Lizards never caught much of my attention.
I always thought them a helpful addition to our surroundings. That’s because they eat insects and insects freak me out.
Yet when one of these creepy-crawlies decided to drop from the ceiling on my four-year-old, my opinion changed. It was time to search and rid my home of lizards.
Lizards are not the best addition to your home décor, you will agree.
Imagine how your friends will feel if a stray lizard crosses your wall while you are entertaining. Don’t let a lizard challenge your housekeeping skills. If any of those reptiles have been visiting you lately, it is time to get rid of them.
I will tell you how to get rid of lizards from around you.
Understand Why Lizards Visit Homes
To start with my lizard-clearing expedition, I needed to know why they were in my house, in the first place. This is the complete information I collated about them.
Geckos and other types of lizards need food, water, and a comfortable corner in your home. If your house offers these, they will come in and want to stay. When you realize the source of the problem, it will be easy for you to look for a solution.
- There are insects in your house
Insects are the main nutrition for lizards. If your home has a fair amount of insects, lizards will get attracted to this free meal. You will need to check if your home lacks cleanliness or the lights attract night insects in.
If you find out the reason behind the insect population, you would figure out how to tackle it.
2. Your house is warm
Lizards are cold-blooded animals. They cannot adapt their body temperature to the surrounding. They prefer to stay in warm areas and hate cold temperatures. If your house is warm, and humid too, they would love to stick around.
3. Your house has places to hide
A lizard would like to stay in a dark, undisturbed place. See if you have a cluttered house or too many furniture pieces that you don’t move around. Once the lizard has got a hide-out, it will stay there.
4. You have an available source of water
Lizards need to drink too. Garden lizards would look for water. So a leaking tap or a water bowl will be a big attraction for the lizard to slide near. Look around to spot any other places with standing water where lizards may visit.
5. Your doors and windows are open
Getting access inside your home, particularly at night, is what attracts insects as well as lizards. Along with doors and windows, look for cracks and openings from where this crawlies are entering your haven.
6. There are open fruits and food
Fruits attract insects. And lizards would come in search of these insects. Sometimes, the lizards lick fruits for the liquid juices. You wouldn’t want to eat fruits tasted by the lizards.
Why Should You get rid of Lizards?
Since lizards eat insects in your home, they are actually your friends. Having lizards is beneficial. Yet, most people would disagree. Some people have a phobia of lizards. Before worrying about how you get rid of lizards, know the reasons why they are bad for you.
Some lizards bite. Though geckos are harmless and prefer to avoid you. If there are small kids at home, they may pick up or try to catch these animals. When provoked all wild animals may turn dangerous.
Any kind of infestation in your home is unhygienic. Lizards crawl around a lot of areas and carry germs on their bodies. When they crawl over your food or kitchen area, they can cause infections.
Lizards will shed their skin and leave droppings all over your house. Not only are these unsightly, but they are unsanitary too. These animal wastes invite more insects and lead to a vicious cycle of contamination.
Lizards and other pests have a habit of getting inside machines. They can get lodged within machine parts, get electrocuted, and killed. They may render your electrical and electronic equipment non-functional.
You often see a lizard on wall or on ceilings. Sometimes they may lose footing and fall on you, your family, or other items. If they fall into food bowls, you have to dispose of the whole thing. If they fall on humans, it is not always dangerous. But it is definitely unsettling and disturbing. Some people may react with skin rashes.
Ways to Rid Your Home of Lizards
My in-depth research on lizards gave me enough options to clean out my home.
If you find these unwanted visitors in your home, don’t worry. Here I will discuss how to get rid of house lizards. There are chemical and organic ways. There are quick and long-term methods. Let’s look at these in detail.
Traps: You can choose to trap them or chase them away. To trap them, use glue sheets or flypapers. Put these in the areas you find the reptiles hiding such as behind cupboards, lighting panels, etc. Lizards will stick to the strips. Throw them along with the strip of the trapping material.
