Leapin' Lizards

The majority of Floridians are not native born. Among recent transplants, however, are creatures who have come not for a balmy retirement, but for work, mostly at night. They are geckos--purple polka-dotted lizards, ranging from three inches to a foot long--and their job is eating cockroaches. Convinced that poisons and fatally sticky boxes do not provide enough firepower in the roach war, many Floridians are giving store-bought geckos (price: $10 to $20 apiece) the run of their homes. Bill Huff, who owns House of Pets in Tallahassee, says he sold 36 geckos in one week. He ran an ad in the Florida State University newspaper: GOT ROACHES? GET GECKO. St. Petersburg's Fins and Friends pet store had 75 requests for the lizards in four days. Says Gecko Owner Sybil Jaggears of Tallahassee: "It's a matter of whether you want one gecko or a hundred roaches. Everybody thinks I'm a little nuts."

The geckos are indigenous to Asia, and introducing foreign species to Florida is a crime. State wildlife authorities fear that if geckos are set free by disenchanted owners, the ravenous reptiles will upset the ecological balance. Disenchantment with geckos might come easily. They spend the night making chirping, quacking or barking noises, and besides, says Miami Pet Store Owner Mike Yodice: "They bite like crazy. You open a drawer and they'll clamp onto your hand."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.