How to Get Rid of Lizards
August 26th, 2008
Although most people think of lizards as beneficial to the environment because they eat insects and other undesirable critters, others seem to have a significant fear of these little reptiles and will search for ways to get rid of them. While doing the research for this article, I ran across a desperate plea for help from a woman posting as “Janet” on a message board dealing with organic gardening topics. She had been scared away from entering her house through her carport door by the presence of two albino lizards that had started to wander around that particular area at night.
Eventually she discovered two smaller lizards in her bedroom, and after “screaming and gasping for air” she managed to grab a can of wasp spray from the kitchen and began spraying it at the lizards from several feet away. After using up about 2/3 of the can, the lizards finally died and it took another 15 minutes before she mustered the courage to remove them. She never mentioned what was done with the copious amount of pesticide that was sprayed all over her bedroom, which for me would have seemed scarier than the lizards!
In any event, for those who are afflicted with herpetophobia (fear of reptiles) or simply find lizards annoying, here are some methods that can be used to get rid of them:
1. Catch and release. One of the easiest and safest ways to deal with lizards is to capture them in a glass or other suitable container and release them far enough away from your house that they will be unlikely to return. Because of their speed and agility, they can be difficult to capture; however, once you have them cornered, you can simply block off the corner with your container, after which the lizard will usually run inside of it. Another clever trick that I read about recently is spraying the lizard with cold water before trying to chase it down. Because lizards are cold-blooded animals, meaning that they cannot regulate their internal body temperature, cooling them down will cause them to become relatively sluggish, making your task much easier.
2. Eliminate their favorite food sources. This means getting rid of all the insects and other critters that provide food for the lizards. If you can manage to do this effectively, it is likely that the lizards will move on to another location where food is more abundant. Insects can be controlled either through chemical insecticides like cypermethrin or by organic methods such as diatomaceous earth (ground shells of diatoms), beneficial nematodes, or ground mint and limestone powders. Meanwhile, if you have any stray standing water sources, including leaky pipes or faucets, fixing these may help because lizards are attracted to moisture.
3. Use natural predators. It turns out that most common house cats like to hunt down lizards, so this is always a possible solution if you happen to like cats. Snakes also work, but the same types of people who are afraid of lizards are often afraid of snakes as well, so this may not be ideal for everyone. Other animals that eat lizards include hawks, raptors, owls, raccoons, skunks, and larger species of other lizards.
4. Set glue traps. Some manufacturers sell glue traps that are baited with roach pheromones, which attract lizards because they like to eat roaches. The lizards then get stuck on the glue and cannot escape. Although some people consider this method inhumane, the lizards can be released afterward by applying vegetable oil to affected areas in order to loosen the glue.
5. Deploy repellents. If you do not want to kill the lizards but still want to keep them out of your home or other designated areas, there are a few types of repellents that you can try. One is a product from India called laxman (or lakshman) rekha, a kind of chalk stick that can be used to draw lines across doorways, floors, or other places where you want to block the path of lizards. This product is also commonly used to repel cockroaches and ants. Other repellents that have been suggested include empty egg shells and peacock feathers, the sight of which are supposed to be especially repulsive to lizards. Although I have not tested the efficacy of these methods myself, many people seem to believe in them.
There are also a variety of other not-so-nice methods that can be used if you want to attack the lizards directly, including spraying with hot water (will kill instantly if above 140 degrees Fahrenheit), spraying with Tabasco sauce (will drive them away quickly), or simply bludgeoning them to death with a flyswatter or other suitable weapon. Regardless of the method used, you will ultimately need to decide whether getting rid of the lizards is worth the trade-off of increasing your local bug population, which could eventually cause problems for you or your garden.
