Another mysterious animal

[MrBrad]

For the past week or so there has been a nocturnal animal visiting my yard at night.  Occasionally I hear that he's gotten into my attic space, rutted around a bit, and then apparently leaves since the noise does not continue all night.  It's definitely a night-time creature due to the fact that the noises occur on different nights at any random odd hour of the night for, oh, 15 minutes or so, then stops.  The night before last as I was at my computer at about 9 pm it apparently was on my roof, and made a misstep, causing it to slide, trying to get traction as it slid, scratching its claws on all four feet from the top of my roof to the lowest edge...and then there was a dull thump outside my wall.  No caterwauling, just silence, and no evidence of anything in the morning.  But it stayed away for 2 nights.

 

Over the last weekend I woke up to animal tracks on my living room window!   I know that the photos don't show them very well, but maybe they'll help identifying the critter.  The highest footprint is 240 cm (about 8 feet) above ground level.  Actually there's another window even higher that also has a footprint!  The print is about 5.5 cm wide (2¼ inches). 

 

Does anyone have an ideas what kind of animal, other than a gecko, can climb up a vertical glass wall?  Beats me.

 

Incidentally, the slatted woodwork in the photos is on the other side of the walkway, about one meter from the wall.

[Thailand]

Love to know what it is when you eventually identify the culprit.

 

Elimination might be a good start, it is probably not an elephant. 

[Dante99]

Be patient, when he gets into bed with you, you will find out who/what he is.

[terminatorchiangmai]

It most likely is a Tokay.

Stay away from it , it will stick on you or if it bites give you an infection.

They say if you hear it make their sound 7 times it will bring you luck.

Edited November 11, 2017 by terminatorchiangmai

[Formaleins]

Maybe a dog getting a piggy back ride? Looks to me more like a Toktaw, yes if you grab them they will bite and refuse to let go, but they will not attack, they are very timid where there are people and will do anything to avoid contact - if you are stupid enough to grab one it will bite and draw blood, but if you clean it quickly in alcohol there will be no lasting damage - Don't ask how I know......but I still have a small scar on my thumb!

[silverhawk_usa]

I would agree it sounds  like the characteristics of a Tokey. They are harmless unless you pick them up.  The myth that they jump on you is because if they feel trapped, they will just fall to the ground and run. And, they are hard to catch.  The main problem to look out for is if the female lays eggs.  The eggs stick to almost any surface.  It is the male that makes the sounds to attract the female.  I had an infestation of Tokay in an older home I rented.  If they decide to live in your home, you will see a collection of their rather large droppings.  They tend to nest in one spot. I found eggs in many places. Over a period of about 18 months I caught and relocated approximately 30 of various sizes. 

Edited November 11, 2017 by silverhawk_usa
Additional text

[Dante99]

Silverhawk-

 

What are the best ways to catch them?

[sammieuk1]

53 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Silverhawk-

 

What are the best ways to catch them?

With someone else's hands . 

[bubba45]

I offered my gardener ฿500 for every tokay he caught and got rid of. Within a couple of weeks our estate was tokay free. 

 

[silverhawk_usa]

1 hour ago, Dante99 said:

Silverhawk-

 

What are the best ways to catch them?

I used a strong fish net attached to a length of PVC maybe slightly more than a meter long.  You have to catch it in the net, usually by pinning it between the net and the wall.  Then, the tricky part, wearing a pair of welding gloves, or not, grab it by hand through the net. Even with the gloves, it can be painful if bitten due to the strength of their jaw.  I would then drop it into an aquarium or other container with a lid.  You have to be quick, they will dash for any small opening they see.  I even had them run back up my arm and jump to the floor. If they latch onto your net, glove, or finger, they won't let go.  Hold them under water or under the faucet and they usually release their grip.

I was only successful in catching a couple with a rat trap.  That was  when they were in a hole with only one way out.  Be resourceful.  It actually became almost a hobby. The best is to block any hole or opening where they can get in. Not possible with construction of older Thai homes I know.

