read a news item on the weekend, a person shocked to see 'lizards on the wall' in a Thai hospital.

Hard to dispute - is there a wall that doesn't have one? We live in a modern-style house, aluminum joinery etc, despite this there's not a room without its resident gecko jing-jok (or two or three). They don't bother me - apart from the ones that hang around the lounge light at night and drop little poos onto the couch below!

In our garage there has been a tokay since we moved here today the neighbor pointed out we now have three, two babies about 5cm 2" long also hiding up in the rafters.

Here's our one - guessing it's 'mum'. Not photogenic, couldn't get a clear pic of the face/head; it's about 25cm 10" long



Coloring looks about the same as these I found online



When we lived on the farm in a traditional pole-house a large one lived in the rafters inside; I got a telling off once for trying to shoo it away - it is their 'lucky' tokay. It was much bigger than the one we have here, and I remember once having quite shock when I mistook it for a snake - could only see the head looking down at me.

One more thing to get used to.

looking for those pics I found some more info

Tokay Gecko Fact Sheet
Wiki: Tokay gecko

and this one was a surprise: Tokay Geckos for Sale it's a couple of years old but mentions big prices for adult tokays in Malaysia.

How's the wildlife at your place?

Pennsylvania, USA: Yesterday, had a black bear walk into a Sears Store at a local shopping mall - automatic photocell controlled doors. Perhaps looking for honey in a department store - go figure. Panic and mass evacuation by the human shoppers.

Kind of makes the lizards of Thailand "friendly". They do help with the bug population. I have seen several adult Asian water monitors and they do keep me away from the water in Thailand.

I've only seen two water monitors; one when out cycling, it was about 1.5m head to tail, bailed up by two dogs - from what I've read the dogs may have lost that one, they have a nasty bite. Second was in the lake at a temple, from a distance I thought I'd spotted a crocodile, it was easily over 2m.

Description: To 3.21 meters long. Snout to base of tail is up to 1.1 meters. A massive, intimidating lizard, one of the largest in the world. The heaviest individuals can weigh over 50 kilograms.
The Water Monitor is an inauspicious lizard in Thailand. Its Thai name is an insult referring to an evil thing. Superstitions state that it indicates bad luck, and some Thais will even avoid saying its name. The negative connotations associated with monitors may have to do with their eating of dead animals, their feeding upon household chickens and eggs, or their frightening appearance.
more info



And a note - I learned this bad word at the last government elections - politicians name-calling. Not for polite usage!

Calling someone a water monitor, or hia (เหี้ย) in Thai, is considered a particularly grave insult; suggest use tua ngern tua thong (ตัวเงินตัวทอง), or ‘silver and gold creature’ instead.

When I lived on a property in Lang Suan we had a large cement tank out the back which had been used to breed catfish in the past, we had some water put in it during dry season when the well dried up, I went out back one day and found we had a visitor, a young water monitor was in the tank, it was quite happily sitting on the bottom of the tank minding its own business, I put a bamboo pole in the water incase it wanted to get out, when I went out the next day it was gone.

My wife and I recently moved to a new rental in Chumphon, I had to chase and catch a dupgeh (tokey in the pics above)), I hope the spelling is right, when I got it on the floor I covered it with a thick cloth and picked it up just behind the head, just like you do with a shingleback in Australia, I wish I knew how to upload photos, looked like the ones in the pics above, My wife tells me they have a nasty bite.

^ the bite - this from Wiki (harm to the gecko - what about your finger?)

When the Tokay bites, they often won't let go for a few minutes or even up to an hour or more, and it is very difficult to remove without causing harm to the gecko. For this reason, it is considered to be best as an ornamental animal for experienced reptile owners.

As a cyclist I'm slow enough to check out the snake roadkills . . . and keep an eye out for any live ones that may be in my path. Our local community hospital has a display board showing specimens of the ones likely to be found locally that would require immediate hospital treatment. Since the one in our kitchen I still go in there carefully first thing in the morning, bleary eyed in search of coffee, seeing a snake was quite a shock.

We saw one of these looking out of a sewage pipe in Bangkok. 200cm long easily.

__________________
Dolt: a dull or foolish fellow

Water Monitors in the news - seems Pres Obama's security men were not too keen on sharing the grounds of Government House with them. Can't say I blame them.

I don't know why I find this report FUNNY!

__________________
Dolt: a dull or foolish fellow