Questions about my upcoming Tokay set-up.

RAZERWIREREPTILES

New Member
Messages
121
Location
Tampa, Fl
Hello again ummm just a few points to touch as far as the mating call its LOUD
crazy loud it last for about I would say maybe 30-45sec at the longest and my huge male does it at least 1 a week sometime more often but its ALWAYS right after i fall asleep lol and as far as feeding goes i kept mine on nothing but crickets for the first few months but i found they would not gain that much weight so after some digging on the net i found a possible way to "train" them and i use this lightly. What i found too work i have a solid black bowl filled with about 15 grams of meal worms but i put it in a place i have seen my tokays "in a corner on the floor" and i just did not offer crickets for about a week and they seemed to get the point that the meal worms in the bowl were food after making the change to meal worms i offer roughly 15-20 grams twice a week and most are normally gone by the next morning i don't want to offer more because i don't want them to become fat because i know if the male becomes fat he tends not to really care about mating this is just what i have seen and learned myself when i first got them you could ezly tell the male from the females with in the cage because of his size about 95 grams with the females being about 40-45 and now there are a few that are almost the exact size of the male they really put the weight on after i moved from crickets they also get cricket from time to time. Another little trick to keep in mind if you ever plan to mate yours a good way to kinda push it along is to offer alot of food right after a man made storm lol to do this i tend to almost soak the cage i affix 1/4 tubbing use a thumbtack and punch ALOT of holes in the tubbing all up and down it everywhere on the tubbing then affix it to a container like a gallon jug and just let the water kinda rain out of the tubbing looks natural if done right but norm after i make food abundant and let it storm my male tends to do his mating call that night. now as far as the heating goes be careful as to what you choose like i said it only take me 50watts from two bulbs to maintain 85-89 and high humidity i think you might be a little high with the 100watt bulb but give it a shot and set up your tank and let it stabilize before adding your new Tokay. now as far as hoping to get a health one from a pet store good luck i have not seen any pet store with healthy tokays they tend not to care very good for them IMO. another good word of advice is dont be afraid of him/her if you ever want to be able to hold the tokay you will need lots of time and patience "i used a glove at first" but let the tokays get used to your hand inside the tank and with time get closer and closer you will soon learn the 2 types of bite they have the first is more of a bark/snip nothing to worrie just be steady lol its like there first and sometime last warning lol the other type really sucks even if you have gloves on it the clamping bite this one hurts no matter what lol my male got me one time when i had a glove on and would not let go for almost 10min when he did let go i took off the glove to find a bad almost deep blue ring on my thumb .......... dont give up though one of the best people i have seen with his tokays is "i forgot his name sry" but he works for NERD and i have seen him handle all his tokays like they were leopards none even tried to run off with given the option..... well its late here and i have rambled sry hope you got something useful out of this feel free to hit me up anytime if you have any questions [email protected] good night all...


Razerwirereptiles
 
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Trollvomit

Guest
Thanks alot! There was definately some good info there! I think I am going to buy a rheostat like Killa mentioned..Better safe than sorry.
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Yay! I got my Tokay Yesterday!
But...I think he is VERY stressed. The cage they had him in was VERY small horizontal, and they said they had two in the cage even though they could only find the one.:main_huh:
He hid most of the day (I know they are nocturnal) and I observed him crawling around a bit around 11:30pm. I woke up this morning at about 10:30am. and when I peeked into the cage he will laying on the substrate. Is that normal? I would think he would have stuck more on the back wall..I also tried feeding him last night and it dosent seem he has eaten. My cage was at around 76 degrees and 65% humidity all night with the 75watt incandesent heat bulb I have right now,And I could only get the temp up to 82 Degrees and 75% humidity during the day with the same bulb..I'm getting my 100watt bulb in the mail tomorrow so I should be ok with the temp then.
How long do you think until he will want to eat? And is him laying on the substrate a bad sign?
 
K

killagreen

Guest
Horizontal cages aren 't good for tokays. Most pet stores do not take proper cage of they reptiles they have.

Anyway My tokay was always exploring, he rarely stayed on the substrate. But he was down there quite a bit. When he was down there he was usually active running around. Occasionally he used the hide i had for him on the substrate.

It might take him a couple days to get use to his new surroundings. Anytime you relocate a gecko they can be stressed out. During this time it is very unlikely that they will eat. Keep track of the # of crickets you throw in for him and check in the morning to see if there are any missing. Also pay attention for poop, if he has a good poop he has been eating something. Keep an eye on him and i hope he starts eating soon.
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Yeah, I'm probably just nervous. The tank has been around 85 degrees all day today with humidity fluctuating between 50%-76%..I'm having trouble keeping the humidity up and seem to have to spray the tank good more than twice a day. He still has not seemed to have eaten but it do think I caught him drinking..so that's good. It's 1:09am right now and he still is in hiding.
I hope he calm down soon! :uneasy:
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Ok, I just got home from work and my Tokay seems to be in the same place he was last night pretty much..My room mates says hes been there all day also..Heat and humidity seems to be around 85-85 degrees and 55%-75% in the day but the temp drops down to around 74 at night..I put the under tank heater on the back wall of the terrarium..Is this wise? I'm hoping it won't crack the glass or anything. I'm starting to get really worried..I see no stools and the crickets are at the same number as last night. I don't know what to do! :main_huh:
 
K

killagreen

Guest
He will poop soon if he hasn't yet. Perhaps take the stool to the vet and have them check for parasites. I do know how much this will cost but might be worth it.

