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GETTING MY TOKAY OUT OF ITS CAGE (PLEASE HELP)

David_B Jan 26, 2006 05:27 PM

I got a tokay a while ago and it is time for me to give the cage a good cleaning. This is my question; how do all you other tokay keepers get your tokays out of their cages? I would be hesitant to grab it, because I might tear its skin (or mine!) I was thinking about putting a peice of PVC pipe in the cage and hoping that she would hide in there. Then I could just cap the ends and get it out, but I'm not sure that this would work. Could you all please offer me some suggestions?

Thank a whole lot!

Replies (4)

flamedcrestie Jan 26, 2006 07:45 PM

their skin is not as delicate as most people try to make it sound. it will only tear on a sharp or really rough object.
the tokay's bite isn't all that bad ( just breaks the skin a little bit) but sometimes when they bit they'll hold on for 15 minutes or longer ( i had one stuck on my hooded sweatshirt one day for about 45 minutes)
i just go up behind them and grab them behind their head and support the rest of their body. other option is to put on some gloves and just grab it out of the cage that way.

spydergecko777 Jan 27, 2006 01:13 AM

I don't think their skin is that sensitive because i have grabbed mine a few times with no problems. Mine is abnormally large even for a tokay. so what i do now is get a small towel and put it over the head grabbing behind the head making sure to support the body be firm with your grasp but not rough. The reason i don't just put on gloves and go at it any more is because One of my friends who worked at a pet store at the time pulled a tokay out of the cage and the tokay bit his glove well he took off the glove and sent it home with the costomer. a few days later the costomer came back with a dead gecko and guess what was in his moulth lol the glove so i decided i like my hand and i don't want to stress out my gecko. so i find the towel method works well.
Spydergecko-

SanClementeSnake Jan 29, 2006 01:25 AM

Just go inside the cage and go behind its head and gently but firmly head pin him. Their bite isn't bad at all. If you don't want to do that I would suggest putting on a glove and scooping him up gently and placing him in another cage. Hope this helps.

Justin
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2.4.1 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
0.0.1 Longnose Snakes
1.0.0 Gold Tegus
1.1.0 Tokay Geckos
1.1.0 Texas Banded Gecko
1.2.0 Whalberg's Velvet Gecko "Spotted" Phase

blackshirej Apr 02, 2006 11:25 AM

Reach in and pick it up...it's not going to kill you and it's a day gecko. You won't rip it's skin THAT easily.

I have found that restraining my tokays any more than necessary results in aggression. Mine are rarely aggressive towards me but as soon as I pin their heads, they're completely different geckos...and let me tell ya, a ticked off tokay biting the first thing it can get ahold of (usually the side of your hand/finger) hurts more than you can imagine. That kind of bite is typically much more painful than just sticking your finger into the tokay's mouth and letting it chomp down. Not to mention it bleeds a helluva lot more.
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Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel was just a freight train coming your way...

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