[firstorbit84]

Hi there everyone. I've had a Tokay gecko for about 4-5 months now and I absolutely love her. I'm in the process of building a new bigger 28gal enclosure as she's only in a tiny 10gal right now. I've been assembling stuff for the new vivarium setup and I decided to go with a regular people's cool mist humidifier on a timer and duct the wet air into the cage instead of a mister specifically for reptiles.

Anyway, I've had the humidifier going for a few weeks now and it keeps the cage nice and moist without having to spray so often. Except now, for the past few days, my lizard has been sitting at the bottom of the cage on the substrate instead of stuck to the glass by the light as usual. Before she went completely on the floor, I noticed that one of her front feet had a hard time gripping the glass, like she was only holding by three feet. She's also a really dark color like she's pissed off all day. I checked to see if she's still responsive by sticking my gloved hand down near her face and she still snaps at it if i get too close. At night she gets up on the branch as usual and turns back to her lighter normal color.

I might try taking her out and giving the cage a good cleaning later and changing the filter on the humidifier. Then I'll see if her color turns back while in the holding cage during cleaning, and try hand feeding her there. Or maybe I'll turn the humidifier off for a few days, go back to spraying and see what happens. Any other thoughts??

[Knobtailman]

Hello, do you know temperatures you have inside the enclosure? Does she have secure hiding spot to rest? Maybe the humidifier wets the glass so she is having trouble gripping the glass.

[cliff_f]

Well you said you keep the cage "nice and moist". That could be a problem. They only need misted once or twice a day and the cage needs a chance to dry out. It will not hurt them at all if you let the humidity drop down between mistings.

What kind of temps are in the cage? If you keep it to hot that might be a reason why she is down on the ground. trying to stay where it is cooler.

Also the reason she might be on the ground is becacuse she is getting ready to shed and she is having a hard time climbing on the glass.

[firstorbit84]

i asked a petsupermarket rep about it and she said that maybe the lizard hurt her foot. also the humidifier is on a timer with about 5-6 on/off cycles every day, so the humidity fluctuates between about 55% to 75% during the day with temps between 78 and 87 and at night the humidity gets up to about 80% with temps in the mid 70s to low 80s. there's never any condensation on the inside of the glass unless i spray it.

the good news is that the lizard seems to be back to normal. she's her normal color again and is stuck to the back of the glass again. i'm going to hurry up getting her new cage ready, as the pet store rep said she could have just been stressed because of the small terrarium she's in now.