[Kita]

Do Tokays retain sperm like Crested Geckos? My female, Storm, is about to lay her third clutch in a row this season and I'd like to give her a break because I've had her for eight years and never bred her until now. I don't want to overload her since this is her first season and I don't even plan to breed her that much. I just wanted to make certain I got a daughter from her before she got old.

Would it be okay to cool the tank with the six eggs incubating? I was thinking about separating them for her break (thus the question on retaining), but now I'm worried about reintroducing them safely after reading old posts.

Speaking of which, I feel extremely lucky. I had found the male a few months ago for sale with another female and a few eggs incubating. Having always seen many animals in stores 'sharing' a tank, I thought they would be fine together. Storm ate the other female's eggs so she was getting chased by her.

I removed the other female to retire her from breeding (because her previous owners never gave her calcium suppliments and her spine is now deformed) and left Storm with the male. About a month and a half later she laid eggs. They never fought and neither have ever turned up with bites from the other.

Thanks in advance.

[Ophidiophile]

Tokays can retain sperm though I don't think anyone has studied exactly how many fertile clutches can result after breeding stops.. As far as cooling the tank with the eggs in it, whether or not the eggs will be affected depends on what temp you plan on cooling it to. My first clutch of Tokay eggs was in the mid 70's day and low 70s night and they hatched just fine but took about 10 days to two weeks longer to hatch than eggs I've incubated in the 80s day and upper 70s night. By the way, in my opinion, for a well-fed healthy tokay, I don't think three clutches in a row is really that much. Just my opinion.

[cliff_f]

As for separating them I highly discourage it. Once you get a bonded pair leave it that way. When you cool the tank a little they will stop breeding and she will be fine. I have had the same pair together for aprox 4-5 years with no problems at all. They were even together before I purchased this particular pair.

As for having other females in the tank it usually does not work out to well. One male one female and they will live happily ever after as a life long pair. Even in the wild the do not leave each others side once they pair. Just like a bad marriage (or good one i guess) you never leave your partner. Ok good marriage that was a bad joke.

[Kita]

I won't separate them then. I've had a window unit in my room keeping it a constant 75 because this years summer was too much for our a/c unit and the house was going from about 70 at night to almost 85 during the day. The changing was really hard on my Cresteds.

I don't really think 3 clutches is a whole lot either, but since she never breed her first 8 years I didn't want to let her start off breeding like a youngster. Thankfully Avalanche is also 8 years old so they won't outlive each other by too much and be stress when the other is gone. By that time they should both be retired anyways.

[cliff_f]

8 years is still young for a tokay. They still have a lot of breeding left in them if you keep them healthy. I have heard of Tokay's living for 16 years and breeding until their last year.

[Kita]

Thanks Cliff, I feel much better about that now. And I came home to Storm's 3rd clutch this morning! She took the pinky she refused yesterday quite readily! Avalanche is waiting on the other side of the tank so he can start guard duty again.