Use a cardboard box or a jar with a cardboard strip to catch the miscreant. This is a good idea for a slow lizard.
Repellants: You may use chemical sprays or ultrasonic machines to chase away lizards. A lizard repellent spray acts as a deterrent too. You will find both chemical and natural ingredients with varying effectiveness. Lizards hate the smell emanating from the spray and quickly move away. Make sure they don’t move to another part of the house.
Electronic pest repellant is another option. These use electromagnetic pulses and ultrasound frequencies to deter pests. The machines emit waves that humans cannot hear or feel but the pests can. They find these sound waves disturbing.
Chasing away: It is a good idea to chase away these lizards without killing them. That way it is less messy and eco-friendly. Try the common steps. First, block the inside paths and leave the outer door or window open. Next, shift furniture and expose hide-outs. After that, use a rolled-up newspaper to tap the lizard towards the right exit. Take the help of another person to block other areas of escape.
Squirt cold water on the animal. Lizards hate the cold.
Easy Household Methods to Drive Off Lizards
Here are some handy tips that I find useful. Often you can drive away the lizards by using simple items available in your home and kitchen. Here are some lizard repellent home remedies that can help you.
- Coffee: This is the easiest remedy. Just get a pinch of tobacco to mix with coffee powder and make balls. Place these balls strategically and see them scurry away.
- Black pepper: Another kitchen item that is a great help. Mix black pepper with water and spray on the path that the lizard takes. Spray on the ceiling and walls too.
- Tabasco sauce: For the same reason that pepper works, tabasco works in chasing away lizards. The smell and the sting of tabasco keep lizards away.
- Eggshells: Many homemakers swear by this home remedy. The lizards dislike calcium carbonate in eggshells. They feel other species or predators are around.
- Onion and Garlic: The strong, pungent smell from onions and garlic do the trick here. The lizards hate this Sulphur smell and move away.
- Peacock feathers: Peacocks eat lizards. So, lizards fear peacocks. Use a peacock feather to drive them away. Decorate your house with peacock feathers to keep them away.
Some home solutions are not organic. Yet these chemicals are probably already available in your house.
- Naphthalene balls: These strong-smelling mothballs not only keep away insects, but they also get rid of lizards.
- Bleach: This is another strong-smelling cleaning product. It keeps away all reptiles including lizards and snakes.
- Phenyl tablets and liquid: This disinfectant is great at keeping creepy-crawlies as well as germs at bay.
Keep Lizards Away
Chasing one stray lizard away will not solve your problem completely. You must figure out how to get rid of lizards around the house permanently. Try the following methods.
- Remove leftover food and clean crumbs.
- Clean the house, particularly the corners, quite often.
- Move furniture and expose hidden areas.
- Seal all cracks and openings.
- Keep doors and windows closed at night.
- Consider having a pet cat.
Chasing lizards away from inside the house will still leave a chance for them to crawl in at the first opportunity. Target the areas around your house.
Get rid of lizards in yard by using some of these same methods. Keep a cat as a pet. Discourage bugs. Try pepper spray on your fruits and flowers. Clear debris in the yard. Move things around to discourage hiding places.
Focus on getting rid of lizards on the porch too. If the lizards remain on the porch, they will crawl into your house at the first opportunity. Other than keeping your plants and bushes trimmed, clear away standing water. Stick to sodium vapor lights or other soft lights to keep away insects. Cypermethrin is an effective chemical to spray. But be careful where to use it.
Lizards thrive in warm places with dark corners, enough water, and insects to eat. This means they love summers. Work out how to get rid of lizards in summer. Keep bottles of ice-cold water ready to squirt on the lizards. Maintain hygiene and cleanliness in and around the house. Use repellents and sprays judiciously.
Lizards are not bad for the environment. But you may be uncomfortable having them around. I have managed to give my family a lizard-free home. You can do the same too. In the end, cleanliness seems to be the best option if you can’t coexist with lizards.