House gecko seen biting rubber band in S'pore home, such behaviour more common than thought

Cute.

Sumita Thiagarajan| February 03, 2021, 02:00 PM

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House geckos are everywhere.

They hang out in the kitchen, in the living room, and are practically part of the family.

But sometimes, they do funny things like this:

Photo via Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook

Not an isolated occurrence

The photo of the gecko with a rubber band in its mouth was posted to Facebook by Ong Ah Huat in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings group.

Interestingly, according to some comments, this is not an isolated occurrence:

Screenshot via Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook

Screenshot via Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook

Some users even offered theories and funny suggestions on what use the rubber bands would be to the geckos:

Screenshot via Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook

Screenshot via Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook

This behaviour was also reported on Stomp in 2017, where a gecko was holding a rubber band while upside down on the ceiling.

The texture of rubber bands could possibly resemble the texture of food that geckos consume.

Ong suspected his daughter first regarding rubber bands

Speaking to Mothership, Ong said that his daughter captured the scene in December 2020.

The 53-year-old said that the family hangs some rubber bands near the sink, and in the morning, they would find it in the sink or the floor:

Photo via Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook

At first, Ong suspected his daughter was carelessly dropping the rubber bands around, but realised that it was the geckos after his daughter provided him with the photo as evidence.

The Singaporean man said he will continue to hang the rubber bands at the same place for the lizards to "play with", as he views the lizards' presence as beneficial for controlling the insect population in their home.

Common house geckos eat a variety of insects, including spiders.

Top photo via Ong Ah Huat