New Article on Tokay morphs

T-ReXx · #1 08-12-2009, 01:47 AM

Anyone else see the article featuring tokay morphs in the Sept 2009 issue of reptiles? Kevin from New England Reptiles wrote it, seems pretty good, and there are some spectacular shots of some of the morphs their working with. It seemed a bit centered on taming/handling tokays, which I think is kind of off target as I don't really consider tokays a hands on species, even though I have several tame CB adults that are quite impressive. I'd have liked to see more info on breeding, but I suppose I'll take what I can get. Theres mention of a codominant green morph, that's exciting. And the Super Reds are beautiful. Just thought I'd point it out.

About time tokays started getting some positive press in the mainstream reptile world!

**Riverside Reptiles** · #2 08-12-2009, 09:38 AM

I don't really consider any of my geckos to be "hands on"...not even the leos that I have. I can handle any of my animals when needed, but I don't make any attempt to "tame" any of them. They're not domestic animals and IMO do better without the stresses of someone trying to grab at them all the time. In any case, like you said, it is good to see tokays get some recognition. My first gecko was a tokay when I was a kid. He was a huge wc male and mean as sin. But he was so cool and certainly instrumental in developing my passion for herps. I'd love to see more people in the hobby start captive producing them as it's really a shame to see that they're still, 20 years after I got my first one, being sold as $10 cheap wild caught pet store animals. They deserve better.

holocaustto · #3 08-12-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverside Reptiles

".... it's really a shame to see that they're still, 20 years after I got my first one, being sold as $10 cheap wild caught pet store animals. They deserve better."

Couldn't agree more.
Here in Chile, you can only find WC Tokays and they cost around US$80.
I've only seen one CB Tokay for sale, but was about us$140.
...and don't even think about morphs, I'm talking about "normals".

Matt K · #4 08-12-2009, 10:50 AM

My thoughts exactly! My second gecko was (a pair of) Tokays. Never handled them but they are naturally colorful and impressive in size...cool animals.

Ophidiophile · #5 08-12-2009, 04:17 PM

It's a pretty good article though it doesn't even scratch the surface of the various color and pattern variants that are out there. But it's great to see Tokays get some good press. Like others have said, I really don't handle my Tokays unless needed, though I am trying to handle some of my cb babies to see if they can be tamed down somewhat.

BlakeDeffenbaugh · #6 08-12-2009, 10:00 PM

I picked it up the first weekend of August but just now go around to checkin it out. Kev is bringing a lot to the Gecko side of the reptile community but as T-Rex said hes focusing on being able to tame the animals down. I think taming them down takes away from their personality.

Like Ophi said he didnt even put pictures of half of his morphs in there lol.