how many crikets?

bawner00 · #1 11-03-2009, 10:59 AM

hey[b], i'm just so happy, my tokay had just started to eat well, yesterday I put 7 crikets in the enclosure and it took her les than 3 minutes to eat them all, it seems she got used to the enclosure, seems more relaxed to me, im feeding her every other day with 7 crikets, is this fine or she need to be fed daily less crikets, or what? any advice, she is about 9-10 inches long, thanks!!!

NathanSoto · #2 11-03-2009, 03:37 PM

mine usually eat 8-10 every other day and they are doing perfect so i think what your should be good you could try a few more if you want.

Biotechman · #3 11-03-2009, 06:13 PM

That sounds about right. I have a big male, and feed him twice weekly.

tokeh · #4 11-04-2009, 04:26 AM

is he or she a young one?
when they are young they may eat as much as they can. so you probably may give them more.
try to give them a wide varriety of food .
a pinky once or twice in a month will also be appreciated by them.
same for the little grass hoppers. these you can give them a lot more

ILoveMyTokay · #5 11-04-2009, 12:24 PM

I have a female who is 10.5 inches long, and I try to feed her six crickets daily. I was doing 10 crickets every other day, but as she seems very happy in her tank (despite her "hands where I can see them at all times" attitude), my fiance upped her to 6 crickets everyday which she hunts and eats happily. However, if there are any crickets that are left at bedtime, we remove them from her tank so as not to disturb her, so keep that in mind.

Negator · #6 11-30-2009, 10:45 AM

My female tokay is almost stopped eating, never saw her hunting so had to give her food manually but still she refuses. Male is happy with 10 crickets per week and he's large with that. I can't imagine how they could eat 7 daily if my male is healthy with 10 per week.

tokeh · #7 11-30-2009, 11:50 AM

@ negator

mine are eating much less and they do well.
depends on the size of the crickets and the tokay.
my female doesn't eat much either and it doesn't help when i try to hand feed her.
they just eat when they feel like it and thats fine with me.

Saille · #8 12-04-2009, 03:54 PM

I think with any insectivore, variety is a good thing, aside from crickets, you could try roaches (I have two species I feed to my Tokays and they'll each take down about 10-12 roaches per feeding) and hornworms or silkworms. My Tokays love everything I put in there, and I even give them some Crested Gecko diet to eat if they feel like it. If they don't eat it, usually the insects gutload themselves on it anyways.

ILoveMyTokay · #9 12-08-2009, 09:17 AM

@Negator
Samara enjoys hunting daily, but we are keeping her steady on a diet of 6 per day. A lot of people feed less and their tokays are happy, Samara came from a neglectful situation (although the owners intentions were certainly good). I think a lot of her eating habits now are developed from going weeks without food.

**Riverside Reptiles** · #10 12-08-2009, 10:04 AM

Tokay are voracious feeders in general. I feed mine quite a bit. I don't worry too much about leaving extra feeder insects in the enclosure with them since the tokays don't spend much time on the ground and can simply climb up the wall out of the reach of any feeders. Tokay DO NOT need pinkies...period. Unless you have a very underweight tokay that needs to be fattened up, it is completely unnecessary to feed them pinks. Pinkies are almost nothing but pure fat. I'm not sure what it is that people find so compelling about feeding their geckos pinkies.