A Gecko and Its Toy Doppelgänger Take the Internet by Storm

It is a common kernel of wisdom that before you can love anyone else, you have to love yourself — but this gecko may have taken that advice just a wee bit too far.

Look how happy this gecko is with his little gecko toy pic.twitter.com/7OvNmM8qAs

— Taylor Nicole Dean (@taylorndean) May 17, 2017

The adorable creature has become internet famous during the past several days thanks to images showing it snuggled up with a toy gecko that looks alarmingly like a mini-me. In a majority of the shots, the live gecko looks remarkably like he’s wearing a large smile.

The photos, which came to a wider audience after they were shared on Twitter by well-known YouTuber Taylor Nicole Dean, are original to an Instagram account belonging to a user named @589_tomo.

The account is full of adorable images of the lizard and his plastic counterpart that are too cute for words.

?ちんまりはぼくが守る? と言いたげな琥珀さん✨ 凛々しいお顔も可愛い? #leopardgecko #レオパードゲッコー #ヒョウモントカゲモドキ #爬虫類 #天使 #かわいい #いやし

A post shared by kohaku (@589_tomo) on May 17, 2017 at 7:47am PDT

琥珀とちんまり✨ #leopardgecko #レオパードゲッコー #ヒョウモントカゲモドキ #かわいい #天使 #爬虫類

A post shared by kohaku (@589_tomo) on May 14, 2017 at 2:21am PDT

#olympus #tg4 #leopardgecko #レオパードゲッコー #ヒョウモントカゲモドキ #爬虫類 #かわいい #いやし

A post shared by kohaku (@589_tomo) on Apr 8, 2017 at 6:47pm PDT

琥珀さんとちんまり✨ 昨日の夜ケージをのぞいたら仲良く寝てました? #olympus #tg4 #leopardgecko #レオパードゲッコー #ヒョウモントカゲモドキ #爬虫類 #かわいい #いやし

A post shared by kohaku (@589_tomo) on Apr 5, 2017 at 3:08am PDT

More adorable images of the gecko, with and without his plastic counterpart, can be found at @589_tomo’s Instagram account.