A gold dust day gecko wrangles a cane spider out on the front lanai. Cane spiders are large and extremely quick, so this capture was no mean feat. But who’s Sneaky Pete and isn’t this gecko missing something?

Explanations are in order. Sneaky Pete is the house gecko. He (though ‘he’ could be a ‘she’ for all I know) moved in some months ago. He goes in and out through a loose window screen, but lives mostly under the fridge, which is warm and dry and safe, except when I roll it out to clean. He got his name early in his residency because he was constantly sneaking around. He’d be spotted in one part of the house and then, moments later and unobserved, show up some distance away.

What it meant was that I’d go to do something and he’d shoot out from a hiding place I hadn’t seen him anywhere near. This is why, one day, I was closing up the house prior to going out, and a sliding window didn’t close. I thought the catch had snagged on something, checked it and tried again. Same result. It was only then that I saw Sneaky Pete tucked into the window slide. I hadn’t seen him. He didn’t look good. I felt terrible.

The result of that incident was that he lost his tail and an eye. The tail grew back, the eye, not so much. Soon after the accident, not surprisingly, he moved outside. I didn’t see him for some time, but worried about his welfare. Geckos are constantly looking around, peering over the edge of leaves, peeking around corners, watching for movement. A one-eyed gecko is at a big disadvantage.

But then I saw him again. His eye socket had healed and his tail was growing back. His head was tilted to one side and he’d obviously figured out a way to keep watch with his one good eye. All things considered, he looked pretty good. After that, I’d see him from time to time, outside on the lanai. I figured that was his new territory.

And it was for a few weeks, until he showed up again in the kitchen. Since then, he’s been back to his old routines. He often spends the night in the house, then usually goes out during the day unless it’s cool and/or wet, when he tends to remain under the fridge. At least as far as I know. He’s still sneaky. He pops up in unexpected places, shoots out from behind items I go to pick up. And from time to time I see him in the window, the same place I didn’t see him before. I look twice now before closing windows.