House Lizards

[Norseman]

I was going by the lizard's "too-kaaay" call.

If you heard the quite distinctive sound of the tockay as well Klikster, then you are absolutely right that they really can bite a person.
"My tockay" must from now on find his own food without any kind of help from me!!!
Baby croc!!!!

[Nereus]

I was going by the lizard's "too-kaaay" call.

If you heard the quite distinctive sound of the tockay as well Klikster, then you are absolutely right that they really can bite a person.
"My tockay" must from now on find his own food without any kind of help from me!!!
Baby croc!!!!

You need to be a bit careful Norseman. Just remember that he is a Thai, and he might take offense to your change of heart and put a contract out on you with one of his bigger brothers!

[lomuamart]

Well, I never realised that they could bite. I'll be more careful in the future.
As an aside, there's a largish lizard that likes to hang out in the plants at our front gate. It's about 9 inches long, greyish in colour with a red stripe running down its side. I can't be more specific as it's always too quick to get a good look at.
Does anyone have any idea what it might be?

[davo666]

Not sure what they call them in Thailand, but in the Phillipines it would be known as a "Tookoo". Smaller varieties (we know as Gekkos) are called a Tiki. The names are based largely on the nioses the littler buggers make at night in your ceiling !! Well, in the Phillipines anyway.

I thought they were kind-of cute and wnet to approach one, when my Filipina wife started going ballistic... apparently they have claws not unlike a crocodile's jaw, which "snap-shut" on their prey. Stories abound in Dumaguette City (My wife's home) of people coming into the hospital to have the "pretty Tookoo" surgically removed from their arm / hand / appendage.

[lomuamart]

Right that's it!!
Anything but a house lizard/gekko is going to get banished from my property now. Mind you, I havn't seen the "large" one for a while. Maybe one of the cats got it?

[Nereus]

Well, I never realised that they could bite. I'll be more careful in the future.
As an aside, there's a largish lizard that likes to hang out in the plants at our front gate. It's about 9 inches long, greyish in colour with a red stripe running down its side. I can't be more specific as it's always too quick to get a good look at.
Does anyone have any idea what it might be?

It may be a Skink, Lomuamart, I have them where I am. They are very shy and fast to get out of your way.

http://kaweahoaks.com/html/skinks.htm

Or google it, as there are about 600 diferent types!

And what this lady has to say about Tokay`s:

http://www.anapsid.org/tokays.html (sorry, had the wrong link!)

[Roel]

Hi lomuamart,
What do you mean "MY property"? Forgot you are in Thailand eh!
Anyway I think the animal you saw is a quite universal creature. They come in all kind of shapes and colours. In Surinam it is very common. They call it an ihatomabe. I must ask my friend from Surinam where the name comes from though.

[lomuamart]

Maybe, just maybe, the middle one of the pictures. It's really difficult to tell, but thanks for effort to track the monster down, Nereus.
Roel, as far as these man eating, fire breathing dragons are concerned, when they invade the boundaries of my house they will be considered trespassers on my property and dealt with appropriately. Only joking

[Vital Spark]

We used to have a Mr. & Mrs. Tockay living behind one of our cupboards in our strange semi-open kitchen. I think they're lovely but Rubble (our dog) thought otherwise. He was determined to get them and did. Killed both of them - I think he thought he was protecting us from some kind of dangerous predator.

The Thais are terrified of them - they have a belief that if they jump on you (which is very unlikely, unless you're unfortunate like Klikster) they'll stick to you. Rather like the 'old wives tale' about bats getting caught in your hair. They also count the number of 'tookay' noises - I think 7 is meant to be lucky.

How can you not admire a species with a Latin name of Gekko Gecko?

VS

P.S. lomuamart: Is your cat of the larger variety, i.e. tiger sized? Your average moggie would have a bit of a battle with one of these fellows.

[klikster]

I was going by the lizard's "too-kaaay" call.

If you heard the quite distinctive sound of the tockay as well Klikster, then you are absolutely right that they really can bite a person.
"My tockay" must from now on find his own food without any kind of help from me!!!
Baby croc!!!!

Now I'm trying to remember if that one was a tookay or an "F-U" ... both around my house that backed up to a coconut grove.

[klikster]

P.S. lomuamart: Is your cat of the larger variety, i.e. tiger sized? Your average moggie would have a bit of a battle with one of these fellows.

A young caramel colored calico adopted me at my last house. She was the sweetest cat I have ever been around .. except not so sweet to the geckos. I would often find their heads left on my porch complete with an accompanaying swarm of flies.

She did something extremely clever one day. Although I played with her very often, I wouldn't let her into the house. But she would lie in front of my screen door most of the day. There was about a 1" gap at the bottom of the screen door .. and I had a small rug just inside the door.

One day I noticed that the rug was out on the front porch .. first time it had ever happened. I puzzled about it for quite some time before figured that she had seen a jingjok on the rug, and not being able to reach the lizard .. had jerked the rug outdoors and pounced on the lizard.

So I decided to put it to the test. I caught a jingjok and dropped it on the rug. Quick as a wink, she reached under the screen, snagged the rug and pulled her afternoon snack within reach.