What region is this Tokay gecko from?

[zuper8]

We were having a little fun with our female Tokay...

We played a couple of YouTube clips of Tokay gecko calls. The first few she did not react to at all. When we played THIS one, she became very animated and was looking for the gecko like crazy.

tokay calling - YouTube

So, first off we felt bad to tease her and turned it off. Secondly, I thought it was weird she reacted so noticeably to this clip and not others. I have read that Tokays have slightly different calls depending on what region they are from. Almost like a dialect. Do you guys find that to be the case, and if so, can you tell where this gecko is from? I am wondering if that is where my gecko came from too.

Also, maybe my gecko wants a mate... lol

 

[billewicz]

Great recording!

So, Tokay hail from SE Asia. Here is a good listing of all the countries and islands they can be found.
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Gekko&species=gecko

As far as what we see imported into the US pet trade, almost all have come from Indonesia. A few still come from Vietnam. I've even seen a few from the Philippines. Also, like most non-native reptiles that have landed in Florida, many are collected and redistributed back into the pet trade again. Again, most of these are from Indonesia originally.

Many years ago, Tokay came primarily from Malaysia, which shares a boarder with a part of Indonesia. Malaysia has not exported Tokay for several years.

As for the response to the different recordings, even a young male will start calling very young but it may not get the attention of an adult female like a big males' call. Big males have a deeper, louder voice and will call with more repetitions than a small, young Tokay.

A young male may only repeat the "toe-kay" or the "gek-ko" sound three or four times. A big male can belt out 15 to 20 repetitions within a call.

Obviously the differences are noticed by a choosy female.

Also, it is breeding season right now, and if it's raining with a low pressure weather condition where you are, she will be very receptive to a males' calling as compared to a dry, high pressure day.

 

[zuper8]

Thanks for the info, that's so cool! So the other recordings must have been young or unattractive geckos. Maya is choosy haha!! And you know what, it was pouring rain last night. She got really excited to find that gecko, we had to put her back in her house because she got so jumpy. Maybe one day I will find her a nice gecko boy.

 

[billewicz]

Thanks for the info, that's so cool! So the other recordings must have been young or unattractive geckos. Maya is choosy haha!! And you know what, it was pouring rain last night. She got really excited to find that gecko, we had to put her back in her house because she got so jumpy. Maybe one day I will find her a nice gecko boy.

Just post a want ad in the classifieds, there are several breeders her on the forums.
Enjoy!

 

[Dachindae]

Because I was curious what my female would do if she heard this, I played it for her and she got MAD. There is also a possibility that she could be a he, but I haven't gotten to check the plumbing very much.
Here's what she looked like when I played the video that was linked above. She had come out of the tube at the bottom and was moving around.

 

[cassicat4]

Interestingly, I just listened to this video yesterday during a random YouTube search as I was looking for a vid of a Tokay calling to show a friend. For the last few days, I've heard the "eh-eh-eh-eh" sounds that occur just before the "toe-kay" call coming from one of my Tokay tanks. Being that I have two males, one adult, one sub-adult, I figured it was one of them. Nope, turns out my one year old female has been making the noise. I only figured this out because I had her on me last night (had been holding one of my males earlier) and she started making the noise, and was puffing up and being very bizarre. And yes, she's definitely female. Now I don't know whether this is an indication of annoyance/defensiveness on her part (possibly after catching the scent of the male), or a mating call?

Incidentally, I was playing this video while I had her out and she, too, was very interested in the sounds coming from it. Silly gecko.

 

[billewicz]

Incidentally, I was playing this video while I had her out and she, too, was very interested in the sounds coming from it. Silly gecko.

Silly Gecko? So you're telling me you've never snapped your head around to see where that deep voice was coming from, and a get a glimpse to see what he looked like? :biggrin:

Just kidding, :lol: but really, female Tokay are very territorial and guarded about their males.:fight: And yes, right now is mating season for Tokay so the stakes are a lot higher in their world.

 

[cassicat4]

Silly Gecko? So you're telling me you've never snapped your head around to see where that deep voice was coming from, and a get a glimpse to see what he looked like? :biggrin:

Just kidding, :lol: but really, female Tokay are very territorial and guarded about their males.:fight: And yes, right now is mating season for Tokay so the stakes are a lot higher in their world.

Of course I have...and got the same response - "silly girl". :biggrin:

So she isn't too young to be calling out already? And she definitely isn't paired with anyone, but IS housed in close proximity to other males...

 

[billewicz]

Cute! Oh, and yes, the boyz are back, the boyz are back in town!

 

[zuper8]

cool, fun to read the other responses. cassicat, your gecko's behavior is very interesting to me because the "eh-eh-eh-eh" got much more of a reaction from my girl than the "to-keh". She likes that one best lol! so interesting females will make that noise too.

The first 0:55 of this video is pretty entertaining, it was one of the first times she heard the sound (don't mind the model horse collection )



Here is a clip of my gecko finding the source of the sound at last, she made her way from the tank to the computer to find that handsome geck