Gecko Capture and Eviction Success!

I am glad to announce I have managed to capture one of the baby geckos that have invaded my room.

It's hard to catch them. They are usually on the ceiling, or high up on the wall when they make an appearance. Sometimes they are on the window behind the venetian blind, on the other side of the entertainment center, forcing a lot of physical contortion just to reach them. But sometimes they get on the carpet and make a dash for some other place only they understand. That's my chance.

You see the carpet snags their little feet just enough to slow them down. Not much, but its enough for me to maneuver my hands in such a manner that does not crush them when I finally make contact. They are very fragile creatures - imagine velvet coated jello. The slightest squeeze would be fatal to the little guys, so I am VERY gentle during these capture attempts. That means they often fail, but I'd rather have them in the house than ants or spiders or palmetto bugs, so if they evade me (along with an occasional anole), it's no big deal. I even leave water out for them if I think it's too dry.

But I got one the other day.

I put the little guy outside and he immediately ran up my arm. Put him down again and he jumped back on me. Then it occurred to me that he might be scared of the big world out there and took him to a dark corner with lots of objects where he could hid (the porch is full of objects he could hide in but apparently he didn't like it), and this area he liked better. He hopped away and hid under a piece of bamboo. 

As for the other ones, well, now I'm wondering if taking them into the big scary world is doing them a favor or not. Maybe I should just nurture them in the house. They don't bother me, except every once in a while when they move in the periphery of my field of vision. That can be startling. What do you think? Keep them in the house or keep trying to evict them when I can? I know  there's still more enjoying a roof over their heads (but not the carpeted floor so much). 

BTW, in case you are wondering, I want them out because there isn't enough food or water for them inside the house. I can see them get skinnier over the weeks they are inside. So even if the world outside is scary, it's probably healthier than starvation inside my home.