Jump to content

Tokay saves Tokay


Ozymandias

Recommended Posts

Beautiful!

I was thinking about getting a Tokay for nearly a year. I wasn't sure if I had the space for its care requirements(I have plenty of roaches for it :lol:). Today, one was given to me by the owner of a local exotics shop. :D

It was love at first bite. :wub::rolleyes: So, I decided to make the space for my new gecko. It's bites weren't as bad as I thought and it seemed to calm down when I had it covered with my hands, while the employee got a container to put it in. He was getting bit by a few geckoes while he showed me some others that I could choose from, but I liked the one that I first handled.

I hope that it acclimates well and will eat many roaches that need culling.

I would also like to try to tame it, if it doesn't get too stressed with handling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful!

I was thinking about getting a Tokay for nearly a year. I wasn't sure if I had the space for its care requirements(I have plenty of roaches for it :lol:). Today, one was given to me by the owner of a local exotics shop. :D

It was love at first bite. :wub::rolleyes: So, I decided to make the space for my new gecko. It's bites weren't as bad as I thought and it seemed to calm down when I had it covered with my hands, while the employee got a container to put it in. He was getting bit by a few geckoes while he showed me some others that I could choose from, but I liked the one that I first handled.

I hope that it acclimates well and will eat many roaches that need culling.

I would also like to try to tame it, if it doesn't get too stressed with handling.

It wont stress out much unless you really squeeze it too hard. Is it a male or female? I feed mine culled dubia, superworms, earthworms, f/t pinky mice, crickets, grasshoppers, and just about anything else really. I posted in another thread here in reptiles section before seeing this thread....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It wont stress out much unless you really squeeze it too hard. Is it a male or female? I feed mine culled dubia, superworms, earthworms, f/t pinky mice, crickets, grasshoppers, and just about anything else really. I posted in another thread here in reptiles section before seeing this thread....

Yep, I am also thread hopping. :lol:

I am just so excited about my new pet.

I have handled it a couple times already, and only actually held it when it was handed to me in the store.

I have alot of patience with creatures, and never grab them unless it is needed to prevent escape.

When I handle, I take my time and place a hand in front of the animal,(even if it is opening it's mouth, which seems typical of the species)and gently try to move it under the chest until I can get it to grip me, then I cover it with my other hand, like a hide, and remove it from the enclosure. It takes time, but I believe it will come to trust me more readily if I try to never restrain it. If it takes off, I just start the process all over again. It upsets me to see the stressed look that some lizards(anoles can look real bad) get when they are exausted from being restrained.

When I was a child, I thought that my exausted and stressed anoles were tamed because they would hold on to me when I brought them all over the neighborhood. I feel terrible about the way I treated our local creatures, even if it was out of love for them. :(

I am trying to teach my lizard loving daughter to do the same as I now do. But, like mother, like daughter, she just won't stop grabbing those wild anoles. <_< It drove my mother nuts when I used to do that, but she was afraid of them and only told me to leave them alone. I will try to encourage patient handling and allow her to keep some as pets, so she won't have to sneak them in. :lol:

I have no idea what gender it is. It seems to be able to lighten and darken its color. It is now a dark bluish grey with the orange and some white spots. Yesterday, when I first handled it, it seemed to be a lighter bluish grey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea what gender it is. It seems to be able to lighten and darken its color. It is now a dark bluish grey with the orange and some white spots. Yesterday, when I first handled it, it seemed to be a lighter bluish grey.

If yoiu can get it to eat bugs from your hand, it will never (almost) bite again. My best two I give large roachhes to by holding onto the end of th roach with index and thumb, and they will snatch it up or even crawl onto my arm to wait while I get another with my other hand.

They are like mood rings. Brighter color= happy gecko= darker color = less happy gecko. Do whatever makes them brighter colored. I found that alot of people let them get too cool for too long and they get darker/unhappy.

On thier belly side, just above the vent, if it is a male there is a line of what appear to be larger scales with a hole in the middle of each scale in the line. These are called 'femoral pores' (referring to the musculature from the femurs) and males have them obvious, females either wont have them or they are very small. I will try to post a photo of each to compare yours by if you like. Males also tend to be blue-er and females tend to have a turquoise or olive cast, or be lighter. Again I'll try to get a photo which says 1000 words....

I started with one from a pet shop, then bought a mate for it at a reptile show, and now have 9 adult offspring and several juveniles of various ages, periodically I give them away to gecko dealers/sellers or friends,acquaintences, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...