httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsOmFYVhS9g

Northern House Gecko eats biscuit !

The Northern House Gecko (Hemidactylus flaviviridis) is a widespread species found in human-modified habitats throughout northern and eastern India. This is probably the most common house-dwelling gecko in Kolkata, the eastern capital of India. This species is primarily insectivorous and often observed to hunt on various insects like ants, mosquitoes or cockroaches. As an altered behavior, it is also not very uncommon to find this species extending it’s food items to available edible human food products! However, there have not been many reported incidents where Northern House Geckos specialized on a certain type of human food.

The video clips here show an individual gecko that ‘waits’ for biscuits everyday almost at the same time in the evening at my home in Kolkata. This individual shows extraordinary ‘pet’ behavior and sometimes eats from my hand. This has been happening since 2011 until very recently.Sometimes the gecko goes missing for a couple of months, but reappears again when we find it waiting for a biscuit near the TV-table, its usual refuge. Though not marked,I assume it to be the same individual as it has very distinctive behavior.