Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I always wanted a gecko.. In the beginning of the year I had my mind set on a Tokay, but I kept reading and reading all these things on how mean they are. Then I decided not to get one. Instead I got 2 baby Leopards, which I love. But recently I went to a petstore that got Tokays in. They were absoluty colorful and I got that wanting again. *lol* So I was researching again and I found some posts saying they weren't really mean. Anyone like to fill me in on experience here?
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cassie
cmk2005@alltel.net
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3.2.3 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.6 Fire-bellied Toads
0.0.1 Green Frog
0.0.1 Afican Clawed Frog
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.0.0 Rough-skinned Newts
0.0.3 Painted Turtles
4.1.32 Tropical fish
2.0.0 Rabbits
0.1.0 Beagle

aright heres what i say get one i have 2 juvie tokays who are nice but not tamed i put my hand in there all the timw i never get bit just trry and get a young one i think this helps

Well,there not going to be as friendly as a little kitten(you are probaly not going to be able to rub his chin).They will be least agressive in a bigger cage,so you should use a 40g or bigger for a pair(thats in my opinion).

I recommend the book"The Tokay and Related Species Manual" you can buy this book at a petstore or at avsbooks
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Tarentolas@hotmail.com
www.freewebs.com/reptiles4sale/
Geckos
1.1.0 Gekko gecko
1.1.0 Eublepharis macularius(ghost and normal)
2.0.0 Hemitheconyx caudicinctus(normal and striped)
1.0.0 Tarentola mauritanica
1.0.0 Hemidactylus turcicus
Other Lizards
0.1.0 Basiliscus vittaus
1.0.0 Physignathus cocincinus
0.1.0 Anolis carolinensis
1.0.0 Chamaeleo calyptratus
1.0.0 Iguana iguana
Boidaes
1.0.0 Python regius(Lenny)
0.0.1 Boa constrictor imperator(Carl)
Turtle
0.1.0 Chrysemys picta

A Female Python regius in a couple of weeks
Some Elaphe guttata soon!

Tokays are very aggressive when feeling threatened, which is most the time you put a hand near them. They can be tamed down with alot work and patience. Working with CB Tokays is a big benifit in that area also. If I got rid of all the species of Geckos I have except one, Tokays would be the ones I keep. I love them to death but you need to understand their nature to enjoy them and they wouldnt be the best choice for anyone wanting to handle their gecko often. If kept in the right size setup and correct conditions they are very facinating and entertaining. Some will not tame down at all and never like handling.

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

Thanks guys for the info. I'm really thinking about getting one. I'm going to wait til the next show here in 2 weeks and get a baby. Today I bought reptile carpet. Not the astro turf grass stuff, but the plain smooth kind. And a 10gal tank. I have pelnty of extra caves, plants, ect to use. This setup should be fine? I'll also get a heater later on. By the way, what is the best sorce of heat of these geckos? Lights or uth or what?
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cassie
cmk2005@alltel.net
*
3.2.3 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.6 Fire-bellied Toads
0.0.1 Green Frog
0.0.1 Afican Clawed Frog
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.0.0 Rough-skinned Newts
0.0.3 Painted Turtles
4.1.32 Tropical fish
2.0.0 Rabbits
0.1.0 Beagle

A 10g will be fine for now but will soon need a bigger cage.

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Tarentolas@hotmail.com
www.freewebs.com/reptiles4sale/
Geckos
1.1.0 Gekko gecko
1.1.0 Eublepharis macularius(ghost and normal)
2.0.0 Hemitheconyx caudicinctus(normal and striped)
1.0.0 Tarentola mauritanica
1.0.0 Hemidactylus turcicus
Other Lizards
0.1.0 Basiliscus vittaus
1.0.0 Physignathus cocincinus
0.1.0 Anolis carolinensis
1.0.0 Chamaeleo calyptratus
1.0.0 Iguana iguana
Boidaes
1.0.0 Python regius(Lenny)
0.0.1 Boa constrictor imperator(Carl)
Turtle
0.1.0 Chrysemys picta

A Female Python regius in a couple of weeks
Some Elaphe guttata soon!

