Southern Spotted Velvet Gecko

Our house is home to several geckos, most of which are the Southern Spotted Velvet Gecko (Oedura tryoni).  Now the one that currently inhabits the living area is known as Tyrell and has quite the personality.  During the day he hides in behind the furniture or under the fridge, which is his preferred spot during winter as the condenser keeps it nice and cosy.  Occasionally another gecko tries to move in on his territory and that’s when the hissyfits started, and it can quite noisy as they fight it out (or it could be just mating season??).

Now Tyrell’s favourite meal is the large (up to 6 inches across or 150mm) Huntsman spiders that get in and roam around the house.  Just the other night I saw a small (4 inch) Huntsman moving along the skirting board in the kitchen and said he wasn’t going to last.  Sure enough an hour later I came back to find Tyrell had dropped out of his hiding place to finish off the Huntsman.  Tyrell loves that big chewy bit in the middle and as you can see leaves the legs for us to clean up!

A while ago Tyrell cottoned on that the black dessert bowls may contain mango sorbet or some other palate cleanser.  So whilst we sat on the lounge watching a movie Tyrell would scoot out from his hidey hole and sneak a bit from the bowl.  Cheeky little sod!  But so cute.