The humidity and temp are fine. Humidity shouldn't drop below 50%. It is fine for the temperature to drop that much at night. It is normal for a cool down in at night.

The UTH on the back wall won't crack the glass, but it might make the glass unbearably hot for the gecko to walk on. The only way it would crack the glass is if the heat pad is insanely hot and then your spray the glass with like ice water.

If he doesn't eat tonight, try to round up all the crickets in the morning. Then offer them again at night. Maybe a fresh dusting of calcium with help.
If he still will not eat, perhaps talk to the pet store you purchased him from.
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Thanks for the info! My under tank heater is on the back of my terrarium and their is a foam rock wall covering the entire back wall also..You think it would still be to hot with the foam? Also..You think I should turn off my incandesent light? Or will that make the temp way to low you think?
 
K

killagreen

Guest
The temp with the foam rock wall is probably fine.
You can turn off the UTH at night for sure. Depending on what the temp is in your house will determine if you should turn off the incandesent light. If it is like 60 in your house you probably shouldn't turn it off. But if it is around 70 it is fine to turn it off.



Those foam rock walls look great, but with mine the crickets and meal worms ate holes into it. and burrowed in. I destroyed it cuz i kept hearing chearping and found like 5 crickets, and 10 mealworms.
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Damn, I hope they don't do that to mine! I really dig the wall..I notice the crickets found a tunnel in one of my pieces of drift wood though and they seem to all go inside that. Maybe that will keep em off. ;)
I was just peeking at him and noticed a cricket walk right up to him and he didn't even flintch..:eek:
 
K

killagreen

Guest
i would give him a few more days. if you doesn't start to eat. i would talk to the people you bought him from.
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Sounds good..Thank for the replies! It's greatly appreciated.
 

RAZERWIREREPTILES

New Member
Messages
121
Location
Tampa, Fl
Hello sorry to hear you have been having a hard time with your new tokay. From what you have said about your temps and humidity everything sound good to me if you find later down the road you are having a hard time keeping your humidity above 50% a friend of mine show me a little trick with plastic wrap just cover a portion of the screen top to help keep your humidity up it seems to work for me. Now more so about your tokay when I bought mine they were very dehydrated,underfeed and over stressed not to mention a heavy load of parasites. For some awful reason this seems to be the approved health for most wild caught tokays and the pet store selling them. I would have to say have a vet check your tokay for parasites more than likely he has some should be a ez fix as far as that goes but now dealing with food and water i would keep the tank nice and wet not soggy on the bottom but a good amount of water droplets all the way around by spraying often i found my tokays would not venture down to the water bowl until they calmed down a good bit from the stresses going on and for food i would keep track like mentioned before depending on your tokays temper "if he allows yous lol" you might want to even consider a slurry mix to feed him and get some h2o into him that way until you get him to the vet you can feel alittle better about knowing his is getting something to eat and drink.

Razerwirereptiles
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Little update,
I'm starting to think my Tokay is getting better! I can no longer find any crickets in the cage (I did have to take about 4 out because they died) and Mr. Tokay also seemed to have a bowel movement! Perhaps one of the most exciting things though, is that I awoke at about 5:00am and heard him doing his call! I was so happy..Anyways..I bought 10 more crickets and some anti-bactireal and anti-parasite meds. :main_thumbsup:
 
K

killagreen

Guest
Glad to hear about the improvement. Good luck and have fun with your barking and biting beast of a lizard. haha. Don't forget the game you can play with your friends that don't know any better. ha.
 
T

Trollvomit

Guest
Thought I would bring a little update to how my Tokay (Patrick Aykroyd Swazee, Don't ask..:p ) is doing! :main_thumbsup:

He seems much more active now at night and just shed a few days ago..Everything came off fine and he ate it. That was the first time I saw him eat! A day after I put in 5 fresh crickets dusted with vitamin, anti-bacterial and anti-parasite powder. He instantly noticed them and munched four of them down pretty quickly. So, everything seems great so far but, He is still very dark. The Temp seems right. 79-85 degrees in the day with humidity at aroung 50-78%, and at night 60-79 Degrees and 60% humidity at night. What might be the reason for him being so dark?
 

RAZERWIREREPTILES

New Member
Messages
121
Location
Tampa, Fl
Sorry for the long delay did not notic the new post here but as far as tokays go they will change color from time to time not so much color i mean more the shade they are from lighter to darker mine can be a nice bright baby blue 1 min and some time after i go into there tank they stress a little and darken up a good bit should not be anything to worrie about.
 

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