- [Coyote] Eyeshine right there on the side of that tree.
- Where? - Okay,
I'm just gonna go for it. - Yeah.
- Got it! - You got it?
- Yep, got him, got him, got him.
Oh.
(grunting and screaming)
(tribal music)
Tonight, we are deep in the heart
of an agricultural fruit grove located in Southern Florida
which is an ideal ecosystem for invasive lizards.
Thus far, we have found and safely captured
a very impressive veiled chameleon.
And while we would love to release it back into the wild,
this lizard is a reptilian invader
so it will be donated to a wildlife sanctuary
where it will serve as an educational example
of an animal that does not belong in this ecosystem.
In addition to chameleons,
this fruit grove is also known
for having an established breeding population
of tokay geckos.
These noisy reptiles are famous for their loud bark
which sounds like to-kay, to-kay,
hence the name that these lizards have been given.
And that right there is a perfect little crevice.
Check this out,
for a gecko.
Nothing in there now,
I guarantee it's up here hunting in the trees somewhere.
All right, well, we're gonna continue the search
and hopefully find one.
Like most gecko species,
the tokay never wanders far from its hiding spot
which is often a deep crevice or hole in a tree.
This refuge combined with a notable burst of speed,
provides these nocturnal creatures with a quick escape route
in the event that a larger predator approaches.
What I'm doing is actually searching for eyeshine,
these geckos eyes will reflect back in my flashlight.
What I wanna do is just keep the light
close up to my nose like this,
and I'm looking for those little eyeballs
to spark out in the darkness.
Spotting eyeshine definitely gave me the advantage
of targeting a lizard from the distance,
however, sneaking up quickly and quietly,
without the lizard noticing
and in turn bolting into its escape hatch
was a much different scenario.
Follow my flashlight here.
This right here, there was a gecko up
in the little crevice of that tree.
I cannot see it now, duck back,
let me go up and see if I can catch him.
Oh!
(grunts)
They are quick, I thought he went down the side of the tree.
It's like as soon as they hear the footsteps coming,
they are off.
All right well that was just a small one,
we're definitely looking for something bigger
but getting any gecko up close for the cameras is a value.
All right, let's keep searching.
Here we go, right there.
- [Mario] Did you get it?
- Nope.
Oh, there's a hole right here.
He just went down into the hole in that tree.
Several missed attempts brought with them
a heightened sense of frustration.
Yet I refused to give up and my persistence finally led us
to the moment I had been waiting for,
a gecko that I could see, but who couldn't see me.
Eyeshine right there on the side of that tree.
- Where? - Gecko,
just curved there on the side.
See that V-shaped tree? - Yeah.
- Come up, come up, come up.
There's the tail, Mario do you see it?
- [Mario] Yeah, I got nothing.
- [Coyote] Okay, I'm just gonna go for it.
- [Mario] Yeah.
- Got him! - You got it?
- [Coyote] Yes, got him, got him, got him.
Check this out, he's trying to bite me already.
- [Mario] Hang on, hang on.
- [Coyote] Come on in to the shot, take a look at that.
- Nice. - There it is.
That is a tokay gecko.
All right, let me slowly peel this guy up
and off of the tree.
That is about as good a grab as I can possibly make.
Let me just kind of peel his little toes off there.
- Man! - All right buddy.
- Man that's a big gecko. - Whoo, that is a good gecko.
He's just clinging onto the tree.
Got you, there we go, and he is all chompy,
trying to get my fingers in his mouth.
All right let me crouch down right here.
There you have it.
Look at you, good looking.
My hand is shaking right now.
We have had many misses tonight and unlike frogs,
these geckos do not stay still in flashlight shine.
They quickly zoom around the side of the tree.
Wow, a perfect specimen.
Look at the coloration, grayish blue, light blue,
and all of that copper speckling.
Oh it's gonna make, oh, oh I hear you.
You hear that bark?
That's what we've been hearing calling all night
and that's actually a defensive warning
that if you get your finger close,
I'm going to give you one very painful chomp.
And go ahead Mario and zoom in down the gullet.
That is an impressive mouth.
Look at the interior coloration,
black with a little bit of bright red,
almost aposematic in design.
Of course we know geckos are not venomous,
they are not poisonous, but this species,
specifically has very sharp teeth
and can give you one very painful bite.
Let me go ahead and turn its body like this.
You can get a good luck, oh, whoo!
Oh boy, he's going at me, he's going at me.
All right trying to get a bite going there, no buddy.
You can hear that little bark.
They are incredibly aggressive.
Ooh ooh, that's too close to my finger.
- That came out of nowhere. - Yeah, strong, right?
They will explode into action like that.
Now the males are larger than the females
and they're also incredibly aggressive, very territorial,
and there's a good chance that this tree right here
is this little Godzilla's domain.
I'm gonna try to show you the side of its body
without taking a bite.
All right you're gonna stay calm?
I'm hoping like the turnip-tailed gecko
that it will just go into a state of (squeals).
Sometimes they will play dead,
then you loosen your grip and then they try to get away.
But in this instance, the tokay is all about the fight
once it realizes that flight is not an option.
You can see my hand shaking a little bit there.
Let me try to get it completely stable.
Whew, deep breath, do not want to be bitten, yet
by the tokay gecko. - Whoa, what do you mean yet?
