Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everybody,
I purchased two tokays yesterday at a reptile show, and I need a little advice as to what has and has not worked for the more experienced keepers out there. These guys are certainly wild caught as they were the run-of-the-mill 2 for $10 geckos. For right now I have them in a 30 tall with a mixed bedding of aspen shavings and coconut bark. After reading this forums and realizing just how much space they need, I plan to purchase a 260 gallon mesh reptarium at lllreptile. So now I just need suggestions as to what sorts of things to put in the cage. What kind of substrate works best? Would they like a waterfall in there for some added humidity? What about plants - live or fake flexi-branches? If I opt for live plants, do I need to worry about toxicity or will they not decide to taste them? I also have a question about deworming for those of you that have dealt with wild caught specimens. What is the best method? I was going to go for 2 doses of panacur a week apart, but I'm concerned that won't wipe out some protozoans. Should I panacur first and then Flagyl a few weeks later? Thanks so much for all the input, I know this was a lot of questions in one post!

I'd be wary of a mesh reptarium. Unless you live in a extremely humid environment it may be hard to keep it at needed humidity of at least 60% all the time. A all glass enclose with a screen top would be much better suited for them, plus they like to hang out on the glass not that they cant hang to mesh. The bigger the tank the better, that size would be awsome and real spendy in glass but for two one half that size would work nice.

I use fake haning plants suction cupped to the tank walls which provides nice hiding areas that can be removed easily for cleaning and a couple live plants in pots which provide more hiding and climbing areas. Be sure to include verticle branches big enough for the Tokays to climb on. I tried a waterfall but they kept pooping in it so now I use a large pot filled with water and screened top right under the heat source to provide constant humidty and hiding area. Having them checked for parasites would be a good idea.

Maybe someone like ingo will respond with a different idea on using a mesh reptarium. Hes had them many more years than me and I respect his advice greatly.

Good luck with your Tokays, do you know what sexes you have and how big are they? Heres a example of my setup which houses 2 female and 1 male adults and numerous hatchlings and eggs.

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My posts and replies are my experiences only
1.2.10 Tokays
1.4.10 Leos(13 albino)
1.2.0 AFT's(amel male)
0.2.0 Stenodactylus Petrii(Dune Geckos)

Hi,

I would not go for the reptarium. Tokays do not like to sit on the mesh. They prefer solid non transparent smooth surfaces to clim,b on. Its cheep to built cages form eg coated chipboard (soorry, I do not know if this is the correct wortd). Just seal all corners thoroughly with silicone and it will withstand the humidity for decades. Heigth (4 ft or taller) is omportant as well as space (65-1200g should be the very least). Transparent walls make them feel unsecure. So either use non transparent walls or add fake backw- and siedewalls.
A Waterfall is fine, but nort a must. I always use live plants since these help to keep the humidity and with growing of the plants the tank constantl ychanges, which I think is an additionla thrill. The tokays won´t eat any plant and even wo´nt jum pin the more fragile ones. But they will lick water drops from the leaves and hence these should be pesticide free. Any substrate works since tokays hardly go down rto the ground. I use a mixture of bark mulch and potting soil and inoculate this with some forest soil to establish a sdoil Flora nd fauna which helps to degrade left over insec5t parts and feces. Don´t worry about infections the risk is very low to transmit sth via forest soil. I also add some Zophoba beetles to each tank sionce these do eat tokay feces from bark and branches.
With respect to deparasiting, I recommend to first do a fecal and then adapt the medication to the parasites found. Very often Tokays do not need any treatment (If some Coccidia are found, but nort in excess, you do not have to treat) but some weak specimens won´t respiond well to pancaur and especially flagyl and any treatment is a risk.

Hope that helps

Ingo

Here's what mine looks like (its been redone a bit but its still somewhat similar, I cant take a good pic at night). Its a bit shorter than what I wanted (about 20" but it was free so that was hard to deny.

Sorry, I know, you spend some time on it and it looks nice.
But its definitely far from being good for tokays. Its everything but tall and the transparent walls do irritate the tokays.
The setup looks pretts nice for Takydromus or fire skinks.
Why not use the tank for such animals and built a tokay tank for tokays?

Ci@o

Ingo

Because I have no money for a big tank. Besides, he seems to be happy with the logs and so forth. I'll get him some background because I think you are right and the clearness does annoy him. Unfortunatelly I just dont have the 150-200 for a nice 120 for him. He does come out and play a lot though.....very friendly guy.

" he seems to be happy with the logs and so forth" sorry, I hate these phrases. This is the standar excuse of keepers who are not willing to do the necessary changes.
Without wanting to get personal: I stick to my statement that this tank is far from being good to house tokays in.
Building a homemade arboreal enclosure is also far from being expensive, so I would really recommend to do so...

Ci@o

Ingo

Hey I agree completely about the excuse thing since I hear it a whole lot at the shop but I take him out and he cruises around my room and stuff. And a 120 tall would cost me about 200$ which is far from cheap in my book. Unless I can find a deal I think I would have to make due. I just couldnt stand him living in a 2.5 gallon at the shop so I took him home.....

I just built a 23.5 x 2 x 5 ft cage for a pair of my tokays. TZhats from coated chipboard with glass doors, a fake rock backwall and exclusively fluorescent lights.
Total costs were approx 100 $.
Maybe its somewhat cheaper her ein Germany-but youm may go for a smaller tank.
I think with 70$ in hand you should be able to construct sth neat-unless you have two very left hands

If not...what about free roaming? Tokays do very well if warm places and food are proivided.

Ci@o

Ingo

My female just became a "free roamer" and I havnt seen her in 2 a week. I left the cage just a bit open and she got out I guess....it was late I didnt know what I was doing. She was WC, the funny part is my male who is very friendly just sat there all night and didnt even try to get out. The 2 times he has gotten out, I found him on the outside of the glass, but roughly in the same spots where he usually basks

Yes....in painfull bites and poop

does it pay you rent?

When you say that you don't have 150-200 for a 120 for your tokay, do you mean that you don't have $150-200 for a 120 gallon tank? If that's what you mean, then that's a hell of a deal for a 120 gallon.

thomas