Monday, July 6, 2009

Seriously? Excuse me while I take 100 showers now.

The hubs cannot handle lizards or toads – they totally give him the willies. I’ve seen him crush a B52 cockroach with his bare hands, so the lizard thing does not mean he is a pansy in all things creature creepy.
Geckos are quite prolific in Hawaii. They have the reputation of being good luck – the opposite POV being that to kill a gecko in one’s home may be bad luck….

I believe the reason geckos acquired the reputation of being good luck is that they eat insects. Which means if you allow a gecko or two to live in your home, you don’t have to kill too many ants or spiders.

We have a gecko living downstairs and we let her be. However, when new ones come inside or the grand lady has….what does she have babies? Eggs? I’m not interested enough to look it up. At any rate, occasionally we find a youngster gecko out in the open and I am always called to catch it and put it outside.

I think the thing that really creeps my husband out is the whole tail dropping thing. Or that geckos are so squishy and delicate, and one really has to be careful not to squash the poor thing when one catches it.

The geckos living outdoors pickup some color. But the ones I’ve seen are all translucent.

Nothing like the fellow selling insurance.

In case you are wondering where I am going with this, I am almost there.



Yesterday was the annual cleaning out of the garage. Every summer we take all the shit out and hose down the garage, reorganize, and put the stuff back. We have a lot of crap along the sides of the garage.

I bought shelves five years ago. The shelves are among the crap lying along the sides of the garage. Mr. Pseudo is not the tool belt handyman that my dad made me think all the male version of our species grew up to be. Ah, well. One of the reasons they make you take vows…

Can we all just say gecko poop??? Crap? Shit? Along one side, where the garage cement slab meets the wall, was a combination gecko freeway and gecko outhouse. So disgusting that I did not even grab my camera, I could not hose that shit out fast enough.

We did not find one single gecko though.

Maybe all the neighbors have trained their geckos to come do their business in our garage.

30 comments:

Kristan said...

Hmm, I have a leopard gecko and think she's pretty cute/cool, but then again she doesn't run around all willy nilly in my house! Also, her poop is always in one little corner of her aquarium. Surprisingly stinky, for such small shit... :P

Linda said...

I'll take the lizards over cockroaches every.day! And I usually do. The cat surprizes me with them on occasion. The dog eats the bugs so I'm in good shape!

Michel said...

So what I hear you saying is that your garage is pretty much a gecko's litter box.

That's kinda gross.

I like geckos. I just never really thought of them having to poop. who knew!?

I've seen them on tv - and I think they can read - you should just leave them a note and ask them to use the neighbor's whom you do not like.

Cristin said...

I'm most disturbed by the thought of translucent geckos... that's nasty.

And I'm a little disappointed that you didn't take a picture of the shit... ;)

Pseudo said...

I need to figure away to reduce gecko traffic (poop) in the garage without bringing down bad lizard luck...

And yah, i shoould have taken a photo, but I felt so nasty dirty, did not want to run in the house.

Liz Wilkey (a.k.a. A Mom on Spin) said...

Why don't you just put a lizard Port-O-John in your back yard? Don't they have those in Hawaii????

mo.stoneskin said...

I gather Mr P stays clear of the garage then?!

Maureen at IslandRoar said...

EEEw! Gross. Guess they have to go somewhere but why pick on you? Maybe you need to start beating the crap out of them with a shovel when you see them. ONly kidding; that would only give you blood and guts to clean up which is even grosser.

Amy said...

Gross don't those things bite? I would not be able to sleep. Thinking I would wake up and have one on my ear.

Jan said...

I love geckos - they charm the dickens out of me every time we are in Hawaii.

But I don't think I'd want my home to be a gecko outhouse. And thank you for not posting pictures - I think I can happily go the rest of my life without seeing gecko poop.

Girl Tornado said...

I had a lil green gecko in my room when we stayed on the big island. I rather liked him/her. Sometimes she was near my sliding door, othertimes she was in my bathroom, most likely after I took a shower because of the humidity.

Your comment about cleaning out the garage, hosing it down and then putting everything back reminded me of my parents - when we were kids we had to help them clean the garage every year. For some reason your description brought it all back to me quite vividly.

