We bring you a story prepared for the campaign “I am with you too” about Montenegro’s biodiversity, which the EU is supporting here.
I’m returning from Prokletije, entering Podgorica filled with smoke. This time it’s not tires burning at Ćemovsko polje, but Gorica. And while I accept this incident as everyday normal, Marija calls me.
“Something got into my living room. It’s really ugly, has big eyes, it’s transparent, and it has fingers like an alien. Look, it’s on the wall. What should I do?”
“A transparent lizard?”
“Yes, like a lizard. Is it poisonous?”
“No, it’s a gecko, it lives in cracks in the walls and is active at night.”
“What?! It lives in my apartment?”
“Yes, it’s there, sometimes on the balcony, sometimes in the living room.”
“I can’t believe it. Can it get into my room?”
“Yes.”
“Geez, so I sleep with a gecko?”
“It’s totally harmless. It feeds on insects that are on your terrace and sometimes in the corners of your apartment. It’s really shy and doesn’t like to be inside. So it will leave soon.”
“Can it climb on my head while I’m sleeping?”
“No, unless you have lice in your hair?”
“That’s the last thing I need. Seriously, can it climb on my nose while I sleep?”
“Yeah, and even get inside your nose.”
“You’re joking now. What should I do?”
“You’ve been living with a gecko for years but only learned about it tonight. Now you live with knowledge, and knowledge is power.”
“Please come over and take this monster out, I can’t look at it.”
“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”
The hunt for the gecko, the transparent monster in the living room, begins. A broom and a dustpan. But it’s faster than the broom and hides behind the cabinet. We move the cabinet. Now we have to be as slow as possible so it doesn’t notice we’re close enough. Quick move — it’s under the broom, then in the dustpan, then into a jar.
“Carry it, I can’t look at it.”
“I’m carrying it to the balcony.”
“No way, please take it out of the apartment.”
“But its home is on the balcony. It will help by catching bugs inside your apartment.”
“Let it be, thanks to it.”
“Okay, I’ll leave it here in the neighborhood, that’s part of its habitat.”
“Safe travels.”
And so the nocturnal gecko left the building but with a chance to return to the same balcony if it doesn’t find a better home. It will quickly find some crack at least in the sidewalk because it’s only about ten centimeters long.
It will keep hunting cockroaches and moths near the building at night and will again be attracted by the light of someone’s apartment, where it will find a crack on the balcony that imitates the rock crevices it used to live in before the buildings existed.
Unlike many animals, the gecko has adapted to our buildings and homes. Although a wild animal, it is harmless and has become a popular pet in some countries.