I suspect either a BOYNES GECKO or a native GEHYRA GECKO

[kingofnobbys]

Wife discovered this little gecko on our stone benchtops chasing down a little roach , and it took refuge INSIDE the round roach bait that is on the back corner of the kitchen benches.

It's about 1.5" long (total).

I didn't believe her until I saw it's tail dangling from the roach bait's entry and a little shake got it out into the sink (plug in). Is in a little tub for now while I decide if I'm going to make a pet of it or release it.
I suspect it's been feeding on the little roaches that are drawn to the roach bait and may even have been living inside the little round Mortein Roach bait.

Hungry little gecko , polished off a few baby woodies and a small mealworm in the little round tub in no time.
I don't have any suitable sized silkworms to feed to it (so ordering in handy pack of small silkworms).
I'll have to check my BSFL and see if there are any smaller lavae in the mix.


Known we have some wild native geckos hanging about as I've seen them occasionally about the house catching little moths as they crawl / fly close to the lights and I've seen a larger gecko climbing up the wall one night in the lounge room but lost track of it when I was getting the camera..




I suspect either a BOYNES GECKO or a native GEHYRA GECKO.

 

[CooperDragon]

Such a tiny little guy!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Such a tiny little guy!

Just measured the little gecko, it's 39mm long. I suspect a juvenile or maybe a hatchling, it's not learnt to fear people..

 

[CooperDragon]

Not fearing people is helpful to us but I do worry about them when they are so tame. It can become dangerous for them in some situations, unfortunately. Are you going to give him free range around the house like the skinks?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Not fearing people is helpful to us but I do worry about them when they are so tame. It can become dangerous for them in some situations, unfortunately. Are you going to give him free range around the house like the skinks?

I'll hold onto it (not sure it's gender) , and feed it up a little but will resist the temptation to handle it more than is absolutely necessary so it stays "wild".

I've found a hide that's suitable for it, it's the end cap from old permanent marking pen and the little gecko seems to like it as it's curled up inside it now . Cheaky little thing is studying from inside the pen lid ….
I moved it to a 600ml rectangular tub and managed to find some "small" BSFL that are in the tub with some 1/2" long mealworms (I breed them for my water skink).
I know it likes small woodies too, about 4mm long , so I'll fish out a couple more out for it tomorrow.

I would like to see how big it grows and maybe keep it, these little geckos are very scarce in the hobby , the focus by most breeders being velvets and nobtails geckos.
Spent the evening boning up on the suspected species' husbandry out of curiousity from Brown's A Guide to Asutralian Geckos & Pygopods in Captivity. This one is a nocturnal terrestrial gecko , so wont require UV , or a basking globe .
Not sure if I'll make a pet of it , if I release it (to go free range) , it'll be back in the kitchen where it was living.

Update : Now the only light in tbe room is the glow from my laptop , I can see he's back out of the hide and he's been exploring the tub and very promptly discovered and got into the open petri dish to have a feast on the worms.

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm glad you were able to find some information about his care requirements. Living inside a marker cap! Wow, he'd even make a baby dragon seem relatively huge. How big do they get as adults? I guess another consideration is to take note of his location when Cleo and Caesar are out and about. Wouldn't want to have him mistaken for a snack =/

 

[kingofnobbys]

I'm glad you were able to find some information about his care requirements. Living inside a marker cap! Wow, he'd even make a baby dragon seem relatively huge. How big do they get as adults? I guess another consideration is to take note of his location when Cleo and Caesar are out and about. Wouldn't want to have him mistaken for a snack =/

I think being nocturnal , the little gecko is unlikely to ever encounter a bearded dragon or a water skink (under normal circumstances).

Otherwize they'd make a fast meal of it.

I think their main predators are frogs, spiders, and of cause free roaming pet cats and maybe owls.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I took a look under a magnifying glass , toes have pads and terminated with little nails

Best photos I've got so far are here :

highlighting the feet, hands, toes and fingers, and I can see little ridges on the tail too.

==> little dtella gecko based on it's toes and fingers ?
The tail kink disappears when it's curled up or moving about.
Still alive and active - so no ill effects from contact with the roach bait so far.

It likes tiny woodies - I used my little bug sucker-uper (entomologist's aspirator) to suck up about 10 tiny woodies about 3mm long and the little gecko ate 6 of them , so nothing wrong with it's appetite.

