Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Only God knows where this critter came from and how it ended up stuck on a glue trap in my company's lunch room in Michigan. During warm weather when the doors are open, birds sometimes wander in and try to eat the bugs on the traps. The temperatures have drop below freezing for more than a few weeks now, so I don't think it came from outside the plant. The most likely mode of transportation was a test vehicle we received from Japan.

Does anyone recognize what kind of lizard this is? What its origin is? It's age? The guy at PetSmart said it was a Anole. But he also said they don't sell mercury type thermometers because the mercury is "radio active". Uh...yea....ok. I'm not a reptile expert, but from the photos I've seen, it looks something like a China Leopard Gecko.

It took me more than four hours to free him/her (while trying to do my job at the same time). I used dust and dirt on the glue to prevent the critter from re-sticking itself. I read cooking oil works too. Most of the glue is removed, using tooth picks, but the poor thing still has glue covering its right eye and toes. I'm afraid to try to peal it off and possibly damaging its eye. What glue is left, has bedding material stuck to it, which makes the glue easier to see. Hopefully the bedding material will aid in removing the remaining glue.

The main problem now is it will not eat or drink. There is no glue on or in the mouth and it's tongue works.

It's in a ten gallon tank with a heat lamp on one side. Temps reach 90 degrees during the day for twelve hours and drop to 80 degrees at night. Humidly is staying between 60% - 80%.

Although it looks dead, the little bugger can scoot along pretty fast when it wants, but seems content to rest in my hand. From the experiences I have working with homeless dogs and cats, they can get very depressed when they lost their home and owner. But I haven't a clue what a reptile is feeling. The little guy will look up at me with its one eye and I wonder if it realizes I'm trying to help it. Can anyone give a little feed back on what your experience are with reptile emotions?

Thanks!

Photo 2 of 4
Sorry about the quality. It's a quick and dirty job.

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Again, sorry for the poor quality

Its a Hemidactylus. Looks like H. brooki

I agree that it is a Hemidayctilus. They are commonly called house geckos. I am not sure what species, though the captive care is similar for most. Good luck. It seems to be in rough shape.

Yep, I found photos and information on House Geckos and sure enough, that's what he is. Thanks Ingo and Eric.
He's showing some improvement but still isn't interested in food. The little nipper did bite my finger. Once he settled down, he let me pick more glue off him. The bedding sticking to the glue is helping. I manage to remove pick most of the glus from his right eye by dabbing it with strips of masking tape.
I decided to call him Stucko De Gecko. A name I'm sure will stick.

These guys stress easily, so once you get enough glue off to enable him to move around and function, I'd leave him be and let the rest come off with the next shed; they don't tend to tolerate handling well. Try to get him to drink by misting the enclosure and him a few times a day. Once you get him hydrated he may be more interested in food. His feet still look kind of gummed up so you may want to help him out by taking the hoppers and maybe even the middle legs off of the crickets before you offer them.

Good luck!
Alice

Well, it has been a week since the glue trap incident and Stucko is looking much better. He's alert and moves fast. Most of his toes are free and he can see out his right eye. Since they hunt at night, I assume Stucko is eating when I'm not watching. He doesn't appear to be loosing weight and the crickets are disappearing . Meal worms burrow under the substrate and vanish before my eyes, so I'm not using them (but they make a tasty treat for the gold fish though). I added spider plants to the tank which Stucko took to climbing on them right away.
I too have read they don't handle well. I'm sure Stucko was born wild, and wild animals usually don't do well in captivity, so I leave him alone. The only time I have to bother him is when adding gut loaded crickets, filling his water dish and misting the tank.
However, Stucko proved he's tougher than the average Common House Gecko. I thought he would have died from just the stress of being in a glue trap, let alone being removed from it.
I'm hoping I can catch Stucko basking on his rock house so I can take a good photo of him to post.
Thanks for all the kind replies.

Last Wednesday Stucko shed his skin and it look like he's back to normal. It's apparent that he's eating by the droppings and the disappearing crickets.

Smile for the camera Stucko!