Hunting for Geckos

One of the activities the kids and I have enjoyed late this summer has been spotting and catching geckos. When my brother and I were kids in Okinawa, we used to catch them all the time. Well, my kids see them and they get so excited just the same. They aren't quite ready to try to catch them on their own yet, so they call me over and we try our very best to catch it. I think we've caught about four of them so far. We hold them, look at them, put them in our little mesh bug house for an hour or two and then let them go. They fill the little house with hybiscus leaves and flowers, grass, bugs and acorns. They have such fun just watching the gecko move around and try coaxing the little thing to eat.

Initially, catching them always is a bit of a rush for me. They are so fast and squirmy and have tails that can easily be broken off. Thankfully, I haven't broken a tail yet, but when we were little, it used to happen all the time. Your hand tries to come down quickly but gently and catches only the tail. When you look down, all you have is a twitching tail and no gecko! Ewww! So, I have to put any squeemish feeling aside and be the kids' hero.

Well, here is one we caught last night. It was a feisty one! He would move so fast wherever he went and went all around the bug house like a whirlwind. The others were more calm and not as jittery. MyLove took these pictures so we could remember the fun. It was a high of 62 today, so our gecko hunting days are coming to a close. Hopefully, we will get to catch a couple more before they're gone for the year!










The bug house