- Oh, I got a little bit of history with the tokay gecko
that we'll get into in a second but first--
- [Mario] Is that with that bandages on your finger?
Is that the history? - No, no no,
that's a snapping turtle bite.
The tokay gecko bite is not as bad as a snapping turtle
but it is incredibly painful.
The tokay gecko is a voracious predator
and they will eat pretty much anything they can come across,
other lizards, insects, even baby mammals, small mice,
baby birds, all make fair game for this predator.
Now let's look at one of the hallmark traits
of this gecko, its feet.
These toes are all covered in these little sticky pads.
Now at the tips of the toes they do have claws
and it's a combination of the claws and the sticky pads
that allow them to climb over virtually any surface.
Whether it's up the side of a tree or even across glass,
this gecko can stick to anything.
Now the tokay gecko has long been one
of my favorite lizard species.
And when I was a kid, when I was 10-years-old,
I wanted one of these as a pet more than anything.
At the time, my mom didn't know anything about tokay geckos
and she said, if you get straight As on your report card,
I'll let you get one as a pet.
So what did I do?
I studied and studied and studied,
got straight As on my report card
and the day my mom took me to the pet store
to get one of these lizards,
the guy that owned the pet store said,
not only do these lizards give
an incredibly painful bite and hold on
but they also eat a lot of baby mice.
And my mom said, no way, we are not getting a lizard
that we're gonna have to feed baby mice to.
So lo and behold Coyote left the pet store
that day with no pet lizard.
But now, looking back on it in hindsight,
I could definitely see that a lizard like this
probably did not make the best pet.
I'm sure a lot of you guys out there watching this episode,
thinking to yourselves, this is such a cool lizard,
I want one of these lizards.
Honestly guys, the tokay gecko,
unless you have the means and the experience
to take care of it, not a good pet.
That bite is powerful and they are voracious predators,
you have to feed them constantly.
I know I keep focusing on this whole,
oh the bite is really bad, they bite and hold on.
It's just a gecko, is it really that bad?
I don't know guys, I've never been bitten by a tokay gecko.
I've been bitten by many lizard species,
but I'm pretty curious.
How bad is the bite of the tokay gecko?
And if I was still 10-years-old and in fourth grade,
is this something that would have latched
onto my finger and not let go?
I know what you guys are all thinking,
Coyote, are we gonna enter the bite zone
with the tokay gecko?
I think we better try it out.
You guys ready?
- [Mario] Are you seriously gonna do this?
- I'm gonna do it, I'm just very curious at this point.
This is an intentional bite
to see how painful is the bite
and are they truly the bulldog of the gecko kingdom?
Or is this a lizard gonna bite and then let go?
So if you guys are ready, it's time
to enter the bite zone with the tokay gecko.
- [Mark] Hey Coyote, do you want me
to spoil the ending for you?
It's gonna be bad.
- Yeah, well, here's what's gonna happen.
The lizard's either gonna bite and let go
or it's gonna bite and hold on.
The contingency plan is I'm gonna set it down
on this log, let go of the lizard's body,
and see if it will then let go of my finger.
If not, I'm just gonna have a reptile locked
onto one of my appendages for the rest of the scene.
All right, you guys ready?
- [Mark] You sure about this?
- Yep. - Okay.
Mario, you have a good shot?
- Uh huh. - All right, it's all you.
- This is what we call curiosity chomped the coyote.
I'm Coyote Peterson and I'm about
to enter the bite zone with the tokay gecko.
Ready?
One,
two,
three.
(grunting and screaming)
Aha!
A bite and let go.
Yeah, go ahead and zoom in on my finger there Mario.
And that is the result of a tokay gecko bite.
- [Mark] I knew this was gonna happen.
Why did you need to do that?
- Curiosity guys, I had to know.
Is the bite of the tokay gecko really that bad?
Did 10-year-old Coyote deserve to have a gecko?
He got straight As on his report card.
Honestly guys, I have to say thanks to my mom
for not letting me get one of these lizards
when I was a little kid 'cause I can just imagine
how bad it would have been if this creature had latched
onto my finger and it didn't let go.
So if you guys want suggestions
as to what lizard makes a good pet,
the leopard gecko and the bearded dragon
are both excellent choices.
When it comes to tokay geckos,
let's just go ahead and leave these guys in the wild.
Now unfortunately for this one,
I know buddy, we can't let you back into your tree
because you are an invader here in South Florida.
But the good news is that this lizard is gonna be donated
to an educational research facility
where he's then gonna become an ambassador for his species.
But this certainly was an epic evening,
finding invasive lizards and getting this
awesome tokay gecko up close for the cameras.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Ooh, yeah that's a bloody bite.
The invasive reptile population in South Florida
continues to be a topic of conversation
amongst wildlife specialists and conservation advocates.
It is true that most of these species, like Burmese pythons,
tegu, chameleons, and even tokay geckos,
have established strong breeding populations
and unfortunately are likely here to stay.
If you ever visit the Sunshine State
and encounter a non-native animal species,
the best practice is to take note of your location,
and quickly alert Fish and Wildlife Services
as these professionals are working round-the-clock
to help rebalance the native ecosystem.
If you thought catching a tokay gecko took some skill,
make sure to go back and watch where this episode began
as I climbed up a tree to coax down a chameleon.
And don't forget, subscribe, so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
(Coyote grunting)
Oh, so close.
(wolf howling) (birds chirping)