tokay's can't climb glass?? HELP

tokaygeckoz · #1 01-09-2010, 04:35 PM

okay first of all i have owned two tokays and have one right now its a male, i have proper substrate and humidity levels are were they should be, i have been keeping the gecko for about five years, they have both been tamed i mist there tank etc...etc. my problem is my male tokay gecko can't climb glass or walls? and its feet turn brownish? not white like there toe pads should be? ( like when you see pictures of them ), before you ask..... YES, they shed all skin off there feet always after there shed is over. when there shed is over, they can climb for about one day, before there feet get "dirty" ( a light grey brown color ) and the next day there slipping off the walls and off there glass cage. I'm aware there toe pads self clean themselves while the geckos walk, but that doesn't happen in our case. also the substrate isn't dirt or anything its just coco fiber with a mix of moss so nothing gets stuck into there toes. i need to let them climb again.... please can someone tell me why this is happening!!!!!!! i have looked EVERYWERE and downloaded links and read so many things about geckos feet. but i found nothing about my problem??? if you can be the person to let me know why this happens.......i would very much appreciate it.

**Riverside Reptiles** · #2 01-09-2010, 06:38 PM

Is there any stuck shed on his toes? lol

Did you clean the glass recently? The residuals left from various cleaners often will not only keep them from being able to climb, they can be quite deadly as well.

tokaygeckoz · #3 01-09-2010, 07:28 PM

no there is no skin/shed left on his toes, and funny you should ask i spot cleaned the hole entire tank one week before i bought him, any dried residue was completly cleaned off. also i never had a gecko with shedding problems. do you have any idea what could be wrong?

**Graham_s** · #4 01-09-2010, 09:24 PM

how do you heat the vivarium? could he have burned his feet on a lightbulb? That would account for the darkened skin on the feet and the inability to climb.

tokaygeckoz · #5 01-09-2010, 11:12 PM

good thinking.... REALLY, but the lamp is an over head lamp and is blocked off by wire mesh plus the same thing happened to my other tokay about 1 month ago when i was using a under tank heater. however that's good thinking though, but it just can't be the case. i thought it could possibly be the oil from my skin/hands because i always handle him and i always handled the other tokay gecko. I'm still stumped? i had a golden gecko a few years back it could climb walls fine given i didn't handle it, but the tokay gecko's just can't grip the wall? it's like there's dirt etc blocking there seta hairs from attaching to anything. i would think that would be a legitimate reason ( skin oils ) they can't climb and it would explain the dirty toe pads, but then again it wouldn't at all, considering there's other geckos out there that people handle and there toe pads would be doing the same thing?

**Riverside Reptiles** · #6 01-10-2010, 12:13 AM

I would re-clean the glass thoroughly with hot water with just a small amount of vinegar mixed in. And I would give him some good vertical branches and other stuff that he can get himself up off the floor with in the mean time. Check for any hot spots in the enclosure to make sure he can't burn his feet on anything. And then just leave him alone for a few days and see what develops.

hquintero1980 · #7 01-10-2010, 11:12 AM

I had the same problem with my Day Gecko and I could never figure it out till it was a bit to late.

It turned out that it was a shedding problem, and the substrate had hardened between his old shed and his new skin layer.

I wish I could have figured out a way to prevent this but at the end the stress of not being able to climb in hides and being grounded was to much.

I was only able to find visual evidence once spider rico passed because I went over his body to examine so I dont make the same mistake.

Not sure if this will help, but I would go straight to a exotic vet because being ground can really stress out your gecko.

at least my experience, hope it help some how.

tokaygeckoz · #8 01-10-2010, 11:33 AM

well the thing is though that both gecko's shed there skin off there toes completely, and there is never any skin residue left on them they just start to get dirty after about a day or two. like i said in my first post there feet will be fine for about a day or so and they will be able to climb fine, after a day or two they start slipping. its not just the glass that he can't walk on its walls as well, but he likes to hide in ether his bark hut thingamabob or his rock area. he has branches ( he like's a lot ) as well as leaves/vines and trees that he uses so he can always be elevated from the substrate. both the geckos don't seem upset really? nor do they seem stressed, because everything else they can climb, just not super smooth surfaces? oh well..... I'll try to leave him alone for a couple days, thanks for trying guys.

**Riverside Reptiles** · #9 01-10-2010, 11:45 AM

The only other thing that I can really think of off the top of my head is stress. When I adopted my tokays and first brought them home, one of the females couldn't climb for a few days. But then after a few days she got over it and was just fine again.

tokaygeckoz · #10 01-10-2010, 11:56 AM

well i did just buy it? so yeah, but then again why would the other tokay i had for 4 years not be able to climb, there's no way that other gecko could have been stressed for 4 years lol, but i know that's not what your saying and we are not even talking about that gecko. maybe if i yell at it and tell it to climb, REALLY LOUD! what do you guys think? that should work right.