Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Before Wii... we had Uroplatus


In the jungle, without electricity, one must be very creative in ways to entertain their children after dark. On the equator, darkness comes on quickly! Around 6:30 p.m. without fail, year round, in a matter of 10 - 15 minutes, you will go from daylight to darkness.
However, children are rarely ready for sleep yet!

One of the things we all enjoyed was an interactive game we invented. We played this game at night. All one needed was;
Darkness
Blow gun and darts
flashlight
Roof lizards !



The game plan was this,

Sit in the dark until your hear the 'singing' of the lizards in the palm roof over head.
Shine bright powered flashlight in the direction of the 'singing'.
The other person has blow gun and dart ready at mouth, to fire dart towards the lizard, hoping to strike it down.
Jump and scream in glee with each one shot!

Animal lovers, sorry, but these critters are a problem living in the palm roof, leaving droppings, and 'singing' lizards are just plain freaky anyway and should be eliminated from the face of the earth!

23 comments:

Kristi said...

You need to do an "Only In The Jungle" post. LOL

~Kristi

blank said...

Oh my stars are they ugly critters!

Sarah Halter said...

Yeah, I can see how singing lizards in the roof would get old. In Tanzania, we had bushbabies living nearby who would cry all night sounding just like babies.

Unknown said...

Another experience I've never had! I don't like lizards either! We have a good share of them here in FL. Many times I get a little freaked when I open my sliding door to the patio and am greeted by one sunning himself. He hops and I jump, with one of my infamous screams of course!

WomanHonorThyself said...

lol..whoa they sound intimidating !!

Charles said...

We had Gecko's on Guam. Yes they are LOUD. The biggest problem was they would fall from the ceiling on to you while you slept. That's Creepy !!

The Chameleons and Iguanas were never a problem around the houses.

Anonymous said...

That reminds me of Miami, FL we had geckos in our house, but we wanted them because they kept the spider population down.

These guys seem a little larger than what we had though.

Charles said...

We had Geckos on Guam. I remember they were loud. Finding a tail that one dropped was gross, but the worst was when they would fall from the ceiling on you while you slept in bed. That's creepy.

The Chameleons and Iguanas on the other hand were never much of a problem around the house.

Most Rev. Gregori said...

Gosh, that sounded like an old witch with a bone stuck in her throat. I heard then a lot when I was in Vietnam.

Brenda said...

Singing lizards sound great to me! And so does that game! My children are going to feel like the missed something if they find out about your game ;)

Anonymous said...

Yes, I will vote against that annoying sound!!!---Nightly, no less!!

Here in the US, we do not have blow darts, but $1 bags of rubberbands that my sons use to kill palmetto bugs!!LOL

"WELCOME TO FLORIDA!!"

Liz said...

My keroseen connection didn't allow me to hear, but I've heard the iguana's scream (yes.. it sounds like a woman screaming.

Anyway... lots of fun for the kids. I used to catch small lizards and all kinds of insect with my bare hands. Today: NO THANKS!
:-P

Pen of Jen said...

You guys are so fun!!!

Kristi is so right!(only in the jungle)

Ski's Lady said...

Hey! I don't know how to email you personally.

Brooke said...

That sounds fun!

Besides, as you said, you can't have these things pooping on the roof!

redneck preacher said...

I understand your objections to the Tokay Gecko. I am in North California and have much the same objections to ACLU lawyers and liberal politicians.

They have:
1. Annoying noises that bother sane people.
2. No concept for others rights.
3. Unhealthy and vermin ridden refuse.
4. Protection from extermination.
5. their own agenda

It would be safer to eat a Gecko than an ACLU lawyer though.


HTOITA

Theresa's Notes said...

That was just creepy!!

groovyoldlady said...

Ok...I'll admit it. THAT was much more obnoxious than a housefly or mosquito buzzing in the bedroom. Besides...who wants to clean up that lizard poo?

MightyMom said...

there's a reason I turn on the garage light before opening the door after dark! Let the gekkos run away first!

can't hear but I'll take your word for it.

worst animal sound round here would be the cicadas on summer nights. We get a zillion of them nesting in the bushes under our living room window...they get so loud they literally drown out the TV, radio, everything! Then a stray cat started living under that window and I noticed that they weren't so loud....turned out he was eating all the bugs in our bushes so we only could hear the ones from up and down the street!!! I started feeding him a bit so he'd STAY FOREVER!! :-)

Sarah Joy said...

I'm giggling because I used to catch lizards and chase my little brother with them. The blue bellied variety you can find in Northern California! I would not want them living in my roof!

His Wife and Their Mommy said...

i love this idea.. sounds like fun..

Anonymous said...

For such a rabid bible thumper, you sure do take a liking to demonizing something for existing in its own territory. I'm sure they don't appreciate you walking in on their turf, cutting their homes down and spreading your filth all over their environment. Those geckos aren't running around biting you and causing you harm, they're just living their lives, and you need to make a game out of slaughtering them? Since when did killing things become a christian game? What right do you have to end their lives out of spite for the noise they make? If it was right for people to kill animals that make noise in suburbia, no one would own a dog with vocal cords and the streets would be littered with dead birds. It's people like you that made me reflect on why I was ushered into christianity by my parents, and choose to be athiest. I seem to recall a line in the bible somewhere that says "thou shalt not kill". That line shouldn't just apply to your fellow man, it needs to apply to our fellow animals. There's a line between destroying something because it is strictly necessary, and destroying something "just because". The amount of disgust and rage I am feeling right now is phenominal- I came across this post looking for photographs of uroplatus fimbriatus, expecting to read a post about what magnificent, complex and beautiful animals they are, but instead I find this filth... You should be ashamed of yourself. People out there on the internet read this crap and think it's true, and it's not! Stop perpetuating the unnecessary hate of reptiles with your pagan religion! I know this comment will never get posted to your page, but you're going to read it, and I hope it hits your black, shrivelled little heart!

Rita Loca said...

Anonymous in (Iowa?),
I post all comments as long as there is now profanity and since you are so judgmental and angry, I will post this a a blog post in a day or two and answers some of your concerns for the poor gecko.