markscherz:

heretic-hero:

northamericanghost:

Met some lizards in Hawaii.

Is that wild/invasive? If so man, the US is so fucking bad with introduced exotic pets ffs, owning exotic herps should be illegal like it is in Aus.

Yes this species is highly invasive in Hawaii. But I’m not sure it was introduced by the pet trade. It is more likely in my opinion that it was accidentally introduced by the trade in exotic plants. But I’m not sure on this.

Hawaii is one of the worst places in the world for exotic species introduction. There are at least four reptile species from Madagascar that have established themselves there. They do not seem to be huge competitors with at least the surviving native species, but that may be misled by a lack of data.

That looks like a day gecko. A lot of small lizard species got into Hawaii as eggs in the soil of potted plants, so they aren’t an indicator of irresponsible pet owners so much as poor quarantine practices with plants.