Some of my Tokay geckos

14pokies

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
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1,735
Just figured I'd show off some of my geckos and kinda let you see what I've been up to since "leaving T keeping".. The first two pics are of my well established females.The more blue girl has been with me since 2017 the more orange female since mid 2018 and the last two one male and one female have only been in my care for three weeks,they are imports that came in pretty rough but they are on the fast track back to good health as you can see.. I have pics from the first day if y'all want to see the before pics of the last two..
20200224_214910.jpg 20200310_214719.jpg 20200311_154518.jpg 20200314_220303.jpg
 

Poonjab

Arachnoking
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Nov 4, 2019
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Hard to care for? What are some pros and cons to this species? Always been my favorite gecko since I was a kid.
 

Rhino1

Arachnobaron
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Jan 9, 2019
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490
Awesome, they are so very cool. I had to live in Thailand for 3 weeks and spent the evenings catching these and letting them roam free in my hotel room.
Thanks for sharing!
 

14pokies

Arachnoprince
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Oct 25, 2014
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1,735
Hard to care for? What are some pros and cons to this species? Always been my favorite gecko since I was a kid.
Pros-Beautiful,Hardy, extremely intelligent,low maintenance, various unidentified morphs and localitys still being imported and sold at pet prices. Great potential for future morphs both in color and pattern.

Cons- most available are W/C and in some cases carry a heavy parasite load, Most are very defensive,very fast in short bursts, they sometimes poop on you as a defensive mechanism, some people find their bites pain full..

Captive breeding should reduce all of those cons.. I'm hoping to have f2s that are as calm a leopard geckos..

If you have a healthy W/C or captive bred they are beyond simple to care for and bullet proof..

Give them an ambient temp of 76-80 with a hot "basking spot of 95-110( I prefer heating tape/pads but red or blue heat bulbs or a heat emitter works well.Temps can cool to 74-78 at night with no basking site. They need to be sprayed heavily at night and a misting mid morning or early afternoon is appreciated but generally not required.

I feed mine everything and frequently (3-4 times weekly) as they have a fast metabolism. Gutload all insect feeders for 24-48 hrs on greens and carrots and water gel then dust with calcium with d3 2xs a week and multi vitamin powder 1x weekly.. All of mine love crickets, roaches, rat pups, Hornworms and most eat superworms..I have one female that refuses supers and another that will take them sometimes. They need a cluttered cage you can use pool noodles and fake plants for perching and cover or go Bioactive..A 20 long or 12×12×18 Exo-terra is suitable for one adult. Some keepers expose their Tokays to full spectrum lighting, I tried that and IMO it's a waste of time,mine never come out to bask.. They sleep in the darkest, tightest warm spot they can find.

I don't house anything but pairs together.. Even then if they don't get along you may find your female kills your male or vice Vers.. In the wild you may see one male with 2-3 females but in captivity any of mine housed together eventually fought.. One per cage unless breeding IMO and still be very vigilant. You can try to socialize W/C individuals but IME this leads to stress, they start eating poorly or refuse to use their hide instead sticking close to the ground.. I no longer handle W/C specimens other than re-housing,administering meds or breeding.

Think I covered about all of it from my own experience.. If you would like to know more my buddy wrote a great article on these guys for reptiles magazine. Google Tokay gecko care/ reptiles magazine/ Kevin Mc curley.
 

FrDoc

Gen. 1:24-25
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Jul 18, 2017
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832
I love those things. I had one, obviously a release or escape, take up residence in my courtyard. It lived there for quite a long time until some workers moved it’s hide (my standing fire pit), it bolted and never returned. I thought it was cool to be “adopted” by such an awesome critter. I’m still torqued over the loss. It was a very deep blue with vivid orange, beautiful animal.
 

14pokies

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,735
I love those things. I had one, obviously a release or escape, take up residence in my courtyard. It lived there for quite a long time until some workers moved it’s hide (my standing fire pit), it bolted and never returned. I thought it was cool to be “adopted” by such an awesome critter. I’m still torqued over the loss. It was a very deep blue with vivid orange, beautiful animal.
That sucks man! I have heard it's considered good luck to have one shlw up at your house! Make a wish bro!
 

14pokies

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,735
I was asked to make this video for a FB group member that can't get her Tokays to eat. I figure I'll drop it here incase any one has this problem.

If your Tokays don't want to eat period or if in my case they won't take supers or a food itwm you prefer from a deli cup or tongs watch this video. It's only to be done if you can't get your gecko to open it's mouth in the enclosure..The technique is simple, gently grasp the gecko to remove it from the enclosure this alone usually causes them to gape however if it doesn't they will usually gape once you approach their face with the tongs. So while holdong them above eye level gently place the super or feeder of choice into their mouth and once they bite down relax yoir grip even further this helps to tirn off the bite and poop responce and they generally will finish the meal.. I was able to get 4 supers in her tonight.. Sorry for grunting in the last video I tore my rotator cuff awhile back so keeping my left arm up in the air is murder.. Thanks again to my wonderful Son for filming. Hope this video helped
View attachment 20200317_194619.mp4
 

14pokies

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,735
Picked up this massive male earlier today.. He's just about 14 inches, that's a danish tray that he's making look small! 20200320_132248.jpg
 
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