Welcome to You Ask Andy

Glenn Craley, age 10, of Bareville, Penna., for his question:

What is a gecko?

The little gecko is the most charming of all the lizards. He is small and spry, never longer than a few inches, and his head is larger than that of most lizards. His delicate skin is transparent and his fine scales often look like dainty beadwork. His bright eyes may be round and without lids or they may be pussycat eyes with almond shaped pupils.

There is a wide assortment of gecko cousins and they live in many warm lands. If you lived in Indo China, you would have two or three geckos sharing your home. They would scuttle over the floors, hide in dark crevices, climb up the walls and even walk upside down on the ceilings. Most important, they would keep your Indo China house free of insects, spiders and even small snakes.

The gecko is one of the few reptiles who has a voice and each cousin has his own special call. The house gecko of Indo China calls Gek‑ko, Gek‑ko ‑ from which this whole family of lizards gets its name. Certain African geckos whistle and fill the bungle night with their noisy chorus.

The geckos of North America keep to sunny Florida and to the warm southwestern deserts. Even so they hibernate in cozy crevices through the cooler months from October to May. The gecko, it seems, is a fellow who cannot abide cold or even cool weather.

Most geckos have paddy paws set with tiny hairs. These tiny hairs cling to a rough surface, even when the cracks and crevices are too small for our eyes to see. This is why the gecko of Indo China can walk up the walls and on the ceiling. In the American southwest, however, we have a gecko who has no such sticky paws.

This little charmer, five inches long, is the banded or ground gecko. He has pussycat eyes, for he hunts by night. He has pussycat claws which lie can sheath and unsheath as he chooses.

The handsome fellow, banded with brown and orange, also goes about his hunting with pussycat antics.

He lives on a diet of insects and spiders and he stalks his prey in the dead of night. Quietly, softly, close to the ground he creeps up on a grasshopper. Then he pounces, flinging his small body upon his victim with the fierceness of a tiger.

His feelings towards human beings, however, are very different. If you corner him or pick him up suddenly he will attack at you, but he will never bite. Given a little time, he is very happy to become friends. If you have a proper terrarium set up for animals of this kind, the little banded gecko will make the most charming and the most amusing of any lizard pet in the world.

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