These mysterious white spheres at the foot of the bed: a first instinctive reaction
The first emotion that grips us when faced with these small white balls, often discovered near the bed, is fear. It’s an immediate and instinctive reaction to something incongruous in an otherwise familiar environment. But when calm returns, curiosity takes over and an intriguing question arises: where did these spheres come from? Who placed them there?
The most frequent answer given by internet users points to lizard eggs , more specifically those of a domestic gecko.
This phenomenon is not a matter of chance. Domestic geckos are more strategic creatures than one might think. When a female seeks to lay her eggs, she selects a location that meets several essential criteria: warmth, darkness, protection, and humidity.
The space between a wall and a bed perfectly fulfills all these conditions. The mattress retains the sleepers’ body heat, creating a mild and stable temperature in the surrounding area. This often overlooked space is bathed in darkness. Furthermore, the humidity is slightly higher than in the rest of the room, which protects the eggs from drying out.
As an added bonus, bedrooms are often teeming with insects, attracted by the light or the warmth of the occupants. For a gecko, which feeds mainly on mosquitoes and other small midges, this is a veritable larder right at hand. Settling near the bed and then laying eggs nearby then becomes a perfectly logical choice.
But are these spheres really lizard eggs?
It is precisely in this nuance that the interest of the question lies. A female gecko usually lays one or two eggs at a time , not a multitude of perfect, identical spheres. True eggs have a slightly calcareous or leathery shell, are not perfectly spherical, and often adhere to a surface.
If the small balls found are perfectly uniform, very numerous and look more like plastic or foam balls, the cause is different and much more down-to-earth: they are often polystyrene balls or microbeads from a torn pillow, cushion or bag.
To be sure, a simple test is all it takes: examine one closely. If the shell is slightly irregular, it’s probably egg-filled. If the surface is smooth and synthetic, you should throw away the beads and replace the pillow or cushion in question.
Should we be afraid of having a gecko in our home?
Not at all. Pet geckos are perfectly harmless. They don’t bite, they don’t carry diseases, and they’re even valuable allies in eliminating mosquitoes and other small unwanted insects.
If you find small eggs stuck in a discreet corner, the best course of action is to gently move them outside and look for the entry points through which the lizard may have entered.
Ultimately, nature is often much closer to us than we imagine – sometimes just a few centimeters from our pillow.