Cat Gecko

Southeast Asia Lizards

Lizards ~ Geckos ~ Cat Gecko

The cat gecko, or Aeluroscalabotes felinus, is one of Peninsular Malaysia's most fascinating geckos species. It also occurs in other parts of Southeast Asia including Southern Thailand and Borneo. It occupies lowland to mid-level rainforest, often found congregated on certain large fern-like plants. Cat geckos have a wide variation of body colours and patterns across the back; some have red broken-stripe-like markings while most are solid brown. A few individuals can even be grey in colour besides the usual shades of brown.

They have very dark eyes and move slowly, but can leap well. Cat geckos also have retractable claws that enable it to climb rough vertical surfaces, though it cannot stick to walls like other geckos. Males have a pair of bumps below the anal area while females are much bigger, at 2 - 3 times their size. The irises are usually dark, but a more uncommon 'silver-eyed' phase occurs, where the irises are peppered with white speckles. They consume insects such as crickets in the wild.