WEEKEND FUN UPDATE: Is this a zandoli or a mabouya?
Dominica News Online - Friday, September 14th, 2012 at 8:58 AM
Thanks to all our readers who participated in our last Weekend Fun.
A vast majority of you got it right. The lizard portrayed in the photo is a house lizard commonly called a Mabouya. It is different from the Zandoli because of it large eyes, since it prefers dark area and also comes out at nights, clearer skin and feet with small suction cups which allows it to climb walls and so on.
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90 Comments
It’s “Martin” the Geico lizard relaxing in the jacuzzi.
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm. Geckos cannot blink.
While you guys debating zondoli or mabouya;mabouya or zondoli,Mefu-itit,(my partner i met on the road project) thinks this is delicacy for him,deep fry with rice.
Thats a house (indoor) Mabouya.
Assertive, NOT Agressive!
Definitely a mabouya. Bulging eyes, softer skin than the zandoli. Don’t like them. We made sure that somebody got them out of the house.
This is most likely a mandoli…soooooo obvious!!
its a mabouya long i do here that name we boy
thats a lizzard(zandolie) dem maboya white that brown…
One of the most disgusting creters God ever created. Afraid of these things like hell.
Second de Motion!!
This is a maboya for sure! The eyes are more bulgy and the skin is light…
this is a mabouia becouse of the skin texture
It is a Mabouya (house lizard) – soft and cold and would stay around the light for moths – do not talk about their toilet moments.
the house stinks – Having this fall and get stuck on you it is not good.
Zandoli – stays on fence(outdoors) it has tougher skin – remember the saying “si zandoli te bon vyann pas en les bycard i teke weste” = If zandoli was good meat it would not be staying on the fence.
“too good to be true”
Somebody I need a creole dictionary for spelling.
That’s a Ground lizard, 100%. Memories of back home.
I am not an expert in knowing the difference. I have seen a Zandoli but cannot recall I ever saw a Mabouya. This one looks bigger than a Zandoli and so I state it is a Mabouya.
I hate those creepy things. In bygone years we did not care about wildlife. In fact, we never heard of the word wildlife. Right?
The Zandoli has something under its mouth which would protrude and become enlarged. At times it looked yellow, probably depending on the color of the Zandoli. We were told that it curses in that manner. I do not know how true that is. DNO could find out and let us know.
As a child, playing with my sisters, younger brother and cousin, on occasion, if we saw a Zandoli, we would throw stones at it to kill it. I hope they do not read this.
Today, with all those laws about preserving wildlife, I would be arrested and charged even imprisoned for doing that which would be called ill-treatment of an animal. Abuse? Oh my! How times have changed.
Mabouya always light skin. With big eyes
. 
Also they like to stay inside people house and that picture looking like is on tile it take out. Zandoli those hardly go inside people house unless is zion you living
thats a mabouya!!! it more see through than the zandoli
a mabouya dat dere,it hav d little grey strips,lol i had a good laugh,look joke i get,some people a good entertainers
That`s a Mabouya, just look at the size of it`s eyes it`s not a Zandoli.
Its a Gecko!
dats a mabouya. i could tell by its tail, da marks on it tail. da zandoli doesnt have marks on its tail
that is definitely a mabouya. scared of them.
This is a Mabouya. Look at the eyes, it is same as that of the intellectual witch. Cold blooded. Feeds on pomcouli fruit to bring down the pressure.
Thats a Zandoli the stripes on the tail will tell you Mabouya is bigger,gray and blue.
That’s Tiny AKA mabouya.
This is an Agouti. No doubt!
next you’ll say is that a peas tree is a breadfruit tree…lol
I just had to look at the feet. 100% mabruya. As far as I can see, I haven’t forgotten where I came from. Feel proud of myself!!I am wiping my brows and getting swollen with pride!!
i think that’s a mabouya. the Zandoli as i know it is one of the ugliest blackest roughest scariest looking lizard i’ve ever seen. and zandoli likes dark closed up rooms. we had a room that used to remain closed, and every time i go there, i would stand outside and peep first and then look at the switch to make sure its not on there and then turn on the light. if i haven’t spot it yet, i looking all around. and if i do spot it, i making sure i make the slowest most cautious moves eyeing it all the time. and as soon as i reach the door to get out i flying!
Its the other way around,its the Mabouya thats scary and ugly
I can’t believe how similar our reaction to the these creatures!
One thing I know whatever house I buy or build when I return home has to have screens on every window and door! No way I going to have those decorative bricks that they can slither through!!
Thats a mabouya,the mabouya’s eyes is much bigger than the zandoli.
That’s a mabouya…..the different ,the mabouya eyes is much bigger than the zandoli
A female abolor that weee
Its a baby Mabouyah!! I dislike them with a passion! My mum sent me out to our back yard shed one day to cut a hand of green babana from a bunch dad had brought frmothe far the day before.
As I oushed the knife into the bunch to cut out the hand.. i heard this absolutely horrific screeching sound!!!
I honestly dont know how i got from the shed to my bedroom… but by the time i got there I was trembling and sweating with goosebumps all over!!
My dad went out, and the called to show me the biggest, fattest, ghostly, gross mabouyah i have ever seen in my life. I could see all of its organs… ewwwww
This is a Mabouya. the eyes are bulging out more than the zandoli and the skin is lighter.
its a mabouya.zandoli toes are strait ,mabouya has sticky toes.my father climb a tree once to pick jelly while me and my sister sat under the tree ,just to see our dad slid down the tree like a shooting star because one was on his neck .that man almost chap his neck off.each time our neighbor daughter would be at home after 12 at nite with no intention of going home we already know that their mabouya is in their ceiling
a mabouya
That’s a maboouya! boy I hate that thing! Just seeing and it makes my skin crawl! oooo!!
