I am an Affilate!

I hope you love any product or service that I recommend. :) Just to be clear, I may take a share of any sales or other compensation from the links on this page. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you use my links, thanks, I appreciate your support.

Why Do House Lizards Make Noise?

House Gekos are known to make a lot of weird noises. These noises intrigued me, and I wondered why they actually make these noises and what type of noises they actually make. Let me explain more.

Why do house geckos make noise? To mark their territory or attract the attention of females. House Geckos are mainly found as pests in peoples houses and rely on insect infestations to survive. If they feel that a rival lizard is infiltrating their treasure, they will make noise and fend them off.

Now you know why they do this, let me explain how they feel they benefit from these noises. How these noises can indirectly help you, when you understand their objective and how you can tame them to keep them quiet.

What do they benefit from these noises?

House Lizards, also called House Geckos (Scientific name Hemidactylus frenatus), make various different noises. I will discuss further in the article, There are two main reasons for these weird noises:

  • Stamping their territory
  • Attracting females

Unfortunately House geckos are commonly known as pests in houses around the world. They survive off insects they find in your house.

The noise that they make in this instance is to fend off and warn other house geckos to move away from their food. It is believed that these sounds are best delivered vocally rather than using visual forms of communication.

This is mainly because house buildings create an echoing effect, making the sound more powerful and easier to travel over longer distances.

What sounds do house geckos make?

House geckos make a few different sounds in particular:

  • Barking
  • Squeaking
  • Chirping
  • Clicking

The barking sound is believed to be a defence mechanism to ward off other Predators or other rival house geckos, that are trying to infiltrate their territory.

Squeaking is another sound that they make, which is believed to be heard mainly during fights. The clicking sound however is used to entice female geckos for mating.

How Can These Noises Actually benefit you?

As discussed earlier these sounds can be linked to territorial issues with other house geckos, in particular the barking sounds.

But let’s step back and understand why they are aggressive in the first place. They are trying to fend off other lizards stealing their food. And as discussed, their food are insects that are found in your house, effectively a pest and a problem in your house, right?

Therefore you can argue that these lizards are actually doing you a good service? Reason being they are eating the insects that are causing a problem in your house.

The real problem is the insects not necessary the house gecko, right?

To put this in perspective let’s say each gecko consumes about 12 insects a day. With that assumption, that would mean over an annual basis, that would be over 4000 insects that your house gecko is consuming.

No lets think deeper, These house geckos are very rarely on their own. You can easily assume for every house lizard that you actually see, you can guarantee there is probably another dozen hidden somewhere else.

Therefore we are talking about tens of thousands of insects are being consumed by these house geckos and helping you with a big pest problem. So, indirectly these weird noises they make are part of cleaning up your insect problem.

How can you tame a house lizard to keep them quiet?

Firstly, is it even possible to tame a lizard? The answer to that question is yes. You can definitely tame them. But one thing to consider, taming a lizard will not give you the same results as a pet dog, for example.

You can never expect to get the same affection from a lizard as you do from a dog. For example, you will never be able to hug and kiss a lizard, like some people do with their dogs. This is just not the way it is.

However you can expect your lizard, once it is tamed, to be receptive towards you. Meaning it will come towards you when you approach him. And even eat food from you when you put your hand nearby.

But how do you actually tame these lizards?

Firstly once you first introduce a house a lizard to your enclosure you need to give them some time to adjust to their new environment. The best way to do this is to literally leave them alone first. Without attempting to touch them. This is advised to be done for at least the first week, maybe a bit less, but a week is or more is better.

Once you passed this initial period and you’ve giving them space to adjust, you then need to present them with some food. But do not hold onto the food and try and coax them towards you. Just simply present them with the food and watch them as they eat it.

This is the first attempt for them to get used to your presence and associate you with positive experiences, such as food.

Once you have got past this stage, the next step is to start introducing food to your house gecko. Using a pair of metal tongs. The idea here is to simply place the food, using the tongs, each day so that the house lizard can see you.

Do this repeatedly for 2 weeks to a month. Be patient, the idea is to gradually let the house gecko start to associate you with being fed and being a positive part of its day.

After you start noticing that this is working the next step is to place the food down using your hands. Each day use your bare hands or gloves, If you do not want to handle the insects. Place the food for the Gecko to come, but do not be tempted to try and grab the Gecko.

You need to take your time and let him come to you. What you should find is, towards the end of this process. If it’s done correctly, your gecko will start to build the trust for you and associate you with being fed on a daily basis. And in time will start to move towards your hands for the food, rather than waiting for you to disappear.

Be patient with this process because it’s not an overnight solution it is something that you have to do bit-by-bit to build up the trust.

Related Questions:

Can Lizards hear you? Yes, they can hear but their hearing is very different to us. Instead of flappy ears like we have, they have small holes that are quite visible. The sound is passed through these holes. Their eardrums are just below their skin level. They can’t hear very well, but better than other reptiles such as snakes for example.

What happens if a lizard falls on your left arm? It is  believed that you will feel some type of personal shame in the near future. This stems from a number of superstitions that exist around lizards. In fact there is a big list of various different places a lizard can fall on your body and for each one there is an expectation that something will happen.

Do Lizards Smell? Yes, they can do. You wouldn’t expect them to smell, because when you compare them to mammals they do not produce as much feacas. They also do not shed too regularly and they do not mark their territory using urine, like dogs can do. But for some reason they do have a smell.

Do house Geckos Carry diseases? Yes, they can carry salmonella, so you are strongly advised to take caution. This disease can spread by direct or even indirect contact.

How big can a common Lizard grow? On average you can expect them to grow from three to six inches in length. Therefore they are a relatively small lizard. However, in the wild, or as a domestic pest, they are known to travel in numbers, so as a collective it can be quite overwhelming.

Wayne
 

Hi, this is me with my daughter and my Lizard friend. I hope you enjoy my research. Please feel free to check out my "About Me" page to find out more about me.