Tokay gecko noise?

[austinpetemo]

Hi all, ive been tossing around the idea of getting a tokay for years, and i want to finally do it. Ive heard that noise can be an issue though. Im in a small one room dorm for the next 2 months. Its tank wil be about 8 feet from my bed. Will it keep me up at night and make lots of racket?

 

[marauderhex]

Not if you get a female. Males are the primary callers, and that's mainly during breeding season.

 

[austinpetemo]

How difficult are they to keep when compared to cresties? Ive been lookin around at both, but arnt sure which would be easiest and cheapest to maintain.

 

[LaurenceH]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9tn0yNqQo&feature=related

Males can be quite loud.

Personally I beleive Crested Geckos are easier and less expensive to maintain than almost every reptile in the hobby, but that doen't make them the best pet for everyone. Your motive for keeping should be taken into account too. Are you simply looking for the least troublesome, cheapest pet? Or are you looking for an active, nice looking display animal? In my opinion Tokays are much more interesting to watch and keep, but my opinion is irrelevant in this case. I would suggest that you do some research on both species and formulate your own opinion on which you'd rather keep.

 

[marauderhex]

Honestly, they are on par of ease of keeping with cresties in my book. Once you have the enclosure set up, its all about feeding and maintaining humidity/heat levels.

 

[Dimidiata]

Are you in it for a pet or a display? Cresties are handelable but tokays are not normaly something your going to handle(well not for much recreation).

 

[austinpetemo]

I realize the aggression of the tokays, and they are a more attractive animal in my opinion. However, as a college student i want something that wont take up much time for maintanance, and which is cheapest to keep. I already have sand boa, i love her to death but i want something i can interact with a little more. I character trait of the crestie that theyre more docile. They dont get very big though. Both being abboreal species ive gathered that they need the same type setup, just bigger for tokays. I like how big the tokays get though, they seem to get significantly larger than the cresties get, i could be wrong though.

As an avid aquarium keeper i like having large beautiful specimens that are aggressive in nature (you cant touch fish sadly) and i like the idea of the challenge of taming, after seeing this video of a woman taming a wild male in less then 10 minutes, i feel like i could possibly do it.

also, which is the more difficult to feed? the tokay seems like it needs live food (which isnt a problem) whereas the crestie can eat live and prepared. I can get your basic crickets and worms and such from my petcos and petsmart. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, is the tokay significantly more expensive to feed?

i appologise for the numerous questions, i like to be a responsible pet owner. and many websites make their care sheets so they can make a sale rather than give the animal a good home. I prefer hobbiests personal experiences and inputs over care sheets and bussinesses any day.

ANYWAYS here is that video of the woman taming him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIc3y0D5ipM

 

[Dimidiata]

I think shes a tad off . Shes not "taming" anything. Shes simply handling them properly. Taming would mean shes getting rid of any agressive tendenceys, however, if she tried to pick him up from above now he would bite her no issue. MH here did the same thing with a female. She did hold it properly though i would say she gave a good tutorial on that. Cresties are going to be much more interactive , what shes doing is still putting uneeded stress on the animal. With a crestie, most can be handled with relativley little stress. Kenyans, as i just found out are little monsters -_-.

 

[LaurenceH]

I have some opinions about "taming" reptiles I have developed based on my own experiences and what I've gathered from experienced keepers and vets. If I may, I will try to share them without being offensive to anyone here.

True "taming" of a reptile is impossible. The first thing to know about reptiles (especially small animals, but large animals too) is that from their perspective (at least initially) humans are enormous predators. Every time a person puts their hand in the enclosure they believe wholeheartedly that they are going to be attacked.

They will respond in one of two ways to a threat. "Fight" or "flight". Both "docile" and "aggressive" animals are capable of either of these reactions. Species generally thought of as "aggressive" will typically respond with "fight" behavior first and can bite, hiss, regurgitate, and defecate to discourage their predator.

What you see in this video is forced handling. With forced handling the human attempts to "tame" the gecko (or other reptile) by forcing interaction and effectively showing the animal that it's "fight" response doesn't change the situation.

With forced handling it is possible that the animal's "aggression problem" will worsen as it continues to try to get away from it's perceived predator. What generally happens with this method however, is that the animal will change tactics to the "flight" method and reduce it's activity level, sitting still in it's owner's hand, appearing to most to be "tamed" or "docile" when it is actually under tremendous stress. Another problem is that "docile" species tend to display this behavior before "fight" and lots of people take that to mean they can handle these species as often/however they want with no ill effects.

