Do Gecko Bites Have Venom? Find Out Whether Geckos Carry Toxins

Are geckos venomous? Geckos are reptiles, and most species are not venomous, but a gecko will bite when defending itself. There is no need to worry, though, because even if you are bitten, it will not harm you, since geckos have no teeth. Geckos eat insects and are a beneficial insect-eating animal on farms.

Since ancient times, folk tradition has held that gecko urine is extremely toxic: it blinds the eyes, deafens the ears, and causes ulcers if it drips onto a person's body. Eating food that a gecko has crawled over is said to cause fatal poisoning. For this reason, geckos were listed among the "Five Poisons" (scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko, toad) in ancient times. If gecko urine comes into contact with the skin, it must be washed off immediately; otherwise, after being absorbed through the skin, in mild cases it causes subcutaneous tissue congestion, edema, hemorrhage, necrosis, and neutrophil infiltration of the muscle layer; in severe cases it damages the brain and central nervous system, causing serious adverse changes in the spinal cord, respiratory paralysis, and finally death from respiratory failure. Caution is therefore essential when catching one.

In the past, the ancients called the gecko "shougong" (palace guard), saying that "the shougong is extremely lewd and fond of water; whenever it encounters water it mates. Its essence is severely toxic, and anyone who consumes it will dissolve into pus and water." Ji Xiaolan's "Notes of the Yuewei Hermitage" records such a story: one summer, a woman in a household was bathing her two children in the evening. On the nearby table was leftover tea from the daytime. The children were thirsty, so she gave it to them to drink. Before long, the children had vanished, and the water in the basin had turned murky and rank. That is why, since ancient times, overnight tea has never been permitted to be drunk, for fear that at night a gecko might mate by the water and its semen might fall into the water, making it severely toxic.

But in fact, the gecko is a reptile. Apart from a few species that are venomous, most are not venomous at all, so everyone can rest easy!