Schlegel's Japanese gecko is a small, gray-brown gecko that lives on and around houses in Japan, Korea, and eastern China, coming out at night to catch insects. It has no known wild population in the United States. In Japan it's called yamori, often explained as "house protector," and finding one at home is considered good luck.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 4–5.5 in (10–14 cm) long, about half of that tail. It's flat-bodied and gray to brown with blurry dark blotches, and toe pads let it cling even to glass.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Houses and buildings
- Cities
- Range
- Eastern China, South Korea, and Japan, where it ranges across Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. No known wild population in the US.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mainly insects, plus spiders and other small arthropods.
- Activity
- Active at night, often waiting near lights for insects. It can drop its tail to escape a predator; blood vessels at the base close off, but it loses the fat stored there.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Females lay sticky eggs on walls or wood. In this species, the incubation temperature helps decide whether hatchlings are male or female.
- Clutch size
- 2 eggs
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
More species to explore
Record what you meet and build your own collection
Your photos are kept with their date and place, and you can fill regional albums one species at a time.