How to Evict Asian House Geckos and Save Your Air Conditoners

The Gecko invading Queensland houses

It’s important to acknowledge that the geckos invading homes in Queensland are predominantly the Asian house gecko. An immigrant from Indonesia that entered about twenty years ago. While they may have initially been considered harmless, their overpopulation has now become a significant issue for homeowners.

These geckos will lay eggs in any undisturbed warm area and are fatally attracted to air conditioners, especially split system air conditioners.

They are known to love the high-up part of the air conditioner inside the house, which is a warm environment due to the heat from the circuit boards and is safe because it’s high up on the wall. It’s essential to understand that this is a common problem and can happen to anyone.

I turned into a MadWoman

Does it sound like an expensive and frustrating way to deal with a gecko problem? Absolutely. The cost of repairing a burnt-out circuit board can range from $500 to $600 at a minimum. For older or generic models from China, replacing the board may not even be possible, resulting in the need for a complete removal and new installation.

This can be a costly process, with prices ranging from $1200 to $2500 for the air conditioner and installation, depending on the room size and required output.

It’s no wonder that my opinion of these creatures has shifted from enjoyment to frustration, and that I have found myself resorting to extreme measures, such as chasing them around the house with a sandal in hand.

And To Think I Already Had the Deterrent by the Buckutsfull

All this time being plagued by geckos in the house, I had the answer sitting in the warehouse. Believe it or not a product we call EasyClean had tea tree oil in it. 

I had been doing research for deterrents for Asian house geckos and on a visit to my sister in Cairns we met with Neil Jonsen, who makes the product Easy Clean, and he happened to mention that it was a good deterrent for geckos.

Apparently geckos absorb fluids through their skin and tea tree oil is harmful to them. My sister and I raced back to her place and sprayed the Easy Clean all over the door frames, window frames and even the lounge. 

Doing my Research

I had been doing a bit of research to find deterrents for geckos and found the usual stuff regurgitated on blog posts. You know, keep the house clean, doors shut, flyscreens, fill gaps and get a cat. Nothing specific, mainly old wives tales.

Chat AI to the Rescue

This statement from ChatAI certainly seemed to correspond with our findings using the EASyClean or Spray as a deterrent.

Tea tree oil is believed to have some repellent properties that may help deter Asian house geckos. However, it’s important to note that tea tree oil should be used with caution as it can be toxic if ingested or absorbed through the skin, particularly in pets.

In my experience, geckos communicate with one another somehow and if there is a danger it seems to be passed on and they avoid it. When I arrived back home, I repeated the use of the EASyClean that my sister did and was pleasantly surprised to have less chuck chuck chuck noise from Geckos laughing at me.

There is Some Good News

Since adopting EasyClean as the deterrent, we have far less Geckos invading our space. For a while there were still a few littlies appearing. They are much easier to catch. I dislike hitting them with the sandle, but not as flabbergasted as when I saw an adult one eating a little one.

Spraying the window and door frames, I think, has really helped.  And adjusting the nozzle on the 750ml bottle and squirting them from half way across the room has also helped.

The message has got around to the Gecko population not to venture into the Mad Woman’s territory.

No Geckos Near the Airconditioners

For the first time since we moved here we have not seen a gecko climbing the wall towards the air conditioner. It has been months since we started our spray and gel positioning routine.

We had our air cons serviced a few weeks ago and showed the technician. He thought it was a great idea and liberally sprayed around the wall mounted outlets and then right throught the outside heat pumps.

Comments From the Web

Geckos invade PC Gaming Rig

Electifry them! Or tea tree oil, we used to live in SEQ, and that worked for them. We alternated between tea tree, eucalypt and lavender, and just sprayed that around, in a spray bottle with water, and wiped down computer desks with the same.

Batboy#4 would use mouse traps baited with cockroaches, after they got in his PC tower/gaming rig. He wanted to use napalm, and was trying to buy it on the internet. My little darling!

Tea Tree Oil Toxic to Reptiles

Reptiles absorb fluids trough the skin and vent, so important to flush the system. Tea tree Oil is toxic to Reptiles as well as other animals.

The above comment from a pet answering site made sense for me. I could see why the geckos wouldn’t want to go near surfaces with a tea tree oil smell

Don’t Eat Geckos For a Dare

Man who swallowed gecko may have died from parasite. This is quite a traumatic article that was published in July 2019 by News.com.au. The heading is also a link to the article.

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland

And from our friendly government department is an Asian house gecko Risk Assessment

A Little Bit About EASyClean

Originally we added EASyClean to our product list for its Mould Killing Properties. How EASyNoMould Started will give you a good insight why we thought it is a good fit with our other products.

Along the way we found there were a lot more uses for this product and the more we used it the more uses we found.

How EASyClean Started

You will notice that we use different titles for the EASyClean product. It’s original name is Environmental Air Solutions. How it was developed and the answer it provided for Neil Jonsen is like an Episode of House.

Mould on Channel 7

I happened to notice a news clip on Channel 7 about mould. I thought it was informative and wrote an article about the benefits of keeping you home mould free.

I hope you find this information interesting. You are welcome to call  and ask me any questions.

Kind regards…    Nita

 07 3823 1599