Gecko Habitat
A Quick Guide to Gecko Habitat
With around a thousand species of geckos in the world, it should come as no surprise that gecko habitat is diverse. Geckos are small lizards, which range in length from two inches to a foot, depending on the species. Most are nocturnal (active at night) and eat insects or any other little creature that they can catch.
Geckos are the only lizards with a voice, and they can emit anything from a squeak to a bark depending on the species. Geckos have tails that break off should they end up in the grasp of a predator. While geckos may have originated in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, their habitat has now spread around the world, wherever the climate is warm enough to support their temperature needs.
Gecko habitat is also now created in glass aquariums, by the many people who keep them as pets. In the outside world, it is thought that many traveled stowed away in boats and ships, while with others, eggs that had been deposited under logs or attached to them or other like structures washed out to sea, carrying the geckos to a new location in which to hatch.
Ever in search of food, in this case, insects, scientists believe that geckos were coaxed into even urban habitats by the draw of insects. Think of the number of insects that are attracted to an outside light on any given summer night, and you have some sort of idea how geckos could indeed be drawn to food sources in cities and urban areas.
Because geckos are nocturnal, it is difficult to estimate how many today might inhabit urban habitats. Because the climate isn’t as warm as on other continents, North America has fewer gecko species than other locations. Small geckos known as leaf-toed geckos have made their home is southwestern California and you can find banded geckos in southern California. Banded geckos can live on coastal plains, sand dunes, deserts and hillsides of juniper.
Florida has become the habitat of some types of geckos, which once lived in the West Indies and Hawaii now has an abundance of geckos that have washed onto the islands though originating in many other parts of the world.
Because geckos camouflage themselves so well, they can fit into just about any kind of environment or gecko habitat. With special toes which provide them with sticky hairs, most geckos are able to climb almost anywhere, whether it be glass, wood, metal, rock, sand, or inside and outside walls. They have adapted and evolved, with nocturnal geckos having night vision and daytime geckos having rounded pupils.
As more and more people are creating gecko habitat in their homes, it seems like there are very few places left in the world where geckos can’t be found.