I relocated every one that I caught without injury to it or me.  Sometimes they will drop their tail, which I tried to avoid, but they will grow another.  Good Luck.  Oh, one thing further.  People will say you can sell them for a lot of money.  That is generally untrue unless they are a few Kgs in size and you know where to go.

 

[silverhawk_usa]

Of course none of what I posted works unless you can actually see or find them.  They generally would hang on the side of the house at night waiting for prey and hide during the day.......

Tokay vs. Scorpion. Tokay 1  Scorpion 0

[cyberfarang]

We hear lots of noises in our attic. Sometimes they are tokays, that at times I see climbing on the windows. There are some old wooden box crates in the garden lying against our rear wall. Some tokays have made their home in the gaps between the boxes and the wall. They breed and lay eggs. So I don`t move the boxes, been there for several years and become to regard the tokays as old friends. Completely harmless.

We sometimes get squirrels and chipmunks running on the roof and in the attic, even the odd snake at times and many species of large birds.

 

I love those critters, they don`t bother me and I don`t bother them. So why would anyone want to get rid of them or do them harm?

[csabo]

 "noises occur on different nights at any random odd hour of the night for, oh, 15 minutes or so, then stops." 

 

Sorry mate, you must be in the flat below me. I'll try to keep it down. 

[Mamasun]

Green frog....very good climber

[Jedsada3]

2 hours ago, bubba45 said:

I offered my gardener ฿500 for every tokay he caught and got rid of. Within a couple of weeks our estate was tokay free. 

 

Tokay Gekko eat insects and other small animals loke baby rats and mouses... killing them opens the door of your area to other harmful animals you don't want see in your home.

[silverhawk_usa]

3 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

We hear lots of noises in our attic. Sometimes they are tokays, that at times I see climbing on the windows. There are some old wooden box crates in the garden lying against our rear wall. Some tokays have made their home in the gaps between the boxes and the wall. They breed and lay eggs. So I don`t move the boxes, been there for several years and become to regard the tokays as old friends. Completely harmless.

We sometimes get squirrels and chipmunks running on the roof and in the attic, even the odd snake at times and many species of large birds.

 

I love those critters, they don`t bother me and I don`t bother them. So why would anyone want to get rid of them or do them harm?

Personally the mess the Tokays made and the noise of them running in my dropped ceiling and tripping over my wires and sunken lighting DOES bother me. I don't mean them harm and I had more than just one or two. I made a point of not injuring them and as I said I simply relocated them to a better habitat.  No harm done.

Edited November 11, 2017 by silverhawk_usa
typo

[dfdgfdfdgs]

4 hours ago, bubba45 said:

I offered my gardener ฿500 for every tokay he caught and got rid of. Within a couple of weeks our estate was tokay free. 

 

 

Why on earth would you do that?  No wonder they think we are crazy.

[dfdgfdfdgs]

It could be any number of animals - 

 

Cats

 

Civets

 

mongoose

 

martens

 

geckos

 

even monitor lizards can climb vertical surfaces.

 

Is the window smooth glass, it's hard to tell?

Edited November 11, 2017 by dfdgfdfdgs

[MrBrad]

Regarding Post 18 above, the glass surface is smooth.

 

I'm right there with what Silverhawk_USA says, i.e., I'd simply rather not have the noise, potential for babies and their offspring, all the accumulated shit, possible eating of my wiring, the off-chance that my ceiling tiles and gypsum will be breached, and all else that goes with uninvited house guests.

 

I didn't know that only the male tokay makes the familiar sound.  I haven't heard any tokays calling for weeks, so I didn't give it a thought that one or more could still be around.  Maybe she's moved in.

 

Thanks for all the cautionary advice about capturing tokays.  My neighbor and I will be extra careful when we go up there looking for whatever it is.

[Dumbastheycome]

Tokay, squirrel ,owl, bat. Tokay  do leave   quite  obvious  evidence by  way  of    droppings. Also  positive  in that  they/it  is   removing other  things  you  would   probably   rather   not  have. If  you  have   ever  heard  the  " tokay"  mating  ritual sound then  probably your  visitor. And  the   large  ones  do  have   very  large   feet.

Squirrel. Possible.

Owl.. also  possible  if  is   feeding   juveniles.

