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texas geckos changed from brown to colorless?

22 14:33:32

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
 Three years ago we had a flood light and a large plant on the side of our dwelling where at night a huge amount of geckos would congregate to eat bugs.  They disappeared during the day to come out again at night, but disappeared in the winter, to be heard in the walls.  We got rid of the plant and the light in the winter while they were gone and when they came back in the spring, they were colorless!  The were mostly brown with some spots before, seemed to be a smooth skin and now they are almost see through.  When they are on the glass at night, we can see their organs.  They are not very pretty, but we are guessing they are the same geckos as the original brown ones but we have never seen the brown ones again since we got rid of the light and the plant.  I can try and send a picture if you need, but I am looking for some info as to what kind they might be and what happened to them.  Thanks much

ANSWER: Hello Terry, if you have a photo of the gecko that would be very helpful in identifying it. They are a nocturnal gecko, and the one that is sticking in my mind is possibly the Mediterranean House Gecko. They live in most parts of Texas. I have read that many of the dark spots or areas around the head which are usually dark dissapear at night. Which would explain why they were still dark and spot like when the flood light was on. And now that the light is gone they are able to be their translucent selves.
They are most likely the same geckos and this is the most reasonable explanation (that it is a Mediterranean Gecko)

Here is a few links on all kinds of information about them, and PICTURES!


Here is a pic and info:
http://www.geckoweb.org/profile/hemidactylus-turcicus

http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/lizards/hemtur.htm

Pictures (this is just a search engine giving results that match the name some of these geckos are not actually Mediterranean Geckos)

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=

More information::
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemidactylus_turcicus


Good luck, let me know if that is the gecko or not. Hope that helped


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Gecko underside
Gecko underside  
QUESTION: It was hard to get a decent photo of them.  They are on the glass of the windows at dark.  But here are a couple of the underside and the topside.  I will try to get better ones if these don't help.  Thanks so much for your help.

ANSWER: Hi Terry, yes that gecko does look like the Mediterranean House Gecko
They are transculent as you say while they are in the dark. Because they are nocturnal so in the dark they appear clear and patternless like in your photos, but in the day light or in your case the flood light they will have their day colors with spots and brown coloring.

I am not sure if the link I gave you worked but if you go to http://www.google.com/imghp and type in Mediterrarean House Gecko and search it. You will get many pictures of the translucent look and the spotted look. He has the same body shape and head shape. Same colors and that would explain why they look different. But they are in fact the same geckos from last year.

So I hope that solves it for you.

Let me know,
Yexalen

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QUESTION: I just wanted to say thanks.  The links did work and they do look like my geckos, but mine look even paler!  I think we will put the light back!  I don't like the colorless ones too much.  Thanks again
Terry

Answer
Hello, and your welcome it was very interesting for me as well, this is one characteristic I didn't know about the Mediterrarean Geckos. Depending on the lighting they can look very pale and the light will most likely still keep them coming as it is definately a place for the moths and other insects to gather.

-Yexalen