'ello, 'ello, Gecko speaking...

I've always wondered about geckos. I mean, how do they move into a new house? I imagine they watch out from the nearby houses as a new house comes up and go, "Hey, that's a new 3000 sq.ft double story going up, it's time the kids move out!" 

"D'ya think they'll have lots of built-in cupboards?" 

"Oh yeah, I saw the carpenters bringing in lots of MDF boards, so it's likely there will be a lot!" 

And then a few of them come to check out the new home in the dead of the night and call dibs on the coziest and darkest corners. Some might go, "Hey, don't pick a spot in the southwest corner, it'll be very hot!" and another would reply, "It's cool man, there's a jack-fruit tree just outside, so that won't be a bother!" And even if the lights have not been put in, they call dibs on the best eating places too.

By the time the house is ready for occupation, the poor humans think that they are the first ones to live there when all the while the geckos and other creepy-crawlies are already in residence, though not visible at first. Then life's all jolly for the geckos. They live rent-free on the premises, occasionally ingesting a fly and then having the time of their lives. 

Their idea of fun is to hide on the inside of cupboard door so that they can jump on the first person to open it and hear the ear-splitting scream. Then they scuttle away unconcernedly while the hapless victim clutches her heart to slow down its frantic beating. Some geckos make sure that they land exactly on top of their victims' head.

 pic courtesy wildmadagascar.org

Geckos are very kind to children. They often give them the tip of their tails to keep the little kiddies amused for several minutes. Don't kids just love the bizarre dance of the gecko tail! Some geckos make it a point to fall into the shiny kitchen sink at night. Then they pretend that they can't get out so that they will get the harried homemaker to leave a ladle as a ladder to the outside and then have her frantically washing the ladle and the sink with soap and hot water.

But they have the greatest fun on the nights the lady of the house decides that she would like to read a ghost story or a thriller without interruption while all the others are asleep. Then the geckos move around stealthily knocking down and bumping into things until the poor scared reader has to fold up her book and creep back to the bedroom!

Just today morning I was skulking around the kitchen with a camera in my hand when I heard them cackling away near the ceiling of the pantry, hidden behind some old storage boxes. "Ka, ka, ka," went they, "The lady wants pics of us to put on her silly little blog!" And not even a baby one peeped out!

This post was written by someone who can stare straight into a gecko's beady eyeballs and say "Boo" to them!