Bats.  Also  like  owls  if  have   juveniles.

If  it   causes   concern  then get  the  roof space  sealed  off.

Long  term  accumulation   of   guano attracts  other   parasites.

It  is  that and  only  that  which  would suggest  a need  to  block  them in  deference  to  exterminating   them.

Another  possible  is  a  cat or  snake  hunting  any  of  the   above  or   more.

 

 

[The Deerhunter]

7 hours ago, Jedsada3 said:

Tokay Gekko eat insects and other small animals loke baby rats and mouses... killing them opens the door of your area to other harmful animals you don't want see in your home.

My Thai family call them Took-gairs. Gosh they are loud.  We have a couple that get right inside the house.  Harmless to us but really aggressive to each other. My wife videoed one long fight.

[Keesters]

Beautiful looking animal. When there are some in my garden I leave them alone. I love nature.

 

 

 

 

[mrwebb8825]

I'm still stuck on how it could climb your window but it couldn't hold on to the roof. Doesn't sound like the same animal did both. Could be predator and prey.

[CNXBKKMAN]

On 11/11/2017 at 12:57 PM, bubba45 said:

I offered my gardener ฿500 for every tokay he caught and got rid of. Within a couple of weeks our estate was tokay free. 

 

The tokays at my old place used to eat a lot of cockroaches and scorpions both of which i rarely saw, only scorpion body parts in the tokay droppings. I imagine your estate is tokay free but the scorpions are all over the place. Would i pay 1000's of baht for that result? No. 

[elektrified]

We've had a number of bats recently hanging around the overhang of the kitchen roof. They make a fair amount of noise - I was surprised. They came about 30-45 minutes before the rains started in the early evenings. Haven't seen them for a few days now.

[dfdgfdfdgs]

How easy is it to kill a tokay gecko?  Hanging about where the brightest lights are, depending of the prevalence of them at the particular estate, I reckon I could kill 5+ a night.

 

The gardener has at least quintupled his salary overnight.  He goes home to his family loaded with cash and they ask where it came from?  He tells the truth and of course nobody believes him and instead assume he has robbed a 7 11 somewhere.

 

Then when the supply at the estate is drying up, just start on the rest of the province and pretend they came from around the estate.  Eventually he has to call it a day or his paymaster will get suspicious, and then he spends the next 5 years asking other foreigners if they want him to bring them tokay heads on a stick for 500 baht a piece.

[ResandePohm]

On 11/12/2017 at 1:23 PM, dfdgfdfdgs said:

How easy is it to kill a tokay gecko?  Hanging about where the brightest lights are, depending of the prevalence of them at the particular estate, I reckon I could kill 5+ a night.

 

The gardener has at least quintupled his salary overnight.  He goes home to his family loaded with cash and they ask where it came from?  He tells the truth and of course nobody believes him and instead assume he has robbed a 7 11 somewhere.

 

Then when the supply at the estate is drying up, just start on the rest of the province and pretend they came from around the estate.  Eventually he has to call it a day or his paymaster will get suspicious, and then he spends the next 5 years asking other foreigners if they want him to bring them tokay heads on a stick for 500 baht a piece.

I don't know about Tokey but I used to catch Iguana in the West Indies using a length of wire with a fish hook on one end. The other end I attached to something solid, Usually a wooden stake in the ground. Then place a lump of raw meat on the fish hook and leave overnight. In the morning there was invariably a large Iguana caught on the hook.

If they were large (approx 1 m) then we took them for eating with the locals who had taught us this technique. Otherwise we just let them  go.

[Dumbastheycome]

Why   kill   Tokay? They eat  other  things   you  would  probably  have  more  objection  to. Even  mice.

They   do  shitalot but  if thats  outside  is  no  problem. It  indicates  the   amount  of  damn  bugs  they  have  eliminated. 

[Ruffian Dick]

Do they eat centipedes?

[tonray]

On 11/11/2017 at 12:57 PM, bubba45 said:

I offered my gardener ฿500 for every tokay he caught and got rid of. Within a couple of weeks our estate was tokay free. 

 

....so was the local park...ha ha