Since lizards are cold-blooded animals, making them active during the day. They use the heat of the sun to raise their body temperatures. They are active when their bodies are warm. You would normally see lizards sun-bathing or hunting for prey.
There are reasons why lizards are at your house. It is not as if they just accidentally stumbled into it. Here are some of the reasons why lizards are in your house:
1. You are in an area where there are plenty of lizards. – Humans have claimed areas that were once inhabited by animals, and these animals are starting to lose their habitat. If your area has a hot climate, then chances are there are plenty of lizards there. Colder weather usually means lesser lizards.
2. You have plenty of insects. Lizards love to feed on insects. – The presence of flies, mosquitoes, winged termites, and other flying insects will surely attract them. Since lizards are always on the walls and ceilings, they certainly can get access to these flying insects. Aside from that, lizards prefer being near a light, that is why they can easily capture insects flying near the light source.
The danger here would be that since these lizards are up there, they could easily fall off anywhere; they might fall on your glass of water, on your food, or into electrical wiring where they would cause damage. There is also that concern over lizard droppings. This normally happens when you have heavy lizard infestation.
Aside from the flying insects, lizards also look for insects crawling on the ground. Here they find spiders, grasshoppers, snails, caterpillars, and many others. As you can see, lizards will go where there is food.
3. At the same time, what attracts insects to your home is what attracts lizards too. – If you have breadcrumbs, pieces of cookies, chocolates, or junk food lying around the house, you are going to have problems for sure.
4. Doors and windows are left open. – Leaving the doors and windows open allows easy access to lizards, so be sure to close them.
5. There are cracks, crevices, and holes around the house. – These openings are also entry points for lizards.
6. There is plenty of clutter in your home. – Lizards like to hide in cluttered places. You might need to reduce clutter to prevent lizards from hiding.
7. You have standing water, leaky pipes, or garden ponds. – Lizards are looking for water as much as they are looking for food.
8. Fruits and plants. – Lizards love to eat fruits and plants.
There are many reasons why they are in our homes, but all of them are related to food and water. Their presence actually presents an underlying problem that you may have in your home: pests. Below are some of the reasons why lizards are attracted to our homes.
A lizard diet is composed of insects, insects, and more insects. If you have flies, mosquitoes, winged termites, and other flying insects, lizards will definitely take notice. Lizards can stick to the walls and crawl, so they can really get access to these flying insects as they too sometimes rest on these walls. Lizards prefer being near the light, that is why they can easily capture insects flying near the light source.
In this way, lizards help in controlling the population of pests. If you actually see them in action, you would be thankful to them for eating those insects. The danger here would be that since these lizards are up there, they could easily fall off anywhere.
They might fall on your glass of water, on your food, or into electrical wiring where they would cause damage. Lizard feces falling all over is also another cause for concern for homeowners. This normally happens when you have heavy lizard infestation; you would see them being physically aggressive with each other.
Aside from the flying insects, lizards also sometimes stay grounded and look for insects crawling on the ground. Usually, they find spiders, grasshoppers, snails, caterpillars, and any kind of insects they could find there.
If these insects are inside your house, it is highly possible that the lizards will follow. Again, the lizards are helpful this way; the danger here though is that they might eat insects that have bacteria and diseases. This, in turn, can turn their feces more hazardous later on.
Lizards need water too. It is essential for them to live, as ⅔ of their body composition is made up of water. Our houses can provide water for them when we have leaky pipes, dripping faucets, and stagnant water.
There are some lizards who feed on plants. They also come to nibble on the fruits laid on your table. Therein lies the danger, because if humans eat fruits that have been contaminated by lizards, they could get infected with various diseases like salmonella. To prevent this, it would be better if you store your fruits in sealed containers.
Lizards do not bite nor transmit diseases. They are not noisy, and would rather be left alone. They are almost similar to having spiders in the house, the difference though is that lizards crawl all over the place while spiders stay still. And like spiders, lizards are helpful in controlling the population of other pests as they eat mosquitoes, flies, winged termites, ants, and bugs.
Even though they do not cause any physical harm to humans, they are a nuisance. Their droppings often stain walls, ceilings, furniture, picture frames, clothes, and even contaminate food. The type of lizard we normally see in our homes is called the house lizard, also known as a gecko.
Geckos are known to change their body color; it can be white or beige, depending on the surface they are sticking on. Food contamination is a possible occurrence with lizards. You might find them inside an opened bag of chips that you forgot on the table.
They might be nibbling on your bread, fruits, and vegetables. They might be drinking your water or soda. If they contaminate your food with their feces and you ingest the contaminated food, you can be infected with salmonella.