Elvis the Gecko

OK, this is a really long post about geckos...or in fact a really long post about one gecko that keeps reappearing in our house.

Remember the Legend of Grandpa Gecko? Well, you should since it was only a couple of posts back that I was telling his story. Remember that I was telling about Elvis the Gecko in that post? I was harassing MR about this gecko in my house and whether or not it was Grandpa Gecko. I had taken a photo of him and e-mailed it to her, and when she denied that it was Grandpa, I named the gecko Elvis. Well Elvis had successfully been escorted out of our house via the dining room sliding door that night with the assistance of S and the broom.

Well, you are not going to believe it...because I honestly don't believe it myself...but Elvis the Gecko is still around...and I have proof that it is the same gecko.

This story really begins on Thursday night, which was also Valentine's Day. I had been out all day and had picked up S at the office on the way home from work. As soon as we walked into the house, I spotted a gecko on the wall. While S went to find the broom, I was able to get a photo of the gecko, which at that point I named Cupid the Gecko. Only later would I determine that this was in fact Elvis the Gecko. (OK, OK...you know life in India is dull when I start naming the geckos!)

Anyway, here is the photo of Cupid the Gecko (who really is Elvis) that I took that night. Please forgive the quality of the photo as I had to blow it up in order to prove my point that it is Elvis. I also flipped the photo so he is facing down as I wanted all of the photos pointing in the same direction. After I took the photo that night, S escorted Cupid out the front door. I was then looking at the photo and noticed that Cupid only has 3 feet, which I think you can clearly see in the above photo. I was telling my parents, my brother, and my cousin about the 3 footed gecko that we had in our house (not 3 feet in length as my brother thought!). (OK, once again, life is a little boring so nothing better to tell my family then about our geckos). I have been trying to figure out how a gecko ends up with only 3 feet...did the 4th foot get amputated, was the gecko born deformed, will geckos drop a foot like they'll drop a tail if in danger, was it in a fight with another gecko??? Hmmm, if only geckos could talk!

So, fast forward a couple of days to Sunday (yesterday), and I was sitting at the dining table in the middle of the afternoon when this gecko comes scurrying out from behind the curtains. As S is upstairs and I don't want to lose sight of the gecko, I call S on his cell phone to come downstairs to help me get this thing out of the house. Well the stupid gecko refused to go out the sliding glass door, so after awhile, we just gave up. This morning, I spotted it again and once again, it eluded being corralled out the house, so we once again gave up.

Well, I was then talking to my cousin on the phone about what I should name this gecko. We decided to name it after our friend, Carrie, since she really liked the name of the other gecko, Elvis. So, I got off of the phone and decided to see if I could find the gecko and get a photo of it for Carrie, since I figured she would want to see her namesake.

While taking this photo this morning, I noticed that this was the same 3 footed gecko from Thursday night. It's kind of hard to tell in this photo, but definitely missing a foot plus the markings on the side of an upside down V are the same. So, I thought that this gecko was in fact Cupid and couldn't be named Carrie. Then I started wondering how the heck this guy got back into the house. He was ushered out the front door on Thursday night, but yet reappeared a couple of days later in the dining room. The logical thought would be that he was let back in by the maid, since she does clean the front porch and leaves the door cracked while doing so. However, she didn't work on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, so that possibility is out. I guess it is possible that he came scurrying back in when either S or I were coming in or out, but I think that is highly unlikely as we go in and out pretty quickly, and I think we would have noticed a gecko getting in. So, the best answer to this question is that the stupid gecko (actually pretty smart, but I like to call geckos stupid) went out under the front porch door (there is a big enough gap for this and thus the reason why the front porch is called the gecko room because it has a gazillion geckos in it at any point in time) and around the side of the house and somehow got back in the house at sliding glass doors of the dining room.

Anyway, this story gets even weirder when later today I determined that this gecko is in fact Elvis the Gecko that I first spotted in our house on Wednesday, February 6...a full 8 days before Cupid on Valentine's Day. Remember how I said I had taken a photo of that gecko...well here is the photo blown up from that date.

Notice anything familiar about this guy? Any distinguishing markings...maybe having a foot missing and an upside down V?

So basically to sum it up Elvis the Gecko is Cupid the Gecko is Carrie the Gecko...the same gecko! First spotted in house on February 6 and ushered out dining room sliding door. Next spotted in house on February 14 and ushered out front wooden door. Last spotted in house on February 17 and still at large in house. I'm thinking maybe it would just be easier to leave Elvis in the house as I have a feeling that wasting any more time or energy getting him out will be for nothing as he'll just reappear again in a few days. Maybe his name should instead be Houdini the Gecko!