St. Francis, pray for us

If you never believed that you could remove a reluctant gecko out of a bathtub with a hanging strip of toilet tissue, well, take my word for it: you can, especially with the young, naive ones.

I'm not always composed but nor am I always jittery around insects, tiny animals and the like, but this time I think I had enough of being jittery and just wanted to relieve myself with a shower.

I had left my contacts on upon entering the tub. It probably would've saved me 15 minutes if I never had the clarity of vision and never noticed an unusual, tiny figure clutching to the tub wall near the shower curtain. But no, curiousity made me bend over to see just what this dark thing was that so contrasted against the dull egg-white.

Oh freak, it was that little fellow again (yes, I name all geckos "little fellow"). Running water does not seem to provide the little fellows any motivation to move out of the way. This one, however, was pathetically slipping toward the drain. I hurriedly shut the water off and looked around for something sturdy to push the little fellow away. (And, yes, this is where the slightly bothered side of me comes out and subdues my willingness to touch geckos.) With toilet tissue in hand, I deliberated its use and was resolved not to grasp the little fellow while it was alive and squirming. Instead, I let it dangle above the gecko to coax it out of the tub. It went everywhere but out. The tissue did manage to get wet enough to weigh some so I figured that perhaps a wet tissue would push the little fellow towards his way to freedom- it did! Sort of. With an exhasperated sigh, I pushed* him as far as he would allow and left the tissue hanging off the edge of the tub nearby, in case the little fellow decided to climb onto it. He decided not to. And that's when I decided that, gecko or no gecko, I felt like crap and needed a shower. So, I turned on the faucet full force and the thought of pushing the gecko with a shower spray flashed in my mind.

That was somewhat a mistake. Yes, I knew the water only made the little fellow slip but what if I could just angle the spray in a certain way, perhaps it would give the little fellow some leverage...

Um, no. The little fellow was not going up, but down. I thought I had killed him. All was going well until he slipped completely and fell right below the cascade of flowing water. He started to pale first. Uttering a few unchoice words, I shut off the water once again and nudged him with the toilet tissue. Faint movements. He's not dead. Thank goodness. I pushed him toward the tub wall again, and because of the wetness, it was easier this time round. I was finally able to push him up the tub wall because he was too weak to resist. I told him it was easier if he would just hold onto the tissue.

Unfortunately, the little fellow was a bit too pale to make me feel any better. I don't know if water makes gecko skin stickier, but the little fellow did glue well to the tissue and I was able to lift the poor guy out of the tub.

I then went on to complete my much needed shower. As I scrubbed my hair, I thought that perhaps I still might've noticed a blurry blob but choose to ignore it and proceed with my shower, and maybe it would've remained on the tub wall until I left. But those beady eyes... /shudder. No way. Little fellow was meant to exit tub in whatever way possible. I just hope that he somehow recovers and returns to his day job of eating unwanted house bugs.

*EDIT: I didn't so much as pushed him but rather dragged him with the dangling tissue. And about this whole incident of trying to get a gecko out of the bathtub, I am completely aware of it's wholesome stupidity.