[cantilxcotton]

I have had my Tokays for around a year now. They are housed in a 30 gallon tall. My male is CBB, and my female was a WC rescue. I had her housed in a Kritter Keeper while working towards feeding habits for her. I got her into the routine of eating mealworms out a bowl/hand/tweezers. Once I had some weight on her, I placed her in the large Viv. I included a divider in the middle of Viv in order to get more weight on the female before breeding. I always placed food bowls against the sides of the divider hoping to get them somewhat used each other. The divider is ventilated, and transparent. After about 2 months, they both got used to the cage, and both got into the routine of going to their food bowls adjacent each other with the divider in the middle. Once they got comfortable that way, occasionally they would do a very low cackle at each other. Usually lasting about 15 seconds per cackle. The female has always been more vocal. I tried paying attention to see if I got any defensive or aggressive vocalization. But I have yet to hear what I would believe to be defensive or aggressive. I've listened to alot of vocal recordings. Defensive ones, aggressive ones, breeding ones. And so far from what I have heard via the net, I think the cackle they were making at each other was simply saying, "Hey, how are you?" After being housed together with the divider between them for several months, I finally got enough weight on the female to feel comfortable introducing them. The female is currently 160+grams, and my male is 200+ grams. I removed the divider one morning. Later that day I went to check on them (6pm) I discovered that the female had left her preferred hide on her side, and had moved to the male's preferred hide, and was laying right beside him. Since the introduction, they always sleep together. They also feed together from the same bowl. Typically taking turns. I honestly believe they have formed a pair bond. I am extremely happy with them, and that they get along so well. I hope to be getting eggs from them in the next month or so. I plan to try the same trick I used with my White Lines, placing toilet paper rolls in the Viv so I can remove the eggs and incubate them. OK, so I will shutup now and show some pics.

This is a front shot of the Viv. Please forgive the bareness....I have since added a ton of plants, and it looks MUCH better. This is just so you can see the divider.


This is were they now sleep together. Female is on the bottom, and the male is on top.


This is the female. This is when she was still under weight a bit.


This is the male when I first got him. This pic that was taken right out of the shipping box.


This is the male again.


Male


Male


Male


This is my Melenistic? femlae.

[fickle]

nice tokays they look astounding nice pics too

[Saille]

Man I love these pics of your Tokays. Thank you for documenting how you introduced them and got them used to each other, that is extremely helpful!

[springtech]

Originally Posted by Saille

Man I love these pics of your Tokays. Thank you for documenting how you introduced them and got them used to each other, that is extremely helpful!

Yeah thats amazing... Good work man

[squamata]

very cool/interesting. i hope to find my female a male too soon. congrats on your pair. they are beautiful.

[cantilxcotton]

Yea, I was worried about introducing them. I didn't want alot of fighting or bickering. SO I thought I would try out the divider thing. What I used for the divider, I bought it at any pet store in the fish exp. dept. It is actually used in fish aquariums to separate fish. If you have a flat lid for your rep tank, you can use it too. Sometimes there is alitttle space left between the top of the divider and the lid, but with a *typical* screen lid, you can place a box in the middle of the lid right about the divider to void that space. You know, now that I think about it, I wonder if this would work with *bonding* leachie pairs. Its gives them plenty of time to get to know one another without actual contact. SO you can avoid those bites. And just maybe, once they get past that maybe it would be easier to bond up pairs that have been tough in the past. I think the divider for my 30 gallon was $10.