I’ve been trying to entice some Gold Dust Day Geckos to live indoors with us. It’s not unusual around here for geckos and/or lizards to live inside homes and eat the bugs who come through open windows and doors since we don’t need air conditioners to moderate an already moderate temperature.
Probably because of the cats and dogs, the geckos around here are reluctant to come on in and make themselves at home. They come and go at will, which turns out to be the worst of both worlds. We’re reluctant to use poison to kill bugs, so the house spiders are taking over crevices and corners while we encourage the geckos to move in and help us keep everything in balance.
But the geckos are shy and unsure of our motives. So, I’ve been leaving out special treats for them on the lanai. I’ve seen more than one of them partaking of the jelly and grape buffet I’ve prepared in multiple baby food jar lids, but they’re still too shy to let me take a photo or video I can share. I’ll keep working toward that. Meanwhile, I’ll share a picture of one of the yard geckos.
As for actual animal communication, the geckos have reminded me of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…. Safety first! They won’t communicate with me until they feel safe being near me, and we’re not there yet.
Our daughter who works as a zookeeper on Oahu is dealing with the same issue while trying to catch a skinny feral cat who’s hanging out at the zoo but is too savvy to be caught in a live trap.
It’s all about trust. Animals won’t consent to communicating with us—or even listening to us—until they understand that our intentions are honorable. We can’t force another creature to communicate with us. We must gain their trust first. This takes time and effort and patience. Animal communication is like human communication in that it takes two willing participants to hold an honest conversation, and each participant must feel safe before the deeper issues of listening and understanding can take place.
I’ll have to be patient and take my time giving gifts of sweet jelly and fruit to the geckos around here before they’ll trust me enough to consent to communication. Our zookeeper daughter will have to feed the feral kitten daily, until he understands that her only intention is to help him survive and thrive. Only then will he allow her to help him find a safe and loving forever home.
We want to help—and be helped by—the animals we encounter, but it can’t happen until they know that we can be trusted not to hurt them. That takes time and patience on our part. Whether we’re willing to do what it takes to build that necessary trust says a lot about us.
I’m also reminded that it’s puppy season, and kitten season, when whole litters of babies will be tossed out on the roadside by people who couldn’t be bothered to have their animals spayed or neutered. You might drive past one scared puppy or kitten who is brave enough to venture out to the road, but you know they’ll skitter off into the weeds if you pull over, because they’ll be too scared to believe that you want to help and not to harm.
Knowing that they won’t be easy to catch (or worrying what you’ll have to do after you manage to catch them) could be a good-enough reason to keep driving past. There may even be even more babies from that litter hiding in the underbrush. If you find them but can’t catch them, are you willing to go there day after day to give them food and water and coax them to trust you?
They’re likely to die of starvation or be killed by predators without your help, but it’s easy to keep driving past because you’ve got things to do that don’t include sitting by the roadside and calling out to abandoned babies that are too afraid to come. And surely someone else will stop to help if you decide not to.
But will they?
It’s unlikely.
It’s really up to you.
Are you willing?
I hope so.
The puppy or kitten you rescue may end up being the cat or dog of your dreams. Our little Pearl (who showed up under the porch two-and-a-half years ago) was certainly a gift from the universe.
Here’s her latest Pearl of Wisdom:
Dogs must receive new toys on a regular basis (or they will eat the doorstops).
