Species:
Hemidactylus mabouia
Wood Slave
Some other names for this species:
Amerafrican House Gecko, Tropical House Gecko, Cosmopolitan House Gecko, Moreau's Tropical House Gecko, Phantom Gecko
December 27, 1998
Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, Florida
These non-native geckos can easily be seen at night on the walls of houses near the lights. Florida has no native nocturnal geckos, leaving the bugs-by-houses-at-night-eating niche open for several non-native species to exploit.
July 8, 2000
Finch Hatton's tented camp, Tsavo West National Park, Kenya
The first thing I did when we arrived around dusk at this, our first tented camp in Kenya, was to start taking pictures of the geckos lurking around on the walls in the reception area. The camp staff seemed to find this behavior surprising in some way. I wonder why?
July 9, 2000
Finch Hatton's tented camp, Tsavo West National Park, Kenya
This nocturnal gecko was graciously posing for me during daylight hours.
July 14, 2000
Samburu Intrepids tented camp, Samburu National Reserve, Kenya
These geckos were present at most of the places we stayed in Kenya. They are good colonizers, having established populations in most tropical and subtropical areas of the world, including Florida. I always felt safer sleeping at night knowing there were such fine geckos protecting our tents.
February 7, 2004
Key Largo, Monroe County, Florida
Of the various introduced gecko species in South Florida, Bartlett & Bartlett say that this is the only one often found away from human habitation. I found this tiny youngster (first picture) and this adult (second picture) under hunks of reef coral rock in tropical hardwood hammock habitat.
November 7, 2006
Snack Shop, Iguazú National Park, Misiones, Argentina
This small gecko was living on the inside of a small snack shop near the beginning of the boardwalk to the spectacular Devil's Throat at Iguazú Falls. Dozens of beetles, moths, and butterflies had managed to get into the snack shop but were having trouble getting out, so this was pretty much gecko paradise.
