Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that you must create a cooler period for the pair to induce breeding but I have a couple of questions. First, when do I start the cool period and when do I end it? Second, I have been keeping my pair at about 80 with basking of 88 (where my male sits constantly) up untill now. Can I start the cool period now or would it be better to do so next year? And last, what temperatures exactly denote the cool period? Thanks in advance.

Captive bred Tokays are worth a grand in my eyes. They are so beautiful without all of the stress WC animals endure. Now is a good time to start the cooling (Since they are found in locations where the climatic changes to cooler weather are not so drastic or long-lasting. Drop the basking temp to around 78, and the cool end temp. should be good around 70. Reduce the amount of times to mist them also. You may want to separate them to use the pheromones (scentual hormones) as another medium to ensure breeding when reintroduced. In in late February to early March you will want to gradually bring the temp to where it was for both animals, bring the misting to where it was or possibly higher. Be sure your male does not look like it could eat your female, then introduce them. If you want to ensure the eggs are not damaged lost or unfound, move the female to a spare enclosure. In this enclosure you can use vertical oriented plants fort this egg-gluing species, but my success with them and other egg-gluers is to use a plastic cup or appropriate size 1/5 filled with very moist vermiculite to ensure the eggs do not dry out before you get to them, then go to the halfway point of the cup with moist Sphagnum moss. A leaf in there also to make them feel more at home is good. When you find the eggs do not try to remove them at all, they will 8 out of 10 times rip. cover the cup, with some ventilation, and incubate the eggs at 83 F and a humidity level of around 80 percent. If you decide to cut the cup apart (if glued to side), incubate the piece of plastic solely in sphagnum moss. Try to avoid temperature fluctuations. The eggs will hatch in 1.5 to two months. The babies are cute but fiesty so house them separately (2-5 gal enclosures are good). They have enormous appetites and can often eat full grown crickets within 1.5 to 2 months or hatching.
Good luck,
Ashton
Gekko Terra

Normally tokays do not need a cooling period at all. Normal temp and light fluctuations in our houses are transmitted sufficiently to their terraria to cycle them. Also some specimens lay year round.
Once feeling at homwe and fed well, they´ll begin-and never ever stop.
I do not understand, why one should cover the eggs with anything. Tokays are perfect parents, who guard their eggs and babies. Also the females are used to use the same egg laying places again and again-as you see on the pic.
Any deli cups or stuff there irritates them and directs them to a new place, which in turn delays the next clutch.
Also eggs do not need high humidity. In a well furnished tank, females easily find the best place, where hatching is 100%. I never had a tokay egg not hatching in the tank. Also tokays wnat to eat the egg shell and often start with that while the babies are hatching. As a result they do help the babies with hatching. Not possible under a Deli cup. Also Tokays do control their eggs regularily by putting their chin onto them. How should they do this under a deli cup?
No, just leave them alone, do not handel or siturb thwem, feed them well and you will have in the range of 12-16 babies per female and year.

Wow thanks a ton guys. The female I have is new (and wild caught) so she is in OK shape right now. I've been fattening her up and keeping the humidity high since she had several spots of bad sheds. Shes looking pretty good right now and the shed has come off so her color is nice as well. I think what I will do is drop my basking to around 80 and only keep one light on and put a UV light in the other slot that I have. Unfortunatelly I cant seperate them since I only have one tank and I wouldnt want the female crammed in a less than perfect setup. Hopefully it still works. The male has been barking a lot lately and I have seen them sitting next to each other a lot. I'm sure mine is a male since he barks with the tokay call but I have yet to hear her call. The shop (not a bad one) said it was a female and the pores do look smaller and she lacks the bulges somewhat (though its hard to tell since my male's tail is so fat and her's is so thin) so I'm assuming they're correct. So far no fighting either so thats another good sign. I will try to get a pic just to make sure. Thanks again for all your help guys I appreciate it. I'd give you a free tokay baby but I'm sure you both have enough of your own

thanks for all the info on tokays, it has helped me a lot, if anything else please email me chinezb0i@hotmail.com, and please send some pics of your tokays. thanks a lot