Nearly 2,000 species of small, mostly nocturnal lizards, the most species-rich lizard group. Most can’t blink and lick their eyes clean. Unusually for lizards, they chirp and click to each other.
Quick answers
What is it?Reptile
Carnivore?Insects only
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Unlike most lizards, usually nocturnal, and it sees colour in dim light far better than we do.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Commonly
The leopard gecko is the most commonly kept, and the crested gecko is catching up.
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
HabitatRainforest, Forest, Desert, Towns
ColoursBrown, Yellow, Grey
SizeTiny
Length1.6 cm (Jaragua sphaero) to about 60 cm
Legs4
Covered inScales
Lives alone
Lives for10–20 years
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Warm climates on every continent except Antarctica.
- What it eats
- Mostly insects; house geckos eat pests such as moths and mosquitoes.
Did you know
Sticks to glass using molecular forces, not suction or glue.
In low light, gecko colour vision is about 350 times more sensitive than ours.
Often confused with
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