Geckos are one of the most popular pet reptiles. These cute lizards are quite charming and personable, and can make great pets! A local Crested, GA vet lists a few things you may not know about them in this article.

There Are Many, Many Geckos

There are over 1500 known geckos. These little lizards are on every continent, except Antarctica. However, the vast majority of them aren’t really suitable pets.

Pet Types

Of the few geckos that do make good pets, the Leopard gecko is probably the most popular. Some others include the Crested gecko, Gold Dust Day gecko, Satanic Leaf tailed gecko, Chinese Cave gecko, and African fat-tailed gecko.

Seven Families

Geckos have organized themselves into seven families. The largest of these, Gekkonidae—or the common gecko—contains more than 950 types of geckos, which are further divided into 64 genera. These include house geckos, which are often welcomed because of their affinity for eating bugs, and day geckos, including the Gold Dust Day gecko, whom you may recognize as the Geico spokeslizard.

Living Color

Geckos tend to be nocturnal. They have extremely accurate night vision. In fact, their low-light color vision is 350 times better than ours!

Dinosaur Age

While we often jokingly refer to pet lizards as tiny dinosaurs, this actually isn’t all that far from the truth … at least as far as geckos are concerned. The oldest known gecko fossil was found in amber that dated back to the Eocene era. At that point, dinosaurs had *only* been extinct for about ten million years.

Sizes

Geckos have a pretty wide range of size. The biggest one we know of would be the Kawekaweau. Unfortunately, this pretty lizard is extinct. In fact, we only know about it because of a single stuffed specimen in the basement of a museum in France. The littlest one is the Jaragua sphaero, which is just over a half inch long.

Vocals

Most reptiles are quiet. However, several geckos do make noise. Most just make chirping or clicking sounds, but the Tokay likes to loudly announce their single status when searching for a mate. Others hiss.

They Lick Their Eyelids

Your gecko will never fetch your slippers or roll over and play dead, but they do know at least one interesting trick.

As your Dahlonega, GA animal clinic, we are dedicated to offering great care. Please contact us anytime!