The comments are so funny! lol
mabouya
A mabouya: Why because it’s ‘fair-skin’. Zandolis are dark-skin
This is my opinion and I’m sticking to it!!
mabouya
Dpn’t know just hate them all, lol. Think I got High on insect spray while i was visiting last year,so many in the house at night. Scared of lizards
it’s a bird definitely a bird
THT IS A MABOUYA GARCON!!!!
A Marbooyah! No doubt about it.
mabouya has dots on their tails they are softer looking than zandoli
I propose that this is a Zandouya, an offspring of a zandoli and a mabouya.
I love this one, Zandouya. LMAO
@ZANA i concur lmao
is it a mabouya
This is a mabouya. The difference between this and the zandoli is that under the zandoli neck there is a piece of flesh that pops out when it exhales and the mabouya doesn’t do that. The worst case was picking coconuts and the mabouya gets stuck to my back and hair and i am getting panicked trying to get it out. Hate those animals.
I would just have fainted! One of the reasons I never climbed coconut trees!
Young Mabouya!
That’s a wood slave (mabouya). The last time I saw one of those was in the ceiling of my mom’s house in St. Croix. They have a tendency to keep their head down, whereas the Zandoli is always popping it’s head up.
that is a maboya and idont like that thing
this is the Annoli Lizard or a tree lizard(we call it by its creole name Zandoli. It is more commonly seen on trees or small brushes. The Gecko – what we call the Mabouya is the house lizard and it is rather ugly. It is also the one that is attracted to an expected woman. So ladies this is the first sign of pregnancy in the household.
i wonder where you grow up
That’s a mabouya
this is a mabouya. allu doesn’t see how de ting eyes big then! dey like to stay in people houses. and at nights dey usually gather around a light so that they can eat the moths and other insects.
must i add those mabouya like to stay close to the lights to chase and eat those janton…their eyes are bigger than the zandoli and their legs r much widespread too and ugly looking…hey people they are harmless…y bother they are just cleaning up the insects around us
dno aint it lovely? think we should rename it Zandouya as Zana suggested lol
It’s disgusting that’s what it is.
MABOUYA,
Check the feet. Mabouya has suckers but zandoli has claws/hookers…
Them things keep your house clean of small insects but they $h everywhere!
Yea. Its a maboya. You can tell by its feet.
@jayson,
Indeed u know your fauna. That’s is the characteristic primary differentiation between the two. the mabouya has stubby rounded feet. the mabouya uses microscopic hairs on it feet to allow it to grip unto microscopic fissures on surfaces. That gives it a stronger grip than the standard lizard and allows it to do gravity defying antics like walk upside down.
That’s an Aborlor. Zandoli is much taller and can only b found in the forest close to a river while Mabouya lives under fish tanks and in liquor shops.
OMG – i didn’t realise a Zandoli and Mabouya were different – i called them all Zandoli’s growing up.
Papa met – anyways, it looks like a house lizard to me – so if that makes it a Dominican Zandoli or a Dominican Mabouya – it’s all the same – it’s a creature from my Goring up Dominican experience
Thanks DNO for taking me back to my roots with these simplicities of everyday life
A Mabouya
This is a zandoli. A mabouya is much bigger (almost like a baby iguana without the spikes) and it was grey in color and were never indoors. They seem to be extint now. The zandoli however was the indoor creature. They could be found lurking in the ceilings day and night. Due to the closeness of the picture the eyes on this is more pronounced. Children of today only hear of half of the creatures that were around in my my time.
there are two mabuya types the house type which is the one in the photo and the bush type which is alot bigger it stick on u
mabouya dat dere zandoli not clear so
Baby mabouya, ..there’s a mama mabouya living in my roof, she made 3 baby mabouya, when they get big, they let go big fat poop on your couch, head and floor but they keep the spiders and insects away. so its either no mabouya and plenty cob web or no cob and big fat poop every morning.
I know this is a MABUYA (cause I am so scared of it falling and sticking on me). Interestingly, just last week I was mailing some letters and there’s a picture of one on the stamp. Never knew that Mabuya was an English word.
It’s not. Mabouya is a Kalinago word.
A lizard! Ha gimme 100% for my answer pleaseeeee.
ITS A MABOUYA, BECAUSE THE MABOUYA EYES ARE BIGGER.
A mabouya
EWEH!!
Definitely Mabouya. They are more nocturnal and prefer indoors more than de zandoli – one of the reasons I just can’t take these things… Always lurking behind a hanging wall picture or something.
I will put my hands in a snake hole to pry out the occupant but I will not go anywhere close to these things!
I love this. It is a Zandoli by day and changes to a mabouya at night. That little witch!
Obvious mabouya is obvious… i mean look at the size of the nocturnal eyes… and the camouflage colour of its skin…
A Goat
man….u just made me LO soo loud…made my day
So why can’t I stop laughing…..every family has one.
That one made my day.
Thanks for the laugh
lol thats a nice one what kind of goat is that
A Mabouya, It is said that if on stick on you, use a hot iron to remove it.
The Island I live on calls it Wood
Slave
yeah, thats what they call it in St Kitts. The outside one they call Ground lizard. But this looks like a mabouya… its the ones that stay inside. I’ve seen them get really big and fat and my grandmother’s house! when they drop from the ceiling you hear a big old *SPLAT*
zandoli
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