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Chondrodactylus turneri
About 2 dm in size (head to tail). Very calm. This gecko has splayed toes with adhesive discs at the tips, enabling it to travel along all surfaces, even upside down on the cealing.
Found in a sewer at night. A lot of bugs and moths fell down there, unable to climp or fly up. However the lizard did not seem to be in "feeding mode" at the time for the photograph.
Geckos are gregarious creatures, and 20 or more may share the same shelter, leaving it at night to feed on insects. Although they are nocturnal, geckos do sometimes appear during the day, especially early mornings and late evenings. If attacked by a predator, usually birds, the gecko sheds its tail quite easily, diverting the predators attention in order to escape. A new tail will grow to replace the original one.
I believe that the gecko we get in Swaziland has been reclassified and is now known as Chondrodactylus turneri, rather than P. bibronii.
Hej Lisa :)
I have used that page a little bit before when trying to ID a Tortoise. That page is a good start, and a good guideline for a reptile noob like me ;)
The photos are not that good yet there though, but perhaps that will change in the future.
Thank you Lisa
Tiz, you might find this database very helpful in the future:
http://www.sntc.org.sz/reptiles/speciesl...
Thank you again Ashley! This turned out to be an interesting specimen, with few previous records from that area! Aaron, happy for the confirmation as well :)
And dear Jack, thank you for your nice commen :)
I immediately thought of Turner's Thick-toed Gecko when I looked at it, so I just looked for ones in range in the same Genus and found this guy :)
I was thinking Bibron's gecko but I haven't seen one in years. I was too lazy to look it up. ;-)
Spotted on Nov 10, 2013
Submitted on Nov 16, 2013
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