Insects in Apartment / Condo

[timottk]

Hi everybody,

i am already saying sorry for the stupid question, but was thinking about this question now for a while:

Moving soon to Singapore and my question is: How often i normally happens that you have an gecko / lizards in your apartment. Is it something which happens nearly daily / weekly or is it just happening once a year or even more less?

Are there areas / apartments where it occurs more or less?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Be thankful you have them. They will be there all the time, but most of the time you wont see them. When you do they will be in the strangest and funniest places (like in the fridge so cold they cannot move, but held in the palm of your hand for a few minutes and they will warm back up and go scampering off. Don't harm / kill them. The eat mosquitoes/larva/ants an other worse creepy-crawlies. The one big problem with them is they like to hid behind picture frames on the wall and then crap on the walls, but otherwise they are beneficial and not harmful at all. I miss my pet ones (wild but usually used to spend lots of time on the top of my PC monitor where it was warm. I also had another that would come up and take a grain of boiled rice off my finger. They are everywhere and are a blessing.

[timottk]

i know they are harmless and also quite useful. So i might be scared at the beginning but i guess i can live with them. Just wanted to know out of curiosity, how often you have one in your appartment?

[The Ref]

i know they are harmless and also quite useful. So i might be scared at the beginning but i guess i can live with them. Just wanted to know out of curiosity, how often you have one in your appartment?

All day every day.

I would say even if you dont see one, there will be one hiding somewhere

[sundaymorningstaple]

^^^This!

[Strong Eagle]

I've electrocuted a couple of them in my toaster. Inadvertently... kind of stinky.

If you live in a hermetically sealed condo with the aircon on all the time, you probably won't have many geckos. If you "go native" and leave windows open during the day, as most do, they are just a fact of life.

[x9200]

Hi everybody,

i am already saying sorry for the stupid question, but was thinking about this question now for a while:

Moving soon to Singapore and my question is: How often i normally happens that you have an gecko / lizards in your apartment. Is it something which happens nearly daily / weekly or is it just happening once a year or even more less?

Are there areas / apartments where it occurs more or less?

They are nice creatures (and not insects) and the only problem with them is they shit on your walls.

Normally you hear them rather than see but you still will likely see one or two a few time each day.

I had once one very social and brave visiting my side table each time I had there some fruits and despite me sitting one meter away. Normally they will ran away as soon as they see or hear you.

And if you are outside after sunset and there is a lamp (light) on the wall or ceiling (think about open space or even open door pubs, restaurants, coffee shops) surely there will be geckos there. Many. Still this is nothing comparing to such places in Thailand, Burma, Cambodia...

Better start liking them

[timottk]

Thanks a lot for all your answers so far.

I still a bit "confused" about the answers. E.g i lived for about two month in Bangkok - maybe saw once a small gecko on the street but never in the room i lived (could be also that they were there but never realized them - or it was because of the high floor of the room)

I was even several times in Singapore and to be honest, i do not remember really sawing even one gecko on the street (but was also not really looking for them - maybe if i would have looked at commercial signs / lights or something similar i might have seen them). Totally different e.g to Bali, where i saw geckos nearly every 30min in your room or in garden / street.

My question was more like if it is similar to having "normal" spiders in the apartment. I guess also that there are always a spider in your apartment but u probably only see them once or twice a year. At least in my current apartment in Europe it is like that.

I am pretty sure if you are ground level or in a house and having windows open, that of course you will probably have the one or other gecko visiting you (guess maybe the same like having bugs or flies coming to you), but was asking myself if this is the same e.g if you life in a condo complex city center on the 5th floor.

Even if i am not really used to them, i am fine with them, but also for me it is a difference if i am living with them every day and night (mainly also of the sound) in my apartment or if they are only once or twice in a year in your condo.

[x9200]

It is sort of like with spiders in Europe but I would disagree you see them twice a year. Perhaps you just don't notice? To give you some specific example, I live on a 25th floor, condo, and I see them in average every day. Most time in the kitchen and living room, sometimes late evening crawling out the aircon wall unit. Moving furniture, like sofas or heavy armchairs, you are likely find them hiding behind too. They feed on food and bugs so most time vicinity of the kitchen and the yard. I don't really recall seeing any in the bedrooms.

Bali is pretty rural so more geckos. Bangkok obviously less, but they are there for sure. It's like a part of the landscape. Nobody really cares. But if I see cockroaches in my apartment more then a few times a year, then I am concerned. Geckos are wall shitting, but friends.

[x9200]

One more thing - geckos are not like intrusive or something. They won't normally crawl out at you or something. You either have to notice them at the background or catch them inexpecting, eg. by entering kitchen at night or early morning.

[The Ref]

My question was more like if it is similar to having "normal" spiders in the apartment.

Mate I am from 'Straya. A Gekko is nothing like having an spider in your apartment, but I am still happy to have most spiders living there because it means less insects - Gekkos are the same.
A few houses ago I had a snake in the kitchen cupboard which I had trouble catching, so I kept the dog away and left the door open and it all worked out OK

[timottk]

It is sort of like with spiders in Europe but I would disagree you see them twice a year. Perhaps you just don't notice? To give you some specific example, I live on a 25th floor, condo, and I see them in average every day. Most time in the kitchen and living room, sometimes late evening crawling out the aircon wall unit. Moving furniture, like sofas or heavy armchairs, you are likely find them hiding behind too. They feed on food and bugs so most time vicinity of the kitchen and the yard. I don't really recall seeing any in the bedrooms.

Bali is pretty rural so more geckos. Bangkok obviously less, but they are there for sure. It's like a part of the landscape. Nobody really cares. But if I see cockroaches in my apartment more then a few times a year, then I am concerned. Geckos are wall shitting, but friends.

Thanks a lot for ur answer. Can i ask you which area your are living? Maybe another question: how can i imagine the size of a gecko which u see every day. Is it a small one like this always: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydZK8e_rMaU ?

[The Ref]

Thanks a lot for ur answer. Can i ask you which area your are living? Maybe another question: how can i imagine the size of a gecko which u see every day. Is it a small one like this always: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydZK8e_rMaU ?

Only watched the first 5 seconds of the utube, but every gekko is exactly that size down to the nanometer and they exist at that size in all of Singapore and every country neighbouring it

[sundaymorningstaple]

And if you are in an older place of abode, if you pull off the switch plate of your electrical boxes you may well find pea sized white gecko eggs, sometimes hatched, others not. Can also be often found in your fan housings of ceiling fans and under the microwave. Almost anywhere if you actually set out to look for them. Otherwise, like the other posters have already mentioned, almost anywhere but generally unobtrusive. Occasionally you will find a tail only wiggling on the floor, where one might have been stepped on (losing a tail is common practice to escape from predators or playful pets/children/curious adults, etc.) The tail will grow back.

[x9200]

Thanks a lot for ur answer. Can i ask you which area your are living? Maybe another question: how can i imagine the size of a gecko which u see every day. Is it a small one like this always: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydZK8e_rMaU ?

Bukit Batok, but don't count on it as the place particularly infested They are everywhere.

The size, in average, perhaps 3-8 cm (nose to tail, tip to tip), but you will see the whole range from 2 cm or smaller to like 15 cm.
My wife says they are disgusting but still kind of get along with them reasonably well (to some extend at least

Really, don't worry too much, they are not that bad.