# A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Seems there's a knight of the road prowling around the Living Room Central and I don't know if I should let him stay or send him packing. He's pretty sneaky and blends in with his surroundings so he's hard to spot. He's a three-inch-long gecko, which either crawled in from outdoors, or hitched a ride from Maui in our luggage. Anyway, we first spotted him in the bathroom, then saw him in the bedroom, then in my den under some loose typing paper (maybe he likes to read). Today, I walked into the living room just in time to see him crawling toward one of my freight cars. When I jostled it, he crawled underneath it, or maybe under the loco, or maybe into my styrene station. My wife says, "catch and release," outdoors, but he's become almost a pet. Plus in Hawaii, geckos, which eat bugs, are good luck. So I'm watching the whole scenario with great amusement. But what do you think? Should I give him a pass or send him out into the wild?


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

Dang drat it. You mean to tell us you don't recognize the station agent you hired?


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

Just hope he doesn't try to sell you car insurance. 

Later, 

K


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

I'd try not to run him over.. that might be worse! See if you can get him to wear an engineer's hat. Kick him out when he starts a jungle fire.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

I think if a Gekko can find enough insects inside your house to survive off of, you got bigger issues than the lizard hobo king...I'd try to get him outside but its a lot warmer here in the winter, or if you can catch him get a terrarium for him and keep him as a pet or give him to a local school?


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

When I had my old original trainshed I acquired several little lizards about 4" long. They loved the warm dry environment inside the shed with its corrugated plastic roof and whenever I opened the access hatch on the shed roof there'd be a couple of them stretched out on top of the cars. Great care had to be taken whenever I pulled out a string of cars to avoid running over one of them and there would usually be from one to three riding the cars. They definately have personality.


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

"Holy crap batman!" Its a backbiteman executive jumping ship, and they are all finding theyre way to your houses to inhabit they're locos!


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

How do you know it is a 'he'? Maybe it's a lot lizard..........


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

One reminder....lived in Hawaii for three years...gecko's everywhere. 

Yes...the do eat lotsa bugs...good for that...but they also digest what they eat too...


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## Duncan (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

I'd leave him alone to fend for himself. 
When the weather gets hospitable, he'll find a way out to forage for bugs. 
Unless you have more than one, or the one is a female already impregnated, you're likely to only have one for a relatively short period of time... 
That's presuming that you are not in an area where geckos are common. 
They lay eggs, so watch for little white orbs about 1/4" in diameter. 
Usually laid in hidden areas that you don't see unless you move something out of the way and discover their "house". 
Oh, and catz like 'em too. Great "toys" to chase and play with. 
Again, for a very short period of time...


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Mike, 

Yeah, I thought about the gecko's "deposits," but so far he doesn't stay in one place long enough for me to study his toilet habits. Now your spiders, they are really "messy" and their stuff is a b**** to clean off! We're kinda get-along-go-along folks with the karma thing thrown in, so we tend to cut some critters a lot of slack. Until they mess up (no pun intended). Then it's "every person for himself." For example, we used to give spiders some leeway, but after I got bit by a so-called "jumping spider" who left a bite that got infected and cost me $125 at the doc-in-the-box, we're no longer so hospitable. Ya know, you read, or someone tells you that most spiders are harmless. Not true, and I got the bills to prove it.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

How long has he been resident? Where my Mother lived, if a cameleon got in the house they usually died in a couple of days from lack of food and water.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

Joe...you got a good perspective there. I found they like the back of photos/paintings on the wall as their place of safe refuge...and that's where they left their deposits. But....they don't bite.


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

Not sure if it is a gecko. We lived in Kona for several years. Those geckos were always up on the walls or ceilings in the lanai. Our cat would come and get me in the evening to hold him up so he could swat them down.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Spiders are not welcome in my house. Neither are mice!


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, I hate to admit it. I'm not sure if he/she is a true gecko or a lizard. I Googled both and they seem to be related. But as a part-time Hawaii resident I like geckos, which do crawl on walls and hide behind paintings, just as you guys said. My mainland guy has been seen only on the floor and not lately, although he has been in every room of the house, so who knows where he might be. I'll tell ya something, before my wife and I fell in love with Hawaii and started to spend a lot of time there, I was not superstitious. But 30-some years later, after learning about Pele and what happens when you take a piece of volcanic rock back to the mainland (bad stuff!), I am really "respectful." That's why I haven't kicked out our "gecko." Who knows, if I do, maybe one of my trains will derail! /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif 

About the bad luck thing: One of our best friends who is a history prof at CSULB, went to Honolulu to visit his son, whbo was enrolled at UH. While there he picked up a "souvenir," a piece of lava rock, and brought it back to LA. A few weeks or months later (I don't recall which), he called and said he had stepped wrong while heading out to the garage, fell, and broke some part of his leg. Then he said, "Could you guys take my rock back to Hawaii?" Well, superstitious folks that we've become, we mailed the thing back because we were afraid of carrying it on our airplane. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

joe rusz, 
just look at the fingers of your "gecko"! 
if it got long clawed fingers, like snowwhites mother in law, or cruella de ville, it is a lizard. 
if it got broad round fingertips, like donald duck after using a hammer, it is a gecko. 
the other way to distinguish it, is to look at it's procreation-tools. they are said to be different... 

and, if it is loosing it's tail, while playing with the cat, it is definitely a lizard. geckos hold on to their tails.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

kormsen, 

Whoa, dude! No way am I checkin' out any lizard unmentionables! As far as I'm concerned I'll admire it from afar and call it a gecko.


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## Guest (Apr 11, 2008)

*RE: A "hobo" on my railroad: let 'em ride or not?*

No way am I checkin' out any lizard unmentionables!

what a pity. i hoped you might tell us all, if there are really differences.... ;-) 

err... suffer for sience, so to say.


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