Passing through

Some stick to the ceiling and some don’t, but many lizards sneak inside for a snack, says MARTYN ROBINSON

The warmer weather often causes creatures to move about, and sometimes they come inside the house. It can be a pleasant surprise if a butterfly or small bird finds its way in, and these can be gently helped out, but it’s more alarming to encounter a large spider or snake, which also need to be gently shown the way out. Other visitors include various species of ‘lounge lizard’, which are found almost everywhere around the country, although the species varies from place to place. Some of these, such as geckos, are active at night. They come in two broad groups – the claw-footed geckos, which can only cling to rough surfaces such as brick, unpainted wood and cloth upholstery on a sofa, and the sticky-toed ones, which have pads on their toes, with a surface like minute velcro hooks, so they are able to scurry up the smoothest of walls and even along ceilings and glass windows to catch the insects they are seeking. Then there are the daytime lizards. The most common are the smooth-bodied skinks (above), which sometimes learn that they can find tasty insects and food scraps inside your house.

Although lounge lizards eat a lot of annoying insects, which can be helpful, they often also leave the processed remains of these insects on the floor or, in the case of geckos, on the walls, which some people find less so. Well, the good news is that they don’t usually stay in the house for long – they should be gone in a week or less, finding their way out the same way that they found their way in.

If you don’t want to encourage lizards to come inside, the trick is to keep the kitchen as free from insects and scraps as you can. Personally, I don’t mind them, and I just clean up after them when required. This approach is far less toxic than spraying for insects under the stove!

Martyn gardens mainly on Sydney’s Northern Beaches