You know, Dr. Curt Connors was from Florida, too
Yesterday I found a gecko in my bathtub, about four inches long, a decent size for her species.. She runs and hides behind the shampoo bottle when I approach. Now, normally, this isn't anything out of the ordinary, at least in recent months. These cute little lizards have been taking up residence in and around my home, so when I see one of them has wandered inside, I catch her and put her outside.
Now, what was out of the ordinary was that this particular gecko was especially aggressive. Flattened as far as she can go against the wall behind the shampoo bottle. So I reach out to grab her, and she skitters away and crawls up the shower curtain. I manage to block her escape with my right hand and grab her in my left, using my thumb and forefinger to gently pinch her about the waist. Normally I get them about chest area: less likely to struggle or to wriggle away.
Well, she had more room to wriggle, so she twists around and manages to latch on to the knuckle of my first finger. Yeah! I've never been bitten by a gecko before ... until now! They're such sweet and gentle lizards! I felt so betrayed! She wasn't able to draw blood, but I could definitely feel her teeth grabbing the fold of the skin on my knuckle. Didn't really hurt all that much, just surprised me, that's all.
Well, suffice it so say, I take her outside, all the while she's clamped on my knuckle and bears down ever now and then whenever I jostle her a bit too much. I open my hand, and she waits a few moments before releasing her hold on me and skittering away.
Now, the strangest part is this: she had these two bright white spots on either side of her neck. I've never seen that on an Indo-Pacific Gecko before. I'm assuming that perhaps it signified she was pregnant, thus the angry, aggressive "RAWR! I gonna BITE joo!" behavior. Or some kind of hormonal surge. Whatever.
So I tell my dad about this, and he basically says, in so many words: "Don't play with lizards if you're not sure what species they are, and don't mess with them if it looks like there's something wrong with it."
To which I reply: "Oh, sure Dad. It was a radioactive gecko, and now I'm going to develop gecko powers within the week, including the ability to climb sheer surfaces, like Spider-Man."
I'm eagerly awaiting the manifestation of gecko powers. ^___^
Now, what was out of the ordinary was that this particular gecko was especially aggressive. Flattened as far as she can go against the wall behind the shampoo bottle. So I reach out to grab her, and she skitters away and crawls up the shower curtain. I manage to block her escape with my right hand and grab her in my left, using my thumb and forefinger to gently pinch her about the waist. Normally I get them about chest area: less likely to struggle or to wriggle away.
Well, she had more room to wriggle, so she twists around and manages to latch on to the knuckle of my first finger. Yeah! I've never been bitten by a gecko before ... until now! They're such sweet and gentle lizards! I felt so betrayed! She wasn't able to draw blood, but I could definitely feel her teeth grabbing the fold of the skin on my knuckle. Didn't really hurt all that much, just surprised me, that's all.
Well, suffice it so say, I take her outside, all the while she's clamped on my knuckle and bears down ever now and then whenever I jostle her a bit too much. I open my hand, and she waits a few moments before releasing her hold on me and skittering away.
Now, the strangest part is this: she had these two bright white spots on either side of her neck. I've never seen that on an Indo-Pacific Gecko before. I'm assuming that perhaps it signified she was pregnant, thus the angry, aggressive "RAWR! I gonna BITE joo!" behavior. Or some kind of hormonal surge. Whatever.
So I tell my dad about this, and he basically says, in so many words: "Don't play with lizards if you're not sure what species they are, and don't mess with them if it looks like there's something wrong with it."
To which I reply: "Oh, sure Dad. It was a radioactive gecko, and now I'm going to develop gecko powers within the week, including the ability to climb sheer surfaces, like Spider-Man."
I'm eagerly awaiting the manifestation of gecko powers. ^___^