whats everyone feeding there Tokays

postskunk · #1 06-14-2010, 11:15 AM

Just wondering what everyone is feeding there tokays. Mine has a healthy looking body structure but he's in no way stocky. I dont want him to be over weight but I would imagine if I put some meat on him he would be a little less jumpy. I feed him about 10 or 12 3/4 crickets 3-4 times a week. I bought some big horn worms on Saturday and he goes crazy for them, he smacks them against the glass so hard I was worried he was going to knock himself out lol. I really dont want to feed him pinkys and horn worms are about the same price, anyone have any thoughts on this?

thanks
-Matt

**Riverside Reptiles** · #2 06-14-2010, 12:03 PM

Matt, tokays will eat just about anything alive. They're not picky at all. They'll also in general eat readily out of a gladware type plastic bowl. Just place it close to a wall so it's easy for them to climb in to.

I find that large dubia roaches do a great job of filling them up. And B. lateralis roaches are good for mental stimuli and exercise because they're fast. Pinkies are nothing but fat. Crickets are fine. Various worms are fine. As usual, a varied diet is best. But for a staple, I stick mainly to a dubia/lateralis combo.

postskunk · #3 06-14-2010, 04:51 PM

thanks Ethan,
I been hesitant on the whole roach thing for a while mainly because of imagining them taking over my house but I think I just need to suck it up and go for it. the local pet store sells deathhead roaches and hissing roaches so ever now and then I'll bring a few home for my larger geckos but I haven't taken the plunge at a show to grab a large quantity.
-Matt

**Riverside Reptiles** · #4 06-14-2010, 05:43 PM

Matt, I live in southern Va where it's warm and fairly humid much of the year and even after 5+ years of breeding roaches, I still haven't gotten infested. Dubia get to be a nice size and would really fill your tokay and your leachie up. On the other hand, B. lateralis are great for your tokay and a lot of the other species that you're keeping like your felinus, uroplatus and knobtail. If you decide to go w/ lateralis, I'd suggest The Bug Pros. I've been doing business w/ them since they started and always had great service, quality, and the best prices.

postskunk · #5 06-14-2010, 07:51 PM

Ethan I think you've convinced me, I'm gonna grab a few of those side sliding top cages and order some. I might need to silicone some questionable spots on some of my tanks but if it will make my geckos healthier and happier I'm in. They really are cheap, and (I know these types of things get sensationalized) with the thing that's killing off the crickets it's a good time for me to switch anyway. thanks for the link, the info and the vote of confidence.
-Matt

actually one more thing you would probably know. every time I look at the pictures of the Tokays on the NERD website they very very beefy. I'm guessing that it's because there breeders but is that something I could shoot for very gradually or is that not in the best interest of my gecko. I really don't know what an adult tokay should look like in terms of girth, I know there a lot of people out there that want them because they can get so huge and I'm a little guilty of this myself but not if it is going to compramise the health of my gecko.

**Riverside Reptiles** · #6 06-15-2010, 10:44 AM

Matt, In my opinion there seems to be two distinct body types of tokay. The really bulky, heavy boned ones. And the more slender type. My assumption is that they come from different locales. If yours is meant to be big and bulky, it'll grow in to that over time. There's no need to force it. I really am not a fan of feeding pinkies and such to fatten animals unless it's truly an animal in need (ie very thin wc just off the boat or egg laying female that's lost lot's of weight during the breeding season).

Matt K · #7 06-15-2010, 11:11 AM

I have been feeding my current Tokays Blaptica dubia roaches, superworms, sometimes crickets, other roach species, and the occasional baby mouse (after a snake refused to eat from going into shed or something). The tokays I have had since the day they hatched and have grown into nice monsters, hopefully not too long to reproducing....

postskunk · #8 06-15-2010, 04:09 PM

thanks again for the info Ethan and Matt too. I want to say this for the record, I'm not trying to turn my tokay into a prize sow I wouldn't purposely make him into a blob or try for that matter I was just wondering what peoples take on how fat is obese as apposed to big boned healthy

. And Ethan I also don't want you to think I'm taking offense to your comment either you have been extremely helpful, sometimes I just like to throw a disclaimer in a post when dealing with a touchy subject so my words don't get taken out of context.
thanks again guys
-Matt

Morke · #9 06-15-2010, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverside Reptiles

Matt, In my opinion there seems to be two distinct body types of tokay. The really bulky, heavy boned ones. And the more slender type. My assumption is that they come from different locales. If yours is meant to be big and bulky, it'll grow in to that over time. There's no need to force it. I really am not a fan of feeding pinkies and such to fatten animals unless it's truly an animal in need (ie very thin wc just off the boat or egg laying female that's lost lot's of weight during the breeding season).

That's an awesome explanation, thanks a lot.
Talking about food, I have a pair of tokays in very big tank. The male has NEVER eat anything but Dubias and a small mouse very other month. He won't eat zophobas or crickets.
The female, on the other hand, never touches the dubias and prefer crickets instead.