"Butiki" and "Tuko" becoming rare
By greenpeas
@greenpeas (998)
Philippines
August 2, 2011 10:28am CST
I was watching a TV documentary the other day about the "tuko" (I think it is called Tokay Gecko in english) becoming an endangered species because people are poaching them and selling them to Chinese traders who buys them for thousands of pesos because they believe it is a cure for cancer and/or AIDS.
Because they are now classified as endangered species, it is illegal to sell them for commercial purposes and if you get caught you could serve jail time of several years.
I was still watching when my little nephew asked if I have seen a tuko in real life. I said yes but that was several years ago and they got their name because they emit the sound "tuk-ko!" every now and then. She asked again, where can they be found? I told her they are commonly found in the provinces, in rural areas where there are still lots of trees and vegetations, and sometimes inside houses like the "butiki".
This just made her more confuse since it turned out she also doesnt know what a butiki looks like. I explained that the butiki looks like a tuko but they are smaller and they dont emit the "tu-ko!" sound but instead just "tik-tik!" or "tsk-tsk!" like they always miss something. She asked: where can I found butiki? It commonly can be found inside the house, I answered. But where are they now? And then I was silenced, since I also dont know why I cannot see butiki anymore inside our house. It was as if, like the tuko...They are becoming rare.
When was the last time you saw any of these creatures? For once I miss the butiki since somehow it reminds me of my childhood years, when we used to play around the house and see these house geckos crawling everywhere.
1 person likes this
12 responses
@r3jcorp (1382)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
When I was younger, I have seen a "tuko" in our house. My mother was afraid because the old people would say that this kind of reptile could catch lighting specially during stormy weather. It was very natural to hear the "tuko" sound at night because I live in a mountaneous part of the city. Recently, my sister who have a house near my parent's place told me that they found a "tuko" in her house and the neighbors captured it and took it. Then the neighbors have sold it for Php700.00 or around $16.00. From what I know, this is illegal transactions but a lot of people are hunting for this reptile because they are promising for a much larger amount of money. They say that a 300 grams "tuko" would worth Five Hundred Thousand Pesos. I don't know if this is true because I don't anyone who have sold one with this amount. People are saying that this kind of reptile are used to make medicines for HIV-AIDS.
@zerd87 (301)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
It is very rampant nowadays. Even in the social networking site they offer a million pesos for a gecko. As of now, here in our province I did not saw any gecko. I saw many lizard but not gecko. As of now, it is declared as endangered species and anyone who possess the gecko can be penalize. We must protect this species since it is not already proven that gecko can cure cancer and HIV.
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
Hi greenpeas!
Where do you live? What kind of house do you live in? 
I'm asking because I have always thought that all houses have lizards in the ceilings. ^^
Gecko is probably really endangered already because of what you said but I hear the sound of Gecko once in a while in our neighborhood. Well, I live near a very small mountain with lots of trees so that's probably why I still can hear those lizards from somewhere. Back in my college in another province, there were still lots of geckos around. There was a place we called hundred steps and we would always hear one or two geckos in the ceiling of the stairs. One of my classmates was even unfortunate to have landed a gecko in her body. ^^
Anyway, I really don't like these reptiles. Their skin seems so disgusting. And my classmate said the gecko's hold on her hurt. I don't even like lizards. I scamper away when a lizard falls down from a ceiling. If you want your nephew to see a lizard, you're welcome to come to my house. 
I'm asking because I have always thought that all houses have lizards in the ceilings. ^^
Gecko is probably really endangered already because of what you said but I hear the sound of Gecko once in a while in our neighborhood. Well, I live near a very small mountain with lots of trees so that's probably why I still can hear those lizards from somewhere. Back in my college in another province, there were still lots of geckos around. There was a place we called hundred steps and we would always hear one or two geckos in the ceiling of the stairs. One of my classmates was even unfortunate to have landed a gecko in her body. ^^
Anyway, I really don't like these reptiles. Their skin seems so disgusting. And my classmate said the gecko's hold on her hurt. I don't even like lizards. I scamper away when a lizard falls down from a ceiling. If you want your nephew to see a lizard, you're welcome to come to my house. @ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
For me yes because they are to be think a good food to make cure a disease.
