How to Get Rid of Geckos on a Porch, Patio or in the House

Geckos are not on your porch for the porch. They are there for the moths circling the light — which is the one fact that makes the problem solvable.

Why they are there

Three things, in order of how much they matter:

1. Light, and therefore insects. A white porch light is a moth magnet, and a gecko that finds it never leaves
2. Warmth. Sun-heated stucco, brick and concrete hold heat well after dark
3. Cover. Gaps behind shutters, under siding, in dense planting against the wall

Remove the first and the other two stop mattering much.

Step one: the light

Do all of these that you can:

• Swap to warm-white or amber bulbs on every fixture near a door
• Move the light away from the door — a fixture on a post two metres out draws the insects there instead of onto the threshold
• Fit a motion sensor. A light that is off most of the night gathers nothing
• Close blinds at night, so interior light stops spilling out through glass
• Switch off decorative and landscape lighting you do not use

Step two: close the gaps

A house gecko flattens into a quarter-inch opening and climbs glass, so “they could not get in there” is usually wrong. Go round after dark with a torch:

• Weep holes in brickwork — mesh them, do not caulk them; they drain the wall
• Vents and soffits — fine mesh
• Torn window and door screens — patch or replace
• Door sweeps and garage door seals — a quarter-inch gap under a garage door is an open door
• Where pipes and cables enter the wall — caulk or foam
• Gaps behind shutters, trim and siding

Check what you carry in, too. Potted plants, delivery boxes and patio furniture brought in for winter are how the first gecko usually arrives.

Step three: make the wall less appealing

• Cut back planting touching the house — the bridge from the garden to the wall
• Clear leaf litter, woodpiles and clutter against the foundation
• Sweep away droppings and egg cases. Small white eggs in pairs, tucked in crevices — remove them or the population renews itself
• Fix damp. Leaking taps, blocked gutters and standing water feed the insects that feed them
• Reduce indoor insects — geckos indoors are following cockroaches and spiders

Getting one out of the house

1. Corner it gently against a wall. They freeze more often than they bolt
2. Container over the top, card slid underneath
3. Carry it outside and release it well away from the door
4. Never grab the tail. It detaches as a defence and regrows over months, badly

If it will not be cornered: turn off the room lights at night, open an exterior door, and leave one light on outside. The insects gather there and the gecko generally follows.

What does not work

• Mothballs. No effect, and scattering naphthalene outdoors is both unsafe and, used this way, against the label
• Garlic, onion, pepper, coffee grounds, eggshells — repeated everywhere, supported by nothing
• Ultrasonic repellers. Tested repeatedly against household pests and they do not work
• General insecticide sprays on walls. They neither kill nor repel geckos directly, and they take out the beneficial insects too
• Chasing them. You will get a tail

Worth asking first

Geckos eat mosquitoes, moths, cockroaches and spiders, in quantity. A porch cleared of geckos while the bright white light still burns is a porch with more insects on it.

The method above works precisely because it reduces both at once. Indoors is a fair thing to want them out of. Outdoors, they are mostly on your side.

The same reasoning applies to the other lizards that turn up on a wall or in a garage — see getting rid of skinks and other lizards for the species differences that change the method.