I guess finding gecko poop could be akin to finding cat poop here in the states. Poop is poop is poop. It's all disgusting.

Hit 40 said...

I have to agree with Michel. They actually poop?? Who would think it would accumulate like that. I would so have to kick out the one that you let live inside. Who knows where that poop is hiding. GROSS

It took me a while to realize that you teach and live in Hawaii?? Right?? Too cool. I am certified in math 7-12 and general science if you ever need any help. LOL!!!

Beth said...

My life still seems complete regardless of the fact that I've never seen gecko poop. Funny, huh?

I wonder if you put some plastic snakes out if the geckos would stay outside? We put plastic snakes on our cars to keep the neighbor's cats off. It works!

Mike said...

I am not a lizard guy either! LOL!

duchess said...

I never kill spiders in the house. I am quite certain that I couldn't kill a gecko, but I would also rather it not be translucent.

I am sorry to say that there is a slug that lives under the skirting board or in the window seat in my living room. I have never seen it, but every morning I have to vacuum up a snail trail, not slimy at all - shiny silver flakes that disappear when you touch them.

The trail is very lovely if you forget the creature that makes it. But good God! Do you think it is also shitting? That never occurred to me, but I suppose anything that eats, does.

(mind, I don't know what it eats... I am quite careful to leave nothing to tempt it...)

creative kerfuffle said...

what? they're translucent? i'll be damned. i never knew. i love the gecko on the commercial. but gecko poop sounds nasty. however, if they eat bugs all the better.

Liz Mays said...

Looking at the positive here, it was all in one spot in the garage... That's a good thing, I think.

Twenty Four At Heart said...

My son had a gecko as a pet for years. We have them outdoors also, but this was one he bought. Did you know they moult very frequently? Have you been finding the skin in your house? Cuz it's creepy.

cheatymoon said...

I don't kill spiders because they eat all the other bugs, plus I just think they're cool.

When I lived in Charleston, we had some sort of lizard creature that I thought was a gecko. Somehow we got him outside. But poop? Ack. That's disturbing.

I love your description of the unhandiness. ;-)

Sprite's Keeper said...

We have ordinary lizards, not a lot of geckos. But the other side of the state? Is overrun with iguanas! They're everywhere!

Casey said...

Ugh gross, isn't it disgusting how much shit those tiny reptiles can produce? We have lizards dwelling on our patio and I'm forever hosing off their crap. I even had a showdown with one lizard (who is fearless) and I swept him outside and he found his way back in and has been taunting me ever since.

Fragrant Liar said...

I'm thinking that this gecko poop chute is some twisted form of sincere flattery. The little guys like you, and they're raining down their little poops in your space as a symbol of their love and appreciation. See, in their little translucent minds, you rock.

Lori said...

Oh dear I don't know if these would bother me or not. I get pretty freaked about snakes but bugs not so much. They are pretty harmless? I wonder if they eat mosquitoes? I would love an animal that would eat our mosquitoes. We have bats and they supposely are suppose to help but they are not doing their job. I'm curious, do you have mosquitoes there?

LadyFi said...

Oh, I love geckos! And the photo of them hugging is just too adorable!

Well-trained geckos in your neck of the woods if they're only pooping in your garage!

Shadow said...

aaawwww, those geckos are cute. we see the little see-through ones occasionally too...

Lifeofkaylen said...

everybody poops. Even cute little lizards apparently. :)

Smart Mouth Broad said...

We have 'em too. I sure hope they poop outside. Ewwwww! I like that they eat bugs.

Julie said...

I visited Hawaii a few years ago and there were geckos in the cabin we rented and quite frankly it never ever dawned on me that they pooped out the bugs they ate. I'm totally grossed out now.

Aleta said...

Lizards, I'm good with. Geckos - can't stand the little buggers. Bad luck or not, it won't survive. I'm happy to have a cat!

hillgrandmom said...

Well, we have the transparent geckos and dark grey ones too and you bet they poop, especially during insect season! But we co-exist peacefully--mostly.