@BannedHelsing (692)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
We have one in our house right now but I haven't caught it yet. My wife keeps telling me to catch it so we can sell it but i won't.
In the province where I came from, people kill it when it makes the sound near a house. They say it brings bad luck. I don't know if its real. I'll wait if bad luck falls upon us now because we have one in our house. If so, I'll hunt and kill it. Otherwise, I'll let it live.
Funny, now you mention it, I am not seeing lizard anymore. Maybe they mutated to something else or migrated somewhere but I don't see them now.
@flowerfest08 (1677)
•
3 Aug 11
for what i heard tuko is not yet endangered species, but if they continue to catch it and sell it to traders, there will be an imbalance to the eco system.and by reading this post make me realize also, where are the butiki nowadays? because i remember i can see butiki before on our cielings, but now i couldn't, maybe something is wrong right?
@ellovire (409)
•
2 Aug 11
When the nanny of m niece told us that "Tuko" are being sold in their province for 500pesos per piece, I did not believe her. That was like a year ago when she told me that. It is only now that I believe her after learning it from the news. Anyways, we live in a place full of plants ( we live near a forest actually) so seeing lizards and "Tuko" is a common thing. They are actually every where and I am used to encountering five to eight lizards a day.
@strawberrychocodahi (4817)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
Geckos are illegally sold there that is why they are in danger. In India of course the house geckos are bigger and fatter (not the geckos "tuko" being hunted by people) to sell.
There are people who said they will buy your gecko especially if it is 400-500 grams in weight. It is very much illegal. Let the tukos or geckos be in their natural habitat. Too bad just because someone said its a cure for cancer, they are now the main attraction of people who don't have jobs and just hunt down geckos in order to survive, now they will be endangered species. For people who hunts tuko, I have a word with them "Leave those geckos ALONE!" Let them live!
@eLsMarie (4345)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
I think that Tokay Gecko is a gecko's scientific name.
I didn't know that even lizards are considered endangered.
Anyways, the gecko who loves to stay on our gate got lost already. I believe someone stole it thinking that it's a cure for Cancer and AIDS. I think that the DOH already confirmed that it's not true. But lizards are a great cure for Asthma. It's proven.
@LetranKnight25 (33117)
• Philippines
2 Aug 11
You should come here and visit, we still have "butiki's" here. some of them even dared to lay eggs inside the light switch.
.
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
3 Aug 11
Yes they have all but disappeared
, I remember our old house in Malate, there were a lot of common house lizard and when I went on vacation to one of our Southern provinces during the late eighties, there were a lot of " tukos" in the ceiling , sometimes they would even fight and one would like leap or fall down. I think some of the reasons they have disappeared is like you said poaching, but besides that I think common house cats prey on them, I think our use of bug sprays in the house in a way also kills house lizards and then there are also wandering kids that kill anything moving on sight with a sling shot,so ignorance will make these creatures extinct
. this is dangerous because it will affect the eco-balance, that's why we see a rise in insect borne diseases like dengue and malaria
, I remember our old house in Malate, there were a lot of common house lizard and when I went on vacation to one of our Southern provinces during the late eighties, there were a lot of " tukos" in the ceiling , sometimes they would even fight and one would like leap or fall down. I think some of the reasons they have disappeared is like you said poaching, but besides that I think common house cats prey on them, I think our use of bug sprays in the house in a way also kills house lizards and then there are also wandering kids that kill anything moving on sight with a sling shot,so ignorance will make these creatures extinct. this is dangerous because it will affect the eco-balance, that's why we see a rise in insect borne diseases like dengue and malaria
@thetis74 (1525)
•
3 Aug 11
I have actually just seen one recently here at home. I was outside and he was making this sound and I looked and there I saw one in the coconut tree. I hear a few. One with a deep voice, the other a small voice then the other with a medium voice. I guess it a whole family in here. Sometimes it goes to the neighbors house and it's where I hear them.
