Isn't it a bummer when the world shows us that we are not in control.

Can you take some pictures. I love all my lizards. I don't have geckos but I have gobs of lizards. maybe that have been run off LOL.What does this lizard do that makes him so disliked? OH , where are you. Do you know the type of lizard. This may help you ID it.

http://www.herpsoftexas.org/view/lizards

Get a cat? If it's those brownish gray lizards, my cat makes short work of those.

The cat will make short work of the geckos too, wouldn't they?

Am guessing it's a Texas spiny {tree} lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus) based on the size and fact that it has been on the move in the state.

Dallas county is on the eastern edge of their distribution and they first showed up in our north Dallas county neighborhood about two years ago, too. Insects are their main diet, but are known to eat small vertebrates. Our gecko population does seem to have fallen off, but never made a connection. Wonder if they are being eaten or just losing out in competition for other food? The spiny lizards are FAST, so would not have any trouble catching a small gecko if they wanted.

They seem to like to burrow in bare soil spaces, so might be able to discourage them from laying eggs on you property by keeping those spots to a minimum, but they'll still be in the area. Sorry that critters you appreciate so much are being displaced by ones that you find much more aggressive... though most anything would probably seem more aggressive than a gecko, which I suppose is a big part of their charm.

The little geckos living in, on around houses aren't native and have been working their way up from the south. Perhaps the Texas spiny lizard has extended his range in response to a new food source. I used to think I like the little geckos too till I figured out they lay eggs in the walls and leave lizard poop in closets and so forth.

Thanks for all the response. I am in Round Rock, just north of Austin. Yes, those look like the lizards I now have. I had wished someone knew an easy way to get them to move. Bummer. I even put two moth balls on my porch swing but all the lizard did was move about two feet.

I loved the gecko's because they were fun to watch, left the swing if I want to sit there and ate bugs. Oh, well.

By the way, I don't have a cat. A cat would keep away the garden snakes!

We used to have anoles really bad. And I do mean bad, not just a lot. They were always hanging around the doorways and would get into the house or worse, get smashed in the doorway. I thought they were cute at first, but I'm glad to see them gone. If the reason is the spiny lizard, I'll take the spiny lizard.

If cats catch snakes, then mine does a lousy job of it. I don't think he has ever caught one.

My spiny lizards are out in the daytime while my geckos (the small tan/pink house geckos) are hiding. I only see my geckos at night or if I disturb their hiding spot.

Monica, I bet if you clapped your hands near him, that big lizard would move off of your swing. He may be scary and big, but to him, you could potentially look like a huge predator.

My cat would be more likely to catch the lizard than the snake, but my roadrunners would be a different story. I do still have quite a few "good" snakes on my property, but the roadrunners have pretty well taken care of the bad ones.

I would think it cool that I had to fight with a lizard for a swing. Talk to him an tell him to move over.

To Carie751 and others. I tried pushing him off my porch swing with my broom for 3 or 4 minutes and he would just run to the other side of the swing. He thinks it is his swing! He has a type A personality.
My neighbor who feeds a spayed but feral cat, sometimes finds a row of dead snakes on her porch to thank her for giving her food.

Wish we had some roadrunners.

I would love to see a picture of him claiming your swing too :-) When I kept reptiles, we couldn't use Pine sol because it irritated their skin and lungs.

I will have to wait for the mothball smell to go away. Mothballs are keeping me and the lizard off the swing.

While I think it's laudable that you don't just kick the lizard off your porch, that's probably the reason he isn't scared of you. The lizards in my yard all run when I get close, as long as they think they have been spotted (or don't want to be spotted).

So we may not easily be able to control what lizard families are in our yard, but we can certainly chase them away from places we want to sit.

The funny thing is, my parents have those kinds of lizards at their place. I think they look less scary than the pink geckos, but at my place, I have the anoles and geckos. They seem to live in harmony, as far as one is seen in daytime and one is seen at night. I had never really thought they would compete for the same food sources or even one eating the other, though I suppose that could be what keeps each group in check around my house. I don't see any birds actively chasing them, even when they are out sunning themselves.

Cat casualties are what I see.

My spiny lizards run from me also.

I'm still occasionally startled by the noise of a nearly foot long spiny lizard running away through the under-shrub leaf litter when I open the door. Can only get close while they believe their camouflage is concealing them - which they appear to have no sense of. They'll freeze only a few feet away highlighted on white brick or green grass, then take off like a shot as soon as I do something that makes it clear I can see them. They are normally so timid, must be some kind of crazy affection your lizard has for that swing... or you. :-)

Can't find the source, but read that the babies rely on ants as a primary food. Keeping ants/hills further away from the house might reduce their presence over time. Purely anectdotal, but ant and lizard activity do seem to match up quite a bit around our lot.

We have 18" alligator lizards and whiptails also. I saw a large Eastern collard lizard and what I thought was a Greater Earless Lizard but the one I saw was larger than what they described. I have seen horny toads, skinks, and spiny lizards (gobs of them). I moved two sheets of hardy panel and there was a bunch of scorpions and an alligator lizard with one in its mouth. So he is my friend even though one time I went to pick him up because they are not scared and he latched on to my thumb. I know how he got his name. He did not break skin but he has some jaw muscles and he took a flight through the air. I have seen him under my shop. My son was scared by one and thought it was a snake and killed it. There legs are hardly noticeable. My son has learned to be more observant.

We have Anoles all over our yard in Houston and I love them. They crawl on our trees and plants. They crawl on our house. They get in the house. They get crushed in our doorways. The cats chase them. The dogs chase them. I love them. They eat bugs. They are adorably cute. Did I mention they eat bugs? I want more of them. They are the best.