Juvenile Hunting skills!

[Flash]

Hi guys, how are you? First time posting here.

I have this juvenile Tokay (about 7 months old, 6.5 inches total length) and after watching him hunting for crickets I started wondering about his hunting skills. I don´t know if it is HIS problem or all juveniles tokays are just like him, but he seems to have lots of problems to "grab and hold" the cricks once he attacks them. He will go for the attack and sometimes he grabs the cricket but when he does that "shake thing" the cricket gets trown away, and sometimes he can´t even grab it, it jumps away. He is with me for almost a week now, and I´m not sure if he is eating while I´m not home. Every night I feed him his first circk using a tweezer, and he will bite the crick several times before he actually grabs it, but since I´m holding the cricket, it´s not trown away. But after that, I just trow a few crickets in and watch. Yesterday was the first day I saw him grabing and swallowing a cricket by his own, but that happened after several attempts.

Oh well, I don´t know if there´s anything I can do to make things easier for him, or if it is just the way it is. I sometimes remove the cricket´s hind legs, but that gives them a hard time climbing the walls and the log, which is a good thing so the Tokay can spot them.
I use a Infra-red bulb on 24/7, so I dont turn the lights in the room on to feed him.

Just wanted to know if this is a common thing or not.. Any comment is very apreciated!! The link below is a pic of his enclousure (18x18x24).

Thanks guys and sorry about my english, I´m from Brazil so I don´t get to practice it everyday..

Later,
Dan

 

[AllGeckos]

I have three tokays just a little bigger maybe 6-9 inches all about 5-6 months, but mine do not have any problem like you are mentioning you said you have only had him for a week? I would just be patient, give him more time to get conformable. He never got to his size without eating so should be fine. Is is skinny at all?

 

[Flash]

Hi Corbin, well, I wouldn´t say he is underweight, but he tends to be on the skinny side.. I´ll take a few pictures tonight so you can see what I´m talking about.

None of yours have any problem at all? Cliff said that it was normal, that he is still learning and improving his skills. Oh well, I´ll post the pictures later.

Thanks!

 

[AllGeckos]

I drop about 30-50 crickets in a night and they just tear them up. Mine are the most aggressive eaters I have seen of any living species. I also feed them from time to time dubia roaches and superworms, but mainly crickets

 

[AllGeckos]

his poo poo look normal? not runny or smelly

 

[Flash]

Yep, everything is fine. Solid non-smelly feces. Yesterday I threw 8 crickets in there and he went crazy, but again, very bad skills!! It´s actually fun to watch him missing the cricks.. Every time he misses he gets this look on his face.. But he ate 3 by his own and that made me happy. I guess he´s getting used to his new home and are felling more secure.. maybe?

 

[AllGeckos]

Yeah all sounds norm maybe hes blind? never heard of it but hey you keep the humidity up on him none the less if hes managing to eat im sure he'll be fine
wish I could be some more help, surprised no one else has jumped into this to help

 

[Flash]

Yeah all sounds norm maybe hes blind? never heard of it but hey you keep the humidity up on him none the less if hes managing to eat im sure he'll be fine
wish I could be some more help, surprised no one else has jumped into this to help

I´m a little surprised too! But hey, glad you showed up and helped!
I don´t think he´s blind at all because I can see he sees the insects and goes after them.

Yours always catch them right away, never miss? Do you feed them in the dark (infra red) or do you turn the lights on? Actually, since they are nocturnal, I imagine that the lights would disturb him and make things even harder.
Another thing, I´m used to leopards, and I noticed that when the Tokay catchs the food, he will "chew" on it several times before swallowing it. Is that normal?

Sorry about all the questions, but it´s my first one, so you know..

Thanks again Corbin!

 

[AllGeckos]

I feed them under red light, every so often with the light light on. sometimes mine will miss but not to often and yeah they do chew a little What do you have as substrate, are you feeding the right size crickets to them?

 

[Flash]

I feed them under red light, every so often with the light light on. sometimes mine will miss but not to often and yeah they do chew a little What do you have as substrate, are you feeding the right size crickets to them?

I see. About the size of the crickets, I make sure they aren´t larger then the space between the lizard´s eyes, so I think I´m doing the right thing.

As substrate I use coconut fiber (about 3 inches) and a thin layer of spaghnum moss. I´m thinking about switching to paper towel or the vinil carpet I use with my leopards, but that would make keeping humidity high a little hardier don´t you think?? The substrate I´m using holds some moisture which helps a lot.

What do you think?

 

[AllGeckos]

Yeah the crickets sound good I would not switch to paper towels with tokays like you said they need the humidity and they poop to much for towels.
but he is eating still right? mine do about 10-15 crickets a night

 

[Flash]

Yeah the crickets sound good I would not switch to paper towels with tokays like you said they need the humidity and they poop to much for towels.
but he is eating still right? mine do about 10-15 crickets a night

Each one?? Wow, mine is eating 3-4 crickets a night. But again, he arrived last wednesday, so hopefully he will be eating like that soon!!

10-15 cricks is what my Leopards eat every other night.

Do you have pictures of your tokays?? I´d love to see them!!

 

[AllGeckos]

yeah those moves are stressful give him some time to settle in and hopefully he picks up speed a little bit