A Colourful Little Gecko

I was searching for scorpions in my front yard one afternoon and as I lifted a rather large rock, this little gecko hopped out from below, scurrying through the leaf litter, trying to get away.

I just love the colours of this lizard. Black body, pale purplish head with a creamy stripe from each side that joins and extends till its abdomen, and an orange tail that could easily be mistaken for a part of the jackfruit.

I love this next shot where the gecko's looking at the camera, with only the head in focus.

Left it there and I continued my search for scorpions.

Home, Creepy Home

Here are a couple of critters I found in my home during my stay in December 2009. A spotted house gecko at night.

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Another nocturnal creature, a katydid. This one's brown in colour, unlike the green ones I commonly see around here.
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And right outside near the porch was a rather big, black and shiny earwig.
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Have another look at its large hind pincers.
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Missing them?

I have not posted much about reptiles like before, due to the weather and climate there in India. However there was one lizard that could still be commonly seen around. The small, arboreal tree gecko.

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Sometimes they can be found on the walls of houses too. Though they generally prefer tree trunks. this one's a juvenile.

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Forest Geckos

I spotted this pretty big Spotted House Gecko close to the Visitor Centre in Bukit Timah. It was initially on a palm tree and jumped down once it started raining.

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Look closely and you will see ants biting onto its body.

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With a mean and menacing face it looks at the camera.

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Somewhere in the middle of the Teban Loop Trail we noticed this very well-camouflaged Kendall's Rock Gecko.

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It looked quite similar to the previous gecko, the Spotted House Gecko. However this one is much more rare and can onkly be found in forested areas. Look at the lizard as it blends in with the tree trunk.

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And here's a close-up shot showing its round pupils. In Singapore, the Kendall's Rock Gecko is the only species of gecko that has round pupils instead of vertical ones, those like cats' and oriental whip snakes'.

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Wild House

A very enjoyable time I had in the stream. Well as soon as I headed home (which was a few metres from the stream), I got my camera and walked in and around the house hunting. I didn't really find very interesting creatures like snakes or frogs, but I got to photograph a number of them just around that tiny house. Here they are. The first was a Gecko with round pupils. In Singapore only the Kendall's Rock Gecko has round pupils, but here, there seem to be many species of geckos with round pupils.

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Close-Up shot showing its round pupils.

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A Common House Beetle.

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A small Brown Mantis about an inch long. It was hopping around wildly in the bedroom when I spotted it. At first I thought it was some type of fly but only after taking a closer look did I realize what it was.

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The Mantis was one of the best finds in the house so I decided to take another shot.

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A few species of moths.

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Another shot of the same one above.

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A much tinier one with torn wings.

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A rather big moth resting on the side of the wall.

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Two Hairy Caterpillars in the leaf litter around the house.

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This one was bigger and had slightly different colouring from the other.

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Lastly a Butterfly resting on the underside of the metal roof.

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I managed to get very close and take a close-up photograph of its eyes.

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Turn Around and Hide

Not on the same tree that I found the previous Arboreal Gecko, but on the same tree as that of the last spider. As I said, this is a very shy gecko and will hide immediately when spotted. But it was a waiting game for me. I hid on the other part of the tree and moved my hand to the front. Then I randomly took a few shots. Good Lord! I got clear pictures with the gecko in it!

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In the picture [above] the gecko might look like gliding lizard from far.

Here are two more pictures that I took.

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First flash disturbed him and he moved his head a little.

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He could not resist the second. He moved position.

Well Hidden on the Tree Trunk

The Last Animal for Day 2 is... An arboreal species of Gecko that is extremely shy and will always hide when we humans are nearby. I am not exactly sure about the species of this Gecko, but it is a common but rarely seen lizard. It is also very well camouflaged when it sits motionless on tree trunks like that of the Jackfruit Tree.

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Thats the end of Day 2. Next post will be animals found in Day 3.

A Strange Sign

Look at the picture above. What do you see? Jesus? Anything else? No? Then look closer.

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See anything now? Yes? What is that? Gecko? Spider? Well done. This is the Strange Sign. I was sitting down alone on the sofa at night, looking at this picture when I noticed these 2 creatures waiting in ambush for small insects on each side of the red light in front of Jesus's Picture. The Gecko, on the right, is the Spiny-Tailed House Gecko, whereas the Spider, on the left, is a differently coloured morph of the Giant House Spider. This is a very weird sighn though. Two creatures on either side of Jesus's Light. What does this mean?

Anyway, the next day I looked at the picture again and found the Spider still there but not the Gecko.

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Have a closer look at them.

A Gecko that stole my Food

Look at him, he's smiling. No feel of guilt even after stealing my food.
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This Spiny Tailed House Gecko was happily munching on the food that I kept under my table overnight. I found him the next morning sleeping happily inside it. I had to throw away my food and got him out for some photographs.

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I was outside and he jumped onto the Guava leaves beside.

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Kendall's Rock Gecko

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I was walking observantly through the Main Road when I noticed a few Kendall's Rock Geckos, Cnemaspis kendalli on a tree trunk. Most of them fleed when they saw me approach. I took a single photograph, as they are said to be quite common.

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Tongue Flipper

Here's a Flat Tailed Gecko that I found in a pool of water outside my house.

I got it out and took a few shots before releasing it back outside.

I got a nice shot of him flipping out his tongue to clean his nose.

I got it into a container that was suitable for Hermit Crabs. There it was very well camouflaged when it stood parallel to the lines on the piece of wood.