How big will I need to upgrade later on?
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cassie
cmk2005@alltel.net
*
3.2.3 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.6 Fire-bellied Toads
0.0.1 Green Frog
0.0.1 Afican Clawed Frog
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.0.0 Rough-skinned Newts
0.0.3 Painted Turtles
4.1.32 Tropical fish
2.0.0 Rabbits
0.1.0 Beagle

The reptile carpet should be fine, but as your Tokay should be spending most of its time off the ground, substrate choice is not as important as providing plenty of climbing and hiding spaces. Slabs of cork bark or bamboo or plastic tubes placed vertically would be preferred over caves which rest on the ground. Likewise, uth is not really the way to go, opt for overhead incandescent instead.

Chris

What kind of heating bulbs and watts is best to use?
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cassie
cmk2005@alltel.net
*
3.2.3 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.6 Fire-bellied Toads
0.0.1 Green Frog
0.0.1 Afican Clawed Frog
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.0.0 Rough-skinned Newts
0.0.3 Painted Turtles
4.1.32 Tropical fish
2.0.0 Rabbits
0.1.0 Beagle

>>What kind of heating bulbs and watts is best to use?
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Tokays are nocturnal, so they don't require any special UV lighting...an ordinary household bulb will work, since what you are mainly trying to provide is heat and a photoperiod for day/night. The wattage will depend on a)how warm your house is and b)how far from the tank you place the light. What you are aiming for is a hot spot of 85-90 degrees at the top or, in your case since you are using only a 10 gal, at one end. You might try starting with a 60 watt and going up or down from there depending on what temps you get from it. At night you can normally just turn off the light, and let the temp drop to about 70-75.

On the other hand, if your tank has live plants, you will need some kind of special bulb to provide for the plants' lighting needs. Also, if you want to view the gex at night, which is when they're out and about, you will need a red or dark blue light so you can see them without disturbing them.

Also, a 10 gal is ok for a juvi Tokay, but he will soon outgrow it. You'll need something tall instead of long, a 29 gal as a bare minimum, but the bigger the better (picture a 55 gal standing on end).

Chris

>>cassie
>>cmk2005@alltel.net
>>*
>>3.2.3 Green Tree Frogs
>>0.0.6 Fire-bellied Toads
>>0.0.1 Green Frog
>>0.0.1 Afican Clawed Frog
>>1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
>>0.0.2 Leopard Geckos
>>2.0.0 Rough-skinned Newts
>>0.0.3 Painted Turtles
>>4.1.32 Tropical fish
>>2.0.0 Rabbits
>>0.1.0 Beagle

No, that should be everything but fine.
You should read all the old tokay postings on this forum.
Being a tokay breeder since many many years, I would never recommend to keep semiadult to adult tokays in tanks smaller than 65 to 100g. In fact, the smallest tank I keep adult tokays in holds 200g and often appears to be pretty small for this agile animals.
Alo a tokay tank should be at least 4 ft tall.
Forget the carpet. Natural forest soil or a bark mulch potting soil mix helps to hold high relative humidity which the tokays need.Inoculated with soil organisms, such substrate even helps to get rid of overseen feces or food. The tank should be heavily planted to give shelter to the animals.
Even though tokays can learn to tolerate handling, they are no animals to handle. They will never bond to you or any human and any handling will be a selfish action of the owner and of no benefit to the animal.
But it can cause stress and injury. So only do it if absolutely inavoidable.
Under non appropriate conditiosnin too small tanks tokays tirn into the agressiv emonsters many people think they are. In big tanks with appropriate furnishing, they are among the least agressive lizards at all.
So please carefully do your research and provide apt housing before you buy one. Tokays are cheap animals which need expensive housing.
Als you should know that they live up to more than 20 years. You should be ready to care for them for such a long time and you should not torture them livelong by using tiny tanks or/and frequent handling.

So think twice

Ci@o
Ingo

You need a large tank for them. A ten gallon tank is definitely not enough space. I've known some people who had a single tokay for many years in a 20 gallon tank and was perfectly happy in it. But of course the bigger the better, but a 10 gallon is very unacceptable.

My tokay was purchased fully grown and she's completely tame, wild captured. These lizards are amazingly adaptable.

JadeFox

Mean? They *can* be, but it's not always the case. If you get one single tokay, it will eventually learn to trust you. I didnt' even try to pet mine until it knew me 6 months. Now she does not have a mean bone in her body. She would care less if I held her or not. she's very gentle. She sometiems jumps on me, and that's fine too.

And mine was WILD CAPTURED--not captive bred.

She's the easiest pet that I own. I think they make excellent pets!

JadeFox