social tokay?

Barnaby · #1 02-14-2009, 05:31 PM

Hi all!

I’m a proud owner of a 8-10 months tokay pair for a week now. They live in a 40 g (exoterra 24x18x24) with a couple of hides and lots of vegetation in my "laundry room". It’s a corridor-like division with big windows where I keep an aquarium, my washing machine (little further away), and a small refrigerator, in the back of the house.

I need an advice. I don’t want a tame tokay, I like them feisty... I’d just like to have a tokay that won’t run for his life everytime he sees me. I’d like to watch him hunt and do his bussiness like I’m not even there.

What can I do? Should I do my normal life like if they weren’t there (with the usual noise, lights on sometimes, people passing by, wich is not that much by the way,...) and expect them to get use to it with time? Or should I try and protect them from light (at night), noise, people...

Thanks!

crestedtimm · #2 02-14-2009, 07:23 PM

Hello,

Your Tokay will remain feral until you tame them. Just dont ever touch them and they will be sure to grow into real demons.

Seriously, they will stay feisty until you start taming them, so dont worry about that.

Best regards!

Barnaby · #3 02-14-2009, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crestedtimm

Hello,

Your Tokay will remain feral until you tame them. Just dont ever touch them and they will be sure to grow into real demons.

Seriously, they will stay feisty until you start taming them, so dont worry about that.

Best regards!

That's great, but I also want them not to be afraid of me. Right now they run for their hides if I touch the enclosure. I'd like for them to ignore me and even hunt while I'm there watching... Is this a natural process? Do I need to take any special measure?

I just want them to be relax enough around me to do something like this for example:

YouTube - Tokay Geckos eating

thanks.

cliff_f · #4 02-14-2009, 11:36 PM

Just got about your daily duty's and over time they will get used to you. Then eventually it wont run for its life when it realizes that you are not going to mess them every time you are around. Just be patient and they will get use to you. I would make a point of walking by the cage and not even stopping to look at them, then in time they will realize that you are not really any threat to them.

ReptileMan27 · #5 02-15-2009, 12:59 AM

My new big pair dont give two craps lol. They know with the huge size of them that if im dumb enough to mess with them that they will bite the crap out of me LOL.

Barnaby · #6 02-15-2009, 06:51 AM

thanks for the input!

Another thing... with time, can I turn on the lights (which are relatively weak in that room) when I feed them in the evening or they'll just eat in the darkness or with the night glo/infrared on?

Thanks!

cliff_f · #7 02-15-2009, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnaby

thanks for the input!

Another thing... with time, can I turn on the lights (which are relatively weak in that room) when I feed them in the evening or they'll just eat in the darkness or with the night glo/infrared on?

Thanks!

They will eat in the darkness. Most likely when they get use to you they will eat the second you throw crickets in the cage. I can feed mine in the middle of the day and they attack the crickets instantly.

Barnaby · #8 02-16-2009, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliff_f

They will eat in the darkness. Most likely when they get use to you they will eat the second you throw crickets in the cage. I can feed mine in the middle of the day and they attack the crickets instantly.

I had the impression that sometimes geckos could eat near a light since that's where bugs gravitate to in the night. At least the mourish gecko (I had dozens living in the walls near my old beach house) sometimes gets close to lamps to eat flying bugs...

cliff_f · #9 02-16-2009, 08:54 PM

They do eat near lights because like you said that is where the bugs tend to be. But before humans had alot of lights for bugs to hang around at, They ate by minimal light. I was basically trying to say in the previous post that you don't have to have lights on for them to eat.

Barnaby · #10 02-16-2009, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliff_f

They do eat near lights because like you said that is where the bugs tend to be. But before humans had alot of lights for bugs to hang around at, They ate by minimal light. I was basically trying to say in the previous post that you don't have to have lights on for them to eat.

Ah! I misundertood you, sorry... I thought you meant that they ONLY eat without lights on. I even prefer for them to eat with minimal lights instead of total darkness, that way I can see the "show"!

But for now I'll keep the lights off and the night glo on... they'll probably feel more secure...