Today in my building I found a fairly large gecko stuck to one of those sticky bottles used to catch mosquitoes. I thought it was dead, but after touching it it started moving. He was stuck to the bottle via his tail and one of his legs, and couldn;t manage to get away from it by himself.
I helped him out a bit and then I left, thinking he could handle it, but when i came back home I noticed he only moved a few centimeters away, hiding behind a vase. His leg was completely stuck to his body and the tail was picking up all the rubbish and dust on the ground.
So I brought him home and I used some water and cotton tips to clean him up. Detaching his leg from the body was a bit scary because I was constantly afraid of braking something. Now he can move his leg, but if he stays in the same position for too long the tail will get stuck on the plastic box whre I’m keeping him. I put some water below him to help him get rid of the sticky stuff, it’s slowly getting better but I reckon it may take a couple of days before he gets back to normal and I can set him free.
The problem now is: wtf do I give him to eat? In this area we don’t have roaches, there are very few ants (I mean, there’s a fuckton in Summer but they haven’t started making their new homes yet) and I have no way to catch live mosquitoes.
Use one of those mosquito rackets to catch live mozzies. If you don’t zap them too hard, they should stay alive and buzzing enough to make an appetizing meal for the poor gecko.
I’d probably head over to the beetle/lizard pet shop on the Shilin circle (near where the subway tracks run along Wenlin road south of Shilin station) to see what they had to say
So far i’ve only used water and water with a bit of soap. If he really cannot get rid of the stick stuff, I’ll try some alcohol as well. So far he’s been doing ok by simply staying in a plastic container with some water a very small amount of water at the bottom. He can now move all his 4 legs in a normal way, but if the tail keeps getting stuck to the dry walls of the plastic box I’ll give alcohol a try.
Read my posts. Use oil, baby oil works wonder, if not available, cooking oil. He will be unstuck almost immediately. Leave him soak if too stuck, but pay attention that he can breathe.
EDIT:
No alcohol! You’ll poison the poor bugger. they have very porous skin.
He’s doing a lot better now. No idea if he’s eating the salad or not, but he can move freely. He’s still in a large plastic box with plenty of water, so his chances of getting stuck are very small.
Tomorrow I have to go to Skydragon city in the morning. In the afternoon I’ll see if he needs some more cleaning (in which case I’ll use some oil).
I hope to release him back to freedom in a day or two. If he turns out to have some serious problem with the legs (so far it doesn’t look so), I’ll keep him here and buy some worms from a fishing store. It’s not easy to tell if he can walk/crawl in a regular way, but the fact that he can climb on the wall of the plastic box and crawl around without falling is probably a good sign.
Yes, use oil instead of any kind of alcohol which will likely kill him. Or her.
live soft insects are best (not beetles). tried catching flies? or finding cockroach egg cases about to hatch (check back of your fridge)?
any break in the skin on these guys more than a couple of mm is invariably fatal too. many a cat of mine has had a go and they almost all die soon after being bitten.
unless they drop a tail, which is a defense mechanism. robs them of a fat store, but gives them a whole new lease on life…
No idea, when I’m around he doesn’t move much. When I leave him alone for a while and I go back to check how he’s doing he’s in a different position.
He’s looking more comfortable and can easily move around, so I’m thinking 9f letting him go tonight. Should I let him go in a natural area like a river bank with trees etc, or near our home where I found him?
There’s almost nothing to catch here. No roaches in the countryside, no ants (yet), don’t know how he’d survive with the occasional mozzie (if he even eats them?)
