tokay question....need tips

[beezy]

ok so a while back i bought a tokay gecko.(suspected female).at the pet store i asked the lady why it had 2 balls/sacs behing the ears and she said ooh its normal..some of em have that and some dont so i was like ok w.e. and bought it..took it home and it was the meanest thing ever..loll.so ive had her for aboutt 3-5 months..recently i bought another tokay (suspected male) and he was the nicest thing ever i could handle it wenever i felt like it and do whatever i wished with it with no problems. ive handled it 20's of times...so like 3 days ago he tried to attack me and i pulled my hand out and got my 12in tongs and used the back to touch him and he attacked those..the things i would like to know is 1. was the pet store lady right? do some of them naturally have those balls/sacks behind the ears? and 2. why all of a sudden is he so angry / mad? would appreciate the help...thanks

 

[Northstar Herp]

It's totally normal for a tokay to be that aggressive. They're pretty notorious for it, otherwise they wouldn't be so cheap and would DEFINITELY be more popular. Be glad you got to handle your male a few times, it will probably be the last.

 

[beezy]

yea but i dont understandd why all of a sudden he is so aggressive. he was the coolest thing ever. and do you know about the sacs behind the ears?

 

[AllGeckos]

I am not expert, and can only speak from personal experience.
I had 3 in the past and never had "sacs" behind ears, sounds odd to me.
I suppose it just wasn't his head bulging out?
A picture is wroth a thousand words.

I think for the all of sudden aggressive behavior could be due to some sort of change in the tank. Carefully monitor temps and humidity levels. Make sure your light is on a timer as well.

If you put him in the cage and handled him straight way after getting him he could have easily been stressed out and decided not put up a fight at first. Then after getting conformable decide to go back to his normal way.
I think in reality it would be the opposite of what I said...?
Pics, pics, pics!

 

[Dog Shrink]

Could he have possibly just entered into sexual maturity and if your other is a female in close proximity of his tank be could just be acting typically male?

 

[T-ReXx]

A picture would be the only way to help with the "sacks" thing.

Normally tokays are defensive animals. I suspect the animal was either ill, too cold, or too scared to put up too much fight due to stress at first. It is also possible if the original animal is being kept with one of the opposite sex that have bonded as a pair and will attack anything that they consider to be a threat to their territory/potential offspring.

 

[beezy]

ok thanks everyone...ill try to take some picx asap

 

[Keith N]

Nobody talks about bite club! haha

 

[WulfSC]

... acting typically male?

HEY!!!! I resemble that remark. Uh, I mean, resent... .

 

[touch 13]

I House two Female Tokay's and neither of them have these "Sacks". I've Seen little buldges near the underarea, and that is normal. But my most recent tokay is a juvi, and when i braught her home, she was very timid and stressed from the ride, and i was able to pick her right up but now, she runs if i try to get close. I actually had to clean the tank this past weekend and she had her mouth wide open and just made her croaks. This is all normal, actually expected. If your tokay isn't so aggressive, you've got 1 in a million =]

 

[TokayKeeper]

If the sacs are uniform in shape/size and positioned behind the ears, along the neck they are most likely endolymphatic sacs.

This is a photo of a female Phelsuma kochi from Tony Gamble showing her enlarged endolymphatic sacs. The endolymphatic sacs serve as a calcium storage location and are commonly seen in various day gecko species. My first female tokay (circa 1997) developed them, but my recently deceased female never had visual excess development. It's fairly normal and nothing to really worry about.

 

[beezy]

If the sacs are uniform in shape/size and positioned behind the ears, along the neck they are most likely endolymphatic sacs.

This is a photo of a female Phelsuma kochi from Tony Gamble showing her enlarged endolymphatic sacs. The endolymphatic sacs serve as a calcium storage location and are commonly seen in various day gecko species. My first female tokay (circa 1997) developed them, but my recently deceased female never had visual excess development. It's fairly normal and nothing to really worry about.

ok thanks...will they ever go away?...ive had her for about a year now and shees always had them since i got her and still does

 

[T-ReXx]

Calcium sacs are a GOOD thing. It shows that the animal is getting adequate calcium. They will reduce in size after egg laying or a reduction of calcium in the diet, but you should strive to maintain them.