Jimmy vs. Wild: Sleeping with Lizards

Posted on 09.16.07 in Family and there are 22 comments.

Jimmy: Did you know there was a gecko in our room last night?

Me: Um...No....

Jimmy: Yeah, it was there on the wall while we were watching the movie. I just left it there.

Me: Whhaat?!

Jimmy: Well, I didn’t want to have to wash my hands.

Me: It was in the room while we slept?!

Jimmy: Yep.

Me: Blech..arghh...ughth..ick (shiver)

Jimmy: I did walk up to it to make sure it wasn’t a scorpion. But I saw that it was a gecko...so I went back to bed.

(If only I were making this stuff up.)

Would you be able to sleep knowing there was a gecko running around your room?

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What?  No video?  No hedge clippers? 

I don’t think I’d sleep very well knowing a gecko was running around in my room--I would be sure it would run across my face or something.  Yuck!

Ick blech.  No, I would most definitely not be able to sleep.

My kids found one in Hawaii and my five year old named him Swimtrunks.  Love live the gecko.

....no I could not sleep!  I guess it’s good he didn’t tell you about it!

Brody found an orange and black gecko in a cave and brought it home one time.  We put it in a fish bowl and it became our pet for a few days.  We were wondering why it was so slow etc. and then were watching a nature show describing this type of gecko.  The man was saying that they become slow while they are putting enough poison out of their skin to paralyze a man, I guess it’s their defense mechanism for when snakes swallow them..... we got rid of it quickly! 

~Glad you didn’t wake up with it on your face! Is it out of your house now?

If my wife knew it was in the house there’s no way I’d be allowed to sleep. Otherwise I’m with Jimmy on this one. (I got your back Bro!)

Sleep like a baby.  Don’t tell Mrs. E, but I do the same thing all the time.  What you don’t know hasn’t hurt you yet!

Lisa and Kim,
Nice to know I’m not the only one who’d have trouble sleeping.

Michelle,
I don’t think I’d mind a gecko in Hawaii…

Kristin,
Yikes! And I have no idea where it is now…

Albert and Euphrony,
Jimmy will be glad to know he’s not alone - not that he was worried about that - he seemed to have great fun telling me about the gecko.

No...and I don’t think I could use the hairspray on a gecko, either.  Just spiders.  But I would have to remove the gecko from the house before I could relax.

How big was it?

Kat - remember that time I was out of town and you saw a gecko come walking across the room?

If I remember right, you polled the group to see what everyone thought you did....the answers were something like:
a)smash it with a shoe
b) carefully cup it in your hands and let set it outside, or
c) let it go.

The answer was that you let it go.  So, the one I saw is probably the same one (or one of it’s multiple offspring), so I decided to let it’s string of good luck continue.

But sleep well.  You can count on me.  I sleep right next to you and if I see it on your face I will simply flick it off without even waking you.

This is not a hypothetical for me.  Yes, I can sleep with a gecko in the room.  They’re harmless, if a little sticky. 

Other things I can know are in the room that do not prevent me from sleeping:  6-inch long caterpillar-like black things, banana slugs, crickets, large spiders I can’t hunt down in the dark, and the biggest praying mantises I have ever seen. 

Something that did prevent me from sleeping once:  a wall of tens of thousands of ants moving across the ceiling like a tidal wave.  Shudder!

No way!!!!

I’m with Jimmy on this one.  Geckos are harmless.  My fried used to have quite a collection of frogs, lizards and other creatures that he raised.  He once had a gecko get loose and live in the walls of their old farmhouse for 6 months without getting caught.

MB

Jimmy, in flicking the gecko off, be sure not to separate the tail from the body, as that could leave something on her face for later.

Texas in Africa, you are amazing.  I could not sleep with those things around.  I’ve visted my sister in Costa Rica where giant grasshoppers take residence right above the bed and I can’t sleep until they’ve moved away or been swept out. 

So, no, I would have a hard time sleeping in that situation.  And I thought that was half the benefit of having a husband--to get rid of the creepy crawlies for you!

No, you can’t make this stuff up.  That’s why parenting is the best job in the world.

yes i could, because I have.

Oh and I have a story for you.  A little over a year ago we had a cat named Zorro.  Zorro loved to play with the lizards on the porch. Unfortunately for me lizards were also his love language. I don’t recall if I was waking up or going to bed, but I felt something scratchy like a prickle or something in my blankets at my feet.  I jumped up and lifted the covers off the end of the bed and there is a lizard skeleton in my bed. *Shudders* Now that is gross.  I was furious at the cat for at least a week. And no, it had not been in my bed more than that one time, I think I had just made the bed. So there. =)

I love lizards i just have problems with the spiders.
i had a 5 foot iguana and while i would clean its cage she would swim in the tub and one day my mom went in the bathroom and heard a splashing in the tub and leaned over to look at what it was but she ended up face to face with leah,and was not happy about it.

Guilty Secret,
I don’t think it was probably very big. The ones we usually see around here are only about two inches long. But still...the idea of one running across my face as I sleep....ugh.

Thanks for commenting, by the way. It’s nice to “meet” you.

Jimmy,
That seriously made me laugh. You’re so witty. I’d forgotten about that post.

TIA,
Are you serious? Do you have any pics or blog posts about all these creepy crawlies? You are definitely more brave than I am…

BLB,
Good to know I’m not alone. I was beginning to feel a bit wimpy…

MamasBoy,
Geckos may be harmless, but I still don’t want it sleeping with me.

Euphrony,
Thank you for that tidbit.

Amy,
I’m beginning to think there’s some unwritten rule that they only get the creepy crawlies that we actually notice…

Rick,
Are you being serious or sarcastic? If you’re being serious I need to clarify that Jimmy is my husband not my son.

If you’re being sarcastic, that’s a really funny comment!

lorijo,
Oh, that is really gross!

Cyndi,
A 5 foot iguana named Leah?! You had a very gracious mother to let you have a 5 foot lizard for a pet!

Nice to meet you too… your blog is charming

Many species will, in defense, expel a foul-smelling material and feces onto their aggressors.

Many geckos are kept as pets and will eat various kinds of insects and sometimes fruit.

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