This is my kit for tiny insects :

Makes it easy to capture tiny woodies & pinhead crickets without having to using my fingers (and risk injuring them).

 

[kingofnobbys]

On another Herp board I've had on Gecko guy say he thinks

it's a bynoes gecko if it has claws, if it has pads it would be a dtella gecko

and not an Asian House Gecko ( an invasive pest gecko species here )

Another "expert" said he thinks it's an Asian House Gecko and not a native at all (but I think he says that about all geckos others find in their homes). He said if it's got spines on the tail and nails on all digits it's an Asian House Gecko. This despite my photos showing these attributes are absent.

Nontheless I wasn't aware of the clawless inner digit trait in Dtellas.

I took a very close look the "thumbs" and "big toes" these appear clawless on this specimen. This can be seen in the closeups of the feet and hands.
There are ridges on the tail , under the magnifying glass these don't appear to be "spikes" or "spines" , just ridges of scales.

I've taken another look now that I have some clues / traits to look for and believe it's likely a Gehyra dubia or Gehyra variegata ( little line shaped spots are a strong indicator) , being a juvenile or even a hatchling (?) it's hard for certain.

The little gecko for comparison

Adult G.dubia

adult G.variegata

 

[JumpinJellyfish]

Cute!!! I hope the roach bait didn't hurt him. Glad he found the feast you left for him!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Cute!!! I hope the roach bait didn't hurt him. Glad he found the feast you left for him!

Doesn't seem to be suffering any ill effects , found some tiny poos today , so it's definitely processing the food OK .

Leapt out of the little tub this afternoon ( I was trying to take a macro photo of it ) and landed on the front of my shirt, moves really fast when it wants to. Fortunately I was able to grab it in my hand and return it to the little tub it's currently living in.

Is very active once the sun goes down and loves hanging onto the little sticks I've given it to provide some structure. I've seen it under the plastic lid hanging upside down.

 

[kingofnobbys]

After the lounge room lights are turned off and there's only the TV , laptop and kitchen light on, I hear the little gecko hunting down tiny woodies and the last of the tiny mealworms , and I can often see it in the dim light with it's tail wriggling like it's got a life of it's own and I hear little knocking sounds when it's bashing up a bug to eat it.

Nothing wrong with it's appetite. It's a verocious hunter.

It also seems to like watching me , the movies I stream on the laptop , and the TV when the rest of the room is dark.

I've decided to call it Godzilla.

 

[CooperDragon]

Sounds like Godzilla is happy there.

 

[JumpinJellyfish]

After the lounge room lights are turned off and there's only the TV , laptop and kitchen light on, I hear the little gecko hunting down tiny woodies and the last of the tiny mealworms , and I can often see it in the dim light with it's tail wriggling like it's got a life of it's own and I hear little knocking sounds when it's bashing up a bug to eat it.

Nothing wrong with it's appetite. It's a verocious hunter.

It also seems to like watching me , the movies I stream on the laptop , and the TV when the rest of the room is dark.

I've decided to call it Godzilla.

Well, now you'll have to show it the Godzilla movie(s)! :0)

 

[kingofnobbys]

After the lounge room lights are turned off and there's only the TV , laptop and kitchen light on, I hear the little gecko hunting down tiny woodies and the last of the tiny mealworms , and I can often see it in the dim light with it's tail wriggling like it's got a life of it's own and I hear little knocking sounds when it's bashing up a bug to eat it.

Nothing wrong with it's appetite. It's a verocious hunter.

It also seems to like watching me , the movies I stream on the laptop , and the TV when the rest of the room is dark.

I've decided to call it Godzilla.

Well, now you'll have to show it the Godzilla movie(s)! :0)

Was transfixed by MIB Intl when I was watching It last night on my laptop …. I was in a dimly lit lounge room with the sound via my BT headphones (so Godzilla didn't hear the sounds) but could see the laptop screen .
As soon as the movie was over Godzilla disappeared under the little lid (hide).

Got a TVgunky gecko now as well TVjunky beardies and skinks.

Eats 6 to 8 v/small woodies (about 3- 5mm long , gutloaded and dusted per day , doesn't mind 7-10mm long baby mealworms either , seen Godzilla eat 6 of these so far.

Have some very small BSFL on order and got a batch of silkworm eggs out to hatch , just for Godzilla to try to keep the little gecko healthy.