Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, i'm Mike and i'm new to this forum. I was wondering if I could keep two tokay geckos male and female in a 20 galllon high tank. Also any information on tokay geckos that might be helpful. Thanks.

Mike

I know, that even Mc Keown recommends 20 gallon tall in his book on tokay care-thats sad, since many keepers start with this booklet.
But in the same book he tells us that tokays can reach almost 18" and weigh up to 300g.
Ok, those would be the really big guys.
But all my adult males are in the 200g and 15 " range, which is still more than a handful of lizard.
In addition to their size, tokays are very agile geckos, which run around a lot at night.
So now consider: How can a pair of geckos of mentioned size run and jump in a 20 g?
Also they are arboreal and hence, to feel secure, their home should be tall.
And for a 1 ft lizard "tall" may slowly start at 4 ft.
So my recommendation always ist to go for 65g tall or better 100 g tall as a minimum sized cage for a single tokay or a pair.
And I stil think that this is small-all my adults live in significantly bigger tanks.
Tokays are low cost pets which need high cost housing!
In tanks of apt size, tokays are much less agressive, more agile and breeding starts sooner after moving in.
Please take this serious, its not just words.
I have almost 20 years (with a gap in between) experience with keeping and breeding these guys.
In the 70s, when not much info was available I also started with too small tanks and soon considered Tokays to be mean agressive beasts.
I would never want to repeat that.

Ci@o

Ingo

Thanks for your help Ingo. I thought a 20 gallon was a little to small too. I am going to get a taller tank. But would one or two be ok in a 20 gallon high for maybe about a month? Thanks.

Mike.

.

...My Tokays are maybe 8 or 9 inches long each. They are healthy and happy and doing well together in a 10 gallon tank. This week they will get into a 20 gallon high. They are not at all aggresive, except towards the food that they eat, which includes plenty of calcium dusted crickets and also pinky mice now & then.
They have each got their own hide boxes, which they use often, and they have plenty of artificial plants, too. I mist the plants and the glass walls every day, and I use orchid bark for their substrate. They have become very wonderful pets - I've had them for about maybe 9 months. It has gotten to where all I have to do is touch the top of their cage and they peek out of the hide boxes looking for the food (I have a velcro strap for a tie-down on the screen top and they hear the velcro as soon as I begin to pull it.) I love these Tokays - they are superb in their personality and they are my favorite reptiles, of which I have fairly many. Also, I bought a Zoo-Med "HabbaMist" machine last week - it's an automatic misting system - they will get this installed this week also - into the 20 gal high tank.
Congratulations on your new Tokay - and know that they much appreciate being looked after properly in a smaller home than being neglected in a pet store somewhere. I'd rather live in a house with a yard, but I'm happy in my 1 bedroom apartment!
...Finally, they should get vitamins dusted onto their food once weekly - but give them the vitamins on a day when no calcium has been given on neither the day before or the day after the vitamins are given - the calcium and the vitamins will cancel each other out otherwise, giving the gecko no benefit from them!
Thanks for your question and good luck with your Tokay - too few people love them just because they can bite! ~rainroosty~

Hi,

please look at the size of your Tokays and have in mind how tokays live in southeast asia.
Than look at the size of your enclosure.
Its just too small to allow agressivity, since itas not big enough to even think about a territory.
Its the same effect which prevents a dozen of tokays from fighting livinbg together in the pet shop tank.
Its undenyable that tokays by nature are very agile runners.
Its also true that they are hardy and survive decades and even breed in shoebox like tanks.
So if you liove that and can sleep calm, don´t change things.
But I stick to my statement: Tokays NEED large enclosures and their low price sadly to often leads to low cost tiny size housing.
For some reason I had to move one of my mnales form a 400g to a 160 g tank. And I do see a clear difference in behaviour and very obvious he is missing spcae.

Ci@o

Ingo