Return of the Mediterranean Gecko

This little gecko spooked out from under the front door sill, when I went out to get the morning newspaper recently.

At  first I only saw the striped tail, and thought it was a desert native Banded Gecko.

But then I noticed the bumps along its sides and recognized it as a Mediterranean Gecko, like the one we found in our house back in June 2012.


That particular gecko had lost its tail during an encounter with one of our cats. I was curious to know if this was the same gecko, or if we perhaps had a population of these non-native geckos living in our yard.


Here is a picture of that first gecko. (This pic was taken under indoor light, so the coloring cannot be accurately compared between the 2 images.)


After enlarging, rotating and  comparing the images side by side we really couldn't match up any of the markings.



If this is the same gecko from last summer it has gained weight, grown back its lost tail, and changed its markings. If it's a different individual, then we may have a breeding population of Mediterranean Geckos living in our yard.



"I am the Lizard King. I can do anything."
~ Jim Morrison, from the The Celebration of the Lizard King