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What is a Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

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Class: Reptilia » What is a Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

Mediterranean House Gecko Overview

The Mediterranean House Gecko, also known as the Turkish Gecko, is considered to be one of the most productive and successful geckos on the planet due to how many parts of the world the species has spread to. Originally from the Mediterranean region, as one could imagine, this lizard can be found in multiple countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, as well as parts of the United States and Mexico.

In parts of the Mediterranean, it is considered socially unacceptable to harm the geckos due to their calm nature as well as their propensity to be kept as pets.

Part of their success comes from the fact that they are hardy, adaptable lizard that is resistant to pesticides which helps them overcome any spraying that would occur to insects which also happen to be their food source.

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What is a Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

Turkish gecko close up ( Hemidactylus turcicus or Mediterranean house gecko )

Taxonomy

  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Reptilia
  • Order: Squamata
  • Family: Gekkonidae
  • Genus: Hemidactylus
  • Species: H. turcicus

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Size and Body Description

The Mediterranean Gecko is a small lizard with bumpy skin, sticky toe pads, and large eyes. For the most part, these geckos have a base color of brown, light brown, gray, or even purplish with dark spots all along their body. While it may have a spotted body, Mediterranean Geckos have stripped tails that can grow back if it is lost in a struggle.

Their underbellies are usually a solid white or light color and translucent. If you find a female gecko with eggs in her belly, you can shine a light on it to see the eggs underneath her skin. As mentioned before, these geckos have large eyes but they don’t have eyelids  

Length

The Mediterranean Gecko grows to be around 1 to 2.5 inches long in body length with their tail growing to be around the same length, if not a little longer than their body. Including the tail and the body, these lizards can reach up to 4 to 5 inches in total length

Diet

Like most geckos, the Mediterranean Gecko will eat just about any insect that it can fit in its mouth. Their diet includes crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, ants, butterflies, cockroaches, and spiders but because they are visual hunters who sneak up on their prey, they tend to prefer living bugs to dead ones.

Reproduction

Breeding and mating season for the Mediterranean Gecko starts in April and lasts until around August with eggs being laid around the same time period depending on when the gecko mates.

The gestation period is a little over a month-long so a female gecko can lay eggs as many as 3 times in a mating season. Females will lay 1 to 2 eggs at a time.

Range

Mediterranean Geckos are a global species so they’re found on a majority of the continents. As far as where they are found in the United States, it’s just about everywhere as well. In order to prevent having a wall of states in this section, we’re just going to post a picture instead below.

How Long do Mediterranean Geckos Live

Mediterranean Geckos live to be around 3 to 9 years depending on if they’re wild or in captivity.

Protection

Because of how common these geckos are, the Mediterranean Gecko is not protected by any federal or state laws at the time of writing this. 

References Used

Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)