For some strange reason, when I was editing the photos I'll post below, I was thinking of the 2001 Perry Farrell song, "Happy Birthday Jubilee". I don't know why the lyric "[We're] Coming from far and wide" popped in my head while making sure I had all my photos in order, but somehow it's fitting, as I'll explain in a minute.
I had originally heard "Happy Birthday Jubilee" on some compilation disc, maybe around 2004, and if you ask me what that album name is, I can't tell you. I know it's in my collection though, but I quite possibly picked it up as a freebie at Newbury Comics. It wasn't until I searched for the song lyrics today, that I found out it's off Perry's debut solo album. I always thought whatever this compilation album was, the song was created for it. I didn't realize it was pulled from something else entirely.
Also, the mere fact it took Perry 14 years in the spotlight to make his own album seems like a short time but a long time all at the same time. According to the interwebs, he had started in a band called Psi Com in the early 1980s and then became a founding member of Jane's Addiction and later Porno for Pyros. He had his hand in the creation of other bands, but I'm not familiar with those or Psi Com. I found the names online, but only know Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros.
Guess it's all about how and when you grew up.
Anyway, what the point of this post is, I captured a gecko. Not as a pet, mind you, but as something that wanted to go on some adventure and not tell anyone.
Yes, I let him go. He needed to dry off, after all.
I had drained the air conditioning pipe in the front of our house (we do this once a month to get the gunk out) and I knew something had to have been hanging out inside the pipe, because the wet vac hose went crazy as soon as I connected it to the pipe and turned it on. There was a lot of shaking happening in the hose and it wasn't until I opened the container, that a lizard came hanging off the inner tubing
True story.
The geckos hang out in the piping and randomly get sucked into the shop vac when we clean out the drain. It's happened before, but this is the first time the lizard has been at least six inches in length.
All photos were taken on an iPhone 17 and edited (my name) in Photoshop. No other manipulation outside of using the flash on the camera. The sensors automatically shift focus depending on how close you're getting to the object.
He's definitely a chunker of a gecko too; fat little thing. I'm not sure what he's been eating, but he is a bit on the bigger side. Maybe whatever gross is in the drain pipe, he's been drinking. Protein for him, causing some bulk? Watch, he's an influencer among the reptilian crowd, and he's losing viewership because I made him move out of his studio. 😄
I honestly don't know why the geckos hide in that pipe, except Dr. Google says it offers "moisture, coolness, and safety from predators, particularly during hot or dry weather. The dark, damp, and often slimy environment of a condensate drain line provides an ideal, sheltered habitat for them. They may also be attracted to the humid, warm conditions of the unit's electrical components.".
So there you go. If you believe what AI Mode now tells you, geckos search out safety and security. Much like all sentient beings do. It shows that these creatures are no different, except when they're violently torn from their hiding place by way of a vacuum suction.
Of which they always seem to be okay after jetting away and climbing on walls or disappearing into bushes.
Either way, it's always an adventure and the hiding makes them come from far and wide; who knows how deep those drains go and how many more are in the tubes. Maybe they're performing mass raves where it ends and we're just not noticing it.
Until a shrinking ray is invented and we're invited into the depths of the underground, keep yourself safe and hydrated but don't imbibe in the sludge unless you think it's safe to ingest.
Cheers;
No animals were harmed in the making / editing of these photos...
See also
- Jane's Addiction search on Amazon
- Porno For Pyros search on Amazon
- Perry Farrell search on Amazon
- The Shop-Vac brand we have is so old, they have an update. It looks like this maybe be the update (according to Amazon)
- iPhone 17 search on Amazon
- Photoshop search on Amazon
- The gecko search on Google re: drain pipe
