Of all of Hawaii's eight species of geckos, or chirpin' herps as I like to call them, the three members of the Phelsuma genus are the flashiest. Being diurnal, these day geckos will have nothing to do with drab browns and greys of their nocturnal kin. To blend in with the brilliant tropical plants of their native Madagascar and surrounding islands, they need coloration just as brilliant. And indeed, they look like they took turns rolling around in a paint box. The gold dust day gecko is the one you are most likely to see, being established on Oahu, the Big Island, Maui, and most recently, Kauai. It gets to be around four to five inches in length and has a varied diet of insects, smaller invertebrates and lizards, as well as fruit, nectar and pollen. The Madagascar day gecko is the largest of the genus, up to nine inches or so, and is reported to give a good bite. It appears there is a small but growing population in Manoa, and perhaps a few other spots on Oahu. While the two look similar, the Madagscar day has a red stripe from the nostril to behind the eye, whereas the Gold dust sports transverse bars across the snout and head. The Orange-spotted day gecko is similar in size to the gold dust, but with orange speckles along the body and a blue wash over the shoulders. There is little information on this guy, but it would seem that there is a small population on the windward side in the Kailua and Kaneohe areas. | |
9 Comments
Mmrlyn
1/19/2014 09:10:16 am
What do you want us to do if we see them? Capture it? Turn it in?
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MSG
7/30/2014 03:47:59 am
I live on Little Torch Key in S.Florida and we have these geckos in abundance here.They have not reached Key West Yet. I looked them up because I noticed a baby one, about 2 inches long a few days ago. I thought it had managed to get outside but it appears to be staying.It has been living on a ledge over my kitchen sink.I just mashed up some banana to see if he/she will eat it.Outside they are plentiful and love to eat the moths around our shed lights.
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Sean Q
12/5/2014 05:34:41 pm
Tonight my wife and I saw what we think to be a gold dust day gecko that was around 8-10 inches long. This is by far the largest gecko we've seen in Hawaii. We live near the zoo. We took some pretty bad pictures of it due to poor lighting but you can at least see how large it is. Would you like me to send them to you?
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Mei M
9/15/2016 04:22:00 pm
We have quite a bit living in our office, a bit too many. How can we get rid of them? Don't like them at all, too much mess left behind.
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DG
8/20/2017 01:04:14 pm
Wow, for the first time in my 53 years in Hawaii I found a Gold Dust gecko in my yard in Hawaii Kai.
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Lolol
10/20/2018 02:01:28 pm
I just found the gold dust day gecko in my garden in EwaBeach. Very friendly and too afraid of people.
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Nicole
2/23/2022 01:12:51 pm
Hi Jeanne,
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