Turn on a light at night and within minutes there is a small pale lizard on the wall beside it, waiting. Then a sharp chirp from behind the curtain, and another answering from the kitchen.
Where you’ll see it
Every house, every wall, every night. They gather around lights where the insects are and hide in gaps behind frames and furniture by day.
What to know
The house gecko arrived in the Americas from Asia and has made itself at home everywhere warm. It is harmless, cannot bite in any meaningful way, and eats mosquitoes, moths and cockroaches all night. The chirping is territorial. The droppings, small and dark with a white tip, are the only nuisance. A house with geckos is a house with fewer bugs, and most residents come to feel affection for theirs.
