It’s invasive eat native time again here in Florida, where this poor but brave male green anole somehow found himself in a battle with a giant invasive gecko, Phelsuma grandis. Check out the video on ladywildbones’ Instagram page.
Phelsuma grandis is native to Madagascar, but has been introduced to South Florida as well, where several breeding populations exist in the Florida Keys.
They eat insects, fruit, nectar, and any animal that will fit into their jaws, including anoles! Like anoles, Phelsuma are aggressive, territorial, and fast-growing. They are the ultimate Florida invader, though rivaled in success by the green iguana.
We can probably expect to see more Day Gecko/Anole confrontations as the geckos increase their population.
St. Petersburg, Florida native. I run an Instagram account @dailyanole. Favorite anole species: A. Allisoni
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Rick Wallach
As far as invaders go, I think you need to give the rainbow agamas and both Jamaican and Bahamian curlytails some credit too – not to mention the Nile and water monitors out your way, and the various species of southwest Asian parthenogenic geckos that seem as common as bugs here in the Miami area. Tokays are quite numerous here in the Miami area (our home hosts a bunch of them, including a couple of big bastards – you really have to look into the recessed porch light fixtures before you stick your fingers in there to change a bulb), and out in the Everglades and Big Cypress too. Phelsumae are Johnny-come-latelies by comparison.
So far, I haven’t seen any Phelsuma up here in Kendall, and I have a good friend who’s a park ranger and lives in Homestead who hasn’t seen any either. To my knowledge they’re not especially prolific breeders so I doubt they’ll be turning up locally anytime soon, which is odd considering how many of them have been sold through the pet trade here. Ah well.
By the way, I insure my car with Geico and it has always amused me no end to hear their Madagascan gecko talking with an Australian patois. Maybe they ought to replace him with a blue tongued skink?
David
Aloha from Hawaii! We’ve primarily two phelsumas here (p. laticauda & p. grandis) and I’ve noticed that they seem to be the only species capable of giving the a. sagrei a run for their money. I remember back in the 1990’s you’d see a. carolinensis all over the place, but they’re actually getting rare now. There are a few populations here & there, but the browns have pretty much taken over, with only the phelsumas seeming to be aggressive enough to stand a chance. I’m not sure about elsewhere, but green anoles here have a far more docile temperament and I suspect that’s why they’ve been pushed out of most areas. The phelsumas seem to be tolerated more so than the a. sagrei because they look like what people expect to see in Hawaii. They’re even showing up in children’s books and artwork, and a local air conditioning company even shows a p. laticauda in their “gecko guarantee” ad in case your unit shorts out due to one getting stuck in there! On a side note, I’ve seen a large number of reddish-orange a. sagrei at a community garden here. I took a female home and she’s living on my porch, I’m still debating about bringing a male for her though!
David
http://admorhvac.com/2020/08/06/fujitsu-12-year-gecko-warranty/
You can watch the ad if you scroll down!