Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well Its my birthday coming up and I have been thinking putting up a nice vivarium for the livingroom with a couple of Tokays.I love the way they look.But I got a couple questions..
First do they hide all day? I want to be able to see the animals at least occasionally.
Second..Cleaning, I do know these are aggressive animals so how hard are they to catch when time to clean the cage, or are there tips to cleaning with minimal invasion of their home.
Third..How often do you feed them? Daily or every other day?Insects only or veges too?
Fourth...Do they require UVB light? Calcium supplements?

I do have experience with lizards, have been bitten by several kinds not to worried about that.But I have never had any geckos.Thanks all
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>>Well Its my birthday coming up and I have been thinking putting up a nice vivarium for the livingroom with a couple of Tokays.I love the way they look.But I got a couple questions..
>> First do they hide all day? I want to be able to see the animals at least occasionally.

No, they often hang in the background and are more likely to come out if they feel secure.

>> Second..Cleaning, I do know these are aggressive animals so how hard are they to catch when time to clean the cage, or are there tips to cleaning with minimal invasion of their home.

Easy, give them a place they like to hide in like a piece of 2.5" PVC with a cap on one end..... once they decide that they like this area you can almost guarantee that they will be there during the day. When you clean the cage just take out he tube place in another secure container and CLEAN!

>> Third..How often do you feed them? Daily or every other day?Insects only or veges too?

No VEGGIE!!!!!! I have NEVER seen them remotely interested in a vegetable. They are carnivores and may also appreciate nector and fruit(in theory at least). They eat bugs..... and even mouse pinkies...in the wild they will predate on almost anything that they can catch...lots of lizards!

>> Fourth...Do they require UVB light?
No, but I think they like it!

Calcium supplements? Yes, all lizards need this and esp. geckos!
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>>I do have experience with lizards, have been bitten by several kinds not to worried about that.But I have never had any geckos.Thanks all

Well, since I appear to be "all" you are welcome.

Tokays bite in two fashions...a warning bite where they may just nip you and try to scare you off. A quick little sideways snap, often a bark too boot! The second one is when you have grabbed one and it turns around to latch on...this can be a serious and PAINFUL bite...their eyes sink into their heads as they get the best of you.... it is amazing how strong their jaws are and how bad their little mouths can hurt!

If one latches on put is down on the ground as fast as possible..... this seems to be the best approach at getting it to release its "death grip"...it will often try to escape and bites like this are only a last resort effort and the reaction of a terrified Tokay!

SATAN
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"Satan™" is a registered trademark of NERD, Inc. Any copyright infringement is punishable by ETERNAL DAMNATION and some other terrible stuff.

I know its the sissy's way but I use a leather insulated work glove. It has padding so if they bite it they wont hurt you and its soft so it wont hurt them either. When they do do the death bite I just put them on the side of the cage or on a log and they let go and run away.

Blake

>>I know its the sissy's way but I use a leather insulated work glove. It has padding so if they bite it they wont hurt you and its soft so it wont hurt them either. When they do do the death bite I just put them on the side of the cage or on a log and they let go and run away.
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>>Blake

They ONLY do their terrible bite when you grab them...I free handle them and let them realize that i am not trying to hurt them...the trick is to have SHORT little sessions with the lizard...at first just touch them and leave them alone...once they get used to this getting one to climb on your hand is a good thing. Never present your fingers...use part of your hand they can not grab...after several short sessions they start calming down. The trick is to not go too far with them and scare them...just short sessions keeping it calm and then letting it crawl back into its cage. Free handling is the way to go...never grab them....I coax them to crawl onto my hand and then it gets easy from there. Gloves are the WRONG approach!!!

Kevin
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"Satan™" is a registered trademark of NERD, Inc. Any copyright infringement is punishable by ETERNAL DAMNATION and some other terrible stuff.

I'll have to give that a try. I did it once and my male ended up tasting my blood lol. I'll give it another try though. I just figured that sense they are WC they wouldnt be able to calm down.

Your info was helpful.I would have never thought of the pvc pipe idea..I have actually already gotten the tokays now.Ive been giving them crickets and mealies.They are eating great.Right now they are only about 3-5mnth old but as soon as I can I will seperate them.
I do have a red light for heat is this okay or will it damage thier eyes if I leave it on all the time?I do have a CHE I could use but it always has this high pitch squeal that I hate using it.
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A red light wont hurt them. The heating element wont either.

Best of luck,
Blake