Geckos in the Wild

Many amateur reptile enthusiasts keep various geckos as pets. While these geckos are typically Mediterranean or tropical species, it’s possible that if a few individuals escape, they may survive for extended periods in an urban environment. Of course, Hungarian winters are much colder than those in the Mediterranean, but due to the heat island effect in cities and the warmth from buildings, these escaped geckos can even survive the winter, and if there are enough of them, they may form small, breeding populations.

One of the first free-living gecko populations in Budapest has existed since the 1980s, on the wall of a house on Budaörsi Road in District XI. These geckos belong to the Kotschy’s gecko species, native to a range extending from Italy through Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, and as far as Israel. The species was named in honor of the Silesian–Austrian botanist Theodor Kotschy. The fate of the Újbuda gecko community was sealed when the building in question was demolished in 2012.

However, Kotschy’s geckos can also be found in other parts of Budapest. For example, they can be seen in several places in District IX, and have also been spotted in Népliget, and even in large cities outside of Budapest. We also have a few of them on the walls of our quarantine building in the non-public area of the Zoo.

The geckos in the picture belong to another species, the common wall gecko, native to Southern Europe and North Africa. Visitors may spot these geckos on the walls of the Shark School and surrounding buildings. Of course, you’ll need some luck, as they blend in quite well with their surroundings. We certainly did not release these geckos ourselves, especially since, although we do work with geckos, we don’t keep this particular species. However, since we have seen these geckos running around the neighbouring circus grounds in the past, we believe that the population living and breeding there for years has expanded toward us. The gecko in the picture is a young one, likely born in the wild.

These geckos are completely harmless to humans and are more of an interesting sight than a concern. Luckily, there’s no need to worry that they will cause significant harm to the local wildlife. Their spread is limited by the cold, and outside of urban areas, where there are fewer heated buildings and less of a heat island effect, they cannot survive the winter. From an ecological perspective, this is good news, as it means they won’t invade natural habitats and outcompete native species.

Non-native species that are intentionally or accidentally introduced, or that spontaneously settle in Hungary, can have various impacts on the local ecosystem. Among reptiles kept as pets, the biggest ecological problem is likely caused by the pond sliders, a species native to the New World. This applies, of course, to those that have been released into natural bodies of water in Hungary for various reasons. Unfortunately, pond sliders are displacing the native and protected European pond turtles…