feet. It also had dropped its tail (it wasn't stumpy-tailed). It had climbed up the wooden lattice outside the front door.

I did a search on the forum and found some threads on Asian House Geckos, and I think that's probably what it was. The pic shows the gecko that she saw (quality is not very good as it was taken at night with a mobile phone camera). If you go to http://www.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/herpscommon/JCUDEV_008553.html you can see a pic of an AHG.


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## ryanharvey1993 (Feb 9, 2008)

i don think asian house geckoes are found down there. it would have been a marbled gecko


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## Reptile_Boy (Feb 9, 2008)

maybe excapee from some ones house


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## cootiesami (Feb 9, 2008)

i agree that this is a christinus marmoratus! They are very common in the southern states.


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## Amberoo (Feb 9, 2008)

i live in melbourne and a couple of days ago i found a little gecko, it was a shame because it was being eattin alive by ants. anyway, im not sure what type it was and i didnt take any pictures, but it was a light grey with dark grey/black stripes. Im not that good with geckos, do you know what it might have been?

Amberoo.


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## Miss_Croft (Feb 9, 2008)

I agree with the other posts – your girlfriend has found a Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus) 
http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/geckos/cmarmoratus.html

Description of house Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_gecko


Reason:
-The tail is the shape of a typical Marbled Gecko 
-The snout is short and sloping down (Shorted than the width of the head) 
-The tail scales appears to be a marbled gecko

I can also see House Geckos living in Melbourne in houses (Micro climate) without much trouble.


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## Daniel Humm (Feb 9, 2008)

Marbled geckos are, by definition, 'marbled' though - this one had no markings and was a solid pinky colour. Unless it was an albino completely devoid of any markings, it's unlikely that's what it was.


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## Daniel Humm (Feb 9, 2008)

Please do not make assumptions based on the location of where an animal/reptile is usaully found ... there is plenty of ways that an animal/reptile can turn up in different spots.


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## scorps (Feb 10, 2008)

its marbeled not ahg


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## Daniel Humm (Feb 10, 2008)

If you can show me a pic of a marbled with the same colouring and no markings I'll believe you


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## PhilK (Feb 10, 2008)

Looks not a thing like the AHGs my place is infested with.

You should never ID based on colour patterns - because then an albino BHP isn't a BHP. Which is wrong.


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## micko (Feb 10, 2008)

it looks like a asian house gecko to me i live in qld and we have about 20 here every night.


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## Miss_Croft (Feb 10, 2008)

I am sticking to Marbled Gecko. After looking at many Reptiles across the globe (Just have to ask my girlfriend about how I can find I reptile anywhere. Err and how close I get to them. Lets say that the guide (Or locals) normally try and pull me away from some snake/Crocodilian/Gecko.) Anyways I have learn color is not the biggest indicator of type. It is more shape and other indications like number of scales, toes and the like.


Your photo – the snout is too short to be a house gecko – House geckos – snout is longer than the width of the head. Looking at your photo it is clearly shorter.
Your photo – the tail is the wrong shape to be a house gecko – House Geckos have slender tails where was marbled geckos have much fatter tails – reason – Marbled geckos have to go through times of little food (Need to live off fat supply) over winter
Your photo – the tail is missing the chiastic scales of a house gecko. Again smooth tail is a characteristic of a Marbled gecko.
 If you had a better photo. Ie. Caught the gecko and took a clear photo from above then it would be much easier to identify the gecko.


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## Renagade (Feb 10, 2008)

go the ants.


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## falconboy (Feb 10, 2008)

On another forum I am on, not a reptile forum, reptiles came up in conversation, and some guy mentioned a recent visitor - a noisy gecko making some sort of 'coughing' noise (his words), and he was in Melbourne too. Since they got onto our island we call Australia, its not difficult to imagine they could get to melboune by hitch hiking quite easily and could be in quite specific locations near their final destination. However, is the weather warm enough down there for them to survive/breed???


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## Miss_Croft (Feb 11, 2008)

Falconboy - Yes I can see house geckos living in Melbourne - even over winter. There are many micro climates with suitable temperatures (Many people keep their houses around 20 degrees C). 

But – the photo above does not appear to be a house gecko as the head dimensions are incorrect. But the short snout length could be an optical illusion (Longer than what it appears in the photo). 

Last year a cane toad was found in a garden – The “experts” suggested it came down on the back of a truck full of bananas (Have no idea how they could have worked it was a banana truck) – House Geckos could travel via the same vector.


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