While reptiles can not be tamed in the same sense as mammals, They can be made to trust you if they learn to associate you with food. A good example I've heard is that If you are at a park and you catch a squirrel and restrain it in your hands, it will struggle and try to escape, and the next time you see that squirrel it will be even more wary of you. If instead, you hand feed it every day for several weeks an interaction beyond the level of predator/prey is possible.

Don't think I'm nitpicking or attacking you personally, I'm really not. Nor do I intend to inflict my opinions on anyone, I'm just sharing my experience.

 

[Imperial Geckos]

While reptiles can not be tamed in the same sense as mammals, They can be made to trust you if they learn to associate you with food. A good example I've heard is that If you are at a park and you catch a squirrel and restrain it in your hands, it will struggle and try to escape, and the next time you see that squirrel it will be even more wary of you. If instead, you hand feed it every day for several weeks an interaction beyond the level of predator/prey is possible.

Your example is not all that good. Reptiles can be tamed, they can become use to human interaction.

I own Burmese Pythons...and I can tell you from experience every time I open the cage, they perk their head up looking for food. They have associated cage opening with getting fed...now Im not just going to go in their and take them out because that is how people get hurt most commonly with large constrictors....instead I tap them on the head with either a lid from a bin or a snake hook and coax them out, and "TA-DA" the Burm is no longer in feeding mode, and can be handled with no problems.

The snake is not tame because it associates me with food, It is tame because it understands I am not going to try to eat it.

 

[LaurenceH]

Your example is not all that good. Reptiles can be tamed, they can become use to human interaction.

The snake is not tame because it associates me with food, It is tame because it understands I am not going to try to eat it.

I fail to see how you are disagreeing with me. I said:

"If instead, you hand feed it every day for several weeks an interaction beyond the level of predator/prey is possible."

I simply stated associative feeding is the stepping stone for human interaction with reptiles. Which to my understanding is essentially what you said. I never said the association with food is the reason for taming.

I believe the origin of this disagreement is on the term "tame". I probably should have used a word closer to "domesticate" as that is closer in meaning to what I intended to convey. By "reptiles can not be tamed in the same sense as mammals" I meant that reptile do not form a bond or attachment to their keepers like a pack oriented mammal such as a dog.

 

[Dimidiata]

Domesticated wont work either, reptiles do not become domesticated in much sense.

 

[marauderhex]

How about we use the term 'acclimatized to human interaction'. That probably best describes the situation.

 

[LaurenceH]

Domesticated wont work either, reptiles do not become domesticated in much sense.

Exactly what I mean. By saying I should have used the word "domesticate" instead of "tame", I simply meant for all to mentally swap the words every time I used the word "tame" in my previous rant. For example; in my opening statement I said; "True 'taming' of a reptile is impossible." By saying I should have used the term domesticate I meant I should have said; "True 'domestication' of a reptile is impossible." So yes, reptiles cannot be domesticated.

How about we use the term 'acclimatized to human interaction'. That probably best describes the situation.

I like this term. Better than a lot I've heard so far.

 

[Dimidiata]

Basicly in a sense, when you have 2 tokays youve acclimated to being handled, and they have babbies, the babbies also have to be acclimated and so on. So acclimated works well. Domesticated would insist to some extent that the young would be tame.

 

[marauderhex]

Basicly in a sense, when you have 2 tokays youve acclimated to being handled, and they have babbies, the babbies also have to be acclimated and so on. So acclimated works well. Domesticated would insist to some extent that the young would be tame.

Acclimated is slightly different than acclimatized. So if you have a 1.1 pair of acclimatized tokays, you still have to acclimatize the babies, as their being used to human interaction won't be genetically transferred to the next generation. Basically, you have to work with every individual to get them to the same state.

 

[Dimidiata]

Acclimated is slightly different than acclimatized. So if you have a 1.1 pair of acclimatized tokays, you still have to acclimatize the babies, as their being used to human interaction won't be genetically transferred to the next generation. Basically, you have to work with every individual to get them to the same state.

I use the two terms 1 in the same, its just what im used to saying when talking fish. Acclimated is diffrent, you are right, im sorry.

 

[LaurenceH]

I use the two terms 1 in the same, its just what im used to saying when talking fish. Acclimated is diffrent, you are right, im sorry.

Kudos for humility. It is a sign of true intelligence to admit when you're wrong. I like you, Sam.

 

[marauderhex]

It's ok. My coursework in evolutionary biology forced me to straighten the two terms out in my mind.

 

[Dimidiata]

Kudos for humility. It is a sign of true intelligence to admit when you're wrong. I like you, Sam.

Thanks, i like it when people like me