New Tokays - not feeding

[NewGeckoFamily]

We came home with 3 new juvenile tokays last weekend. They have not been feeding. We feed dubia roaches and have tried just let the roaches loose in the cage and leaving them in a dish so they can't go and hide. No interest. The tokays will just look at them. We wanted to see if they would eat Something, so we brought home some crickets and they did eat those no problem. Do the roaches not move enough to create interest for the tokays? Are they still stressed from the move? We really want to feed the roaches as we're raising them and would have no additional cost that way... They are in a 29gal high tank, heated to about 85 in a basking area, with cooler areas for them to choose if they wish. Misted a couple times a day. Lots of hides/vines on the walls. Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Syn]

The tokays may not recognize them as food yet. You could always try mashing one up a bit to get the "guts" out and putting it near their mouth so with tweasers if you feel comfortable enough to do so. If they are curious and lick it, that should be enough to get them to eat one or two.

Are they all housed together? My tokay appreciates a basking point of about 91F, but he is nearing adult-size.

I do have a website dedicated to tokay information, http://tokays.webs.com - check it out if you want. It's a lot to copy and paste.

 

[NewGeckoFamily]

thanks for your quick reply! They are all housed together - 2 seem to hang out together a lot, the 3rd is being more of a loner. May try the guts on the tongs - they don't seem to freak out too badly when we try feeding with tongs... Will go to check out your fact site. Thanks!

 

[Syn]

I don't know how old they are, but once they start getting bigger you may notice they will start to fight for food or become more aggressive. The sooner you put them in separate cages the better.

Hopefully you find the site useful. I've been meaning to update it for the longest time but haven't found time or new information to do so.

 

[T-ReXx]

Raise the basking spot to 90 to 95f. 85 is only ambient temp for tokays. Also I would highly recommend seperating them, tokays arent exactly social and in that small a cage they will likely start fighting for territory at 6 inches or so. Males will also kill each other and bigger juvies will bully smaller ones. Tokays readily eat dubia, I suspect they are stressed.

 

[NewGeckoFamily]

Well, crap - was told that tokays were more communal...

 

[T-ReXx]

Not at all. Females fight males fight to the death. Not even pairs get along sometimes. They need a lot of space and do not really like sharing it. Tokays kept in groups results in unhappy geckos at best and dead and bleeding geckos at worst. Usually the latter.

 

[touch 13]

my first reaction was like rex said, the basking spot. I used to have the basking spot reading 86 and the ambient reading high 70's. They were always active, but much more visable and comfortable with the increased basking temp. This also influenced their eating habbits and my 89Gram female now has quite an appetite. This was all thanks to ReXx

I have a Goldie and 2 tokays in a 48X20X24. They've been housed together since December. They are all females and seem to mind each others company.

Ted, quick question; Do you seperate your animals for live feedings?
- Have you ever had any of your tokays feeding on Repashy?

 

[T-ReXx]

I

my first reaction was like rex said, the basking spot. I used to have the basking spot reading 86 and the ambient reading high 70's. They were always active, but much more visable and comfortable with the increased basking temp. This also influenced their eating habbits and my 89Gram female now has quite an appetite. This was all thanks to ReXx

I have a Goldie and 2 tokays in a 48X20X24. They've been housed together since December. They are all females and seem to mind each others company.

Ted, quick question; Do you seperate your animals for live feedings?
- Have you ever had any of your tokays feeding on Repashy?

Hi
I dont. I only keep tokays in pairs and I provide two feeding dishes. In bonded pairs you rarely see aggression.
I do have a couple that like cgd, or a little mashed banana. It all depends on the individual, some like it some dont.