PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Leapin’ lizards! Well, not exactly. But an invasive reptile has taken up residence in Philadelphia, and by all accounts, it seems likely to stick around.
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The Mediterranean house gecko is a type of lizard common to Southern Europe along the Mediterranean coast — as the name suggests — and it has spread to many parts of the world.
“I’ve seen a few running around my kitchen,” said Victoria Ewald.
It’s a long way from the Mediterranean Sea to 8th and Porter streets in South Philadelphia, but Ewald said she started noticing the lizards popping up in and outside her house several years ago.
“It’s definitely strange to see lizards running around South Philly. That’s for sure,” she said.
“And then in the back yard I usually see 10 or so on the fence and just on the sidewalk. … Now I’m hearing they are spreading a few more blocks.”
Lizard expert Ned Gilmore, at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, says the geckos have been in the Philadelphia region for about 10 years.
“I think they are going to stay and they are not going to disappear,” Gilmore said.
The geckos grow to about 4-5 inches in length. Their numbers are increasing, though it’s not clear why.
“They can live up to four years and they can lay up to four clutches of eggs with one or two eggs per clutch,” Gilmore said.
“They can get into houses, … but they are harmless as a small lizard.”
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Maybe the best news: Gilmore says they’re exterminators of sorts, looking for food in nooks and crannies of buildings and yards.
“They’ll be eating spiders and roaches, beetles, millipedes, centipedes,” he said. “Any kind of invertebrate, they will actually hunt down and eat them.”
That’s something Ewald says she is happy to hear.
“That’s kind of great, because I’d personally rather have lizards than roaches.”
Colonies of the geckos have also been spotted in sections of Northeast Philadelphia; Lansdowne, in Delaware County; and in parts of Gloucester City and Deptford, New Jersey.
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