Hey everyone, breeding questions...

[Paul112]

Hey, I'm new here but I've had my Tokay "Echo" for quite a few months now. Tokays have been a wishlist animal for me for quite a while, and I've been wanting to get a small breeding project going.

To give you a small idea of my experience, I've been keeping turtles for over a decade, and also keep a Columbian Rainbow Boa. I've bred fish, but haven't had a chance to breed reptiles yet, and since Tokays found in the UK are mainly WC, and don't get huge or too demanding, I thought they'd be a good start

Echo is what I believe to be a Female Tokay, the V shape above her cloaca has indented scales, not waxy ones. She is about 8" long all together, and about 5-6" Snout to Vent. She lives in a 30/40G Exo Terra, with lots of branches and logs, and a cocopeat substrate. I will be adding plants soon.

Here are a few pics:

Anyway, I've been looking for a male to breed her with, but the only place that seems to sell Tokays right now is my local pet store, and they're 2-3" smaller than Echo. I'm going away for a week or so to Prague, but if they are still instock when I get back, and one of them is a male, I will purchase it. Would a 6" male be alright with my 8" female? At what size are they ready to breed? Any other information?

Anyway yeah, this is just a sort of small introduction from me,
Thanks,
Paul.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Wow, you must have really snuck up on her to catch her with her pupil fully dialated in those two shots! Weight is more important than length in geckos, I'd weigh both, if the male's weigh is within 20 or so grams of her then I'd put him in, if not, I'd keep him separate for bit until he catches up.

 

[cliff_f]

I have never had any problems introducing a smaller male in with a female. Just like any introduction keep a close eye on them for a while.

 

[Ingo]

This is a fully adult very healthy looking female. Congrats.
Typically it is no problem to put a smaller male in. In fact, for very long, I was convinced that introducing two tokays of opposite sex to each other would never be problematic, even if size might differ significantly.

But I have to add a slight warning: I had a recent tragic case: A male wc tokay, which was paired to a female (cb bred by me) for 12 years died unexpectedly.
I waited for some months, till one of my current tokay offspring reached a resonable size. (This animal was not realted to the single female) Than I just put that young male (total lenght of 28 cm=11") into the 100g enclosure inhabited by the 8" long female.
This male previously was in a tank which could be seen from the females tank and was the one of my youngsters which called most frequently.
The next morning I found that young male dead on the floor of the enclosure, tailless and covered with bite marks.
Than I removed the female from the tank and put another young male in it. I left the female in quarantine for 2 months to let the new male feel at home. Finally I cooled down the room to 18°C and reintroduced the female.
This is now 4 months ago and the two get along well, and do sleep in the same hiding.
I repeat: I have introduced males to females and vice versa many times without any problems. This was the only case of problems-maybe it was due to the fact, that the female was paired - and bonded- so long to that older male.


BR

Ingo

 

[Paul112]

Thanks for the responses Some very good information there.

I'll ask the shop to catch their Tokay tomorrow, so I can check the scales above the Cloaca. If it's a male, I'll put a reserve on it and pick it up after my Prague trip, if it's female I'll just have to continue looking.

Thankyou for the comments on her health too. You may have noticed she has a regrown tail, thought I'd better point out this was the case when I got her. I chose her from a tank full because, although all the others seemed to have their original tails, she was the most healthy looking. Some of the others had retained shed and small injuries, or looked very skinny. She looked perfect size and condition otherwise, and I'd say the regrown tail gives her a bit of character

Best,
Paul

 

[Paul112]

Sorry for the double post, just to let you all know I checked out the Tokay at the store and from what I could tell through a plastic cricket tub, it seemed male. It looked like there was a sticky/waxy stuff above the cloaca, but it was hard to tell since it's a small gecko and there was plastic in the way. Anyway, I threw a £10 deposit on it, so I will pick it up a week tomorrow. It was a little bigger than I though, only about an inch smaller than Echo, so I'll just fatten it up a bit first then introduce them. Looked pretty healthy, original tail too, so it should be easy enough to tell them apart!

If it turns out to be another female, I can always set up a breeding trio when I find a male, right? I didn't want to leave it incase it did turn out to be a male, and have missed my chance.

Best,
Paul

 

[cliff_f]

If it turns out to be another female, I can always set up a breeding trio when I find a male, right? I didn't want to leave it incase it did turn out to be a male, and have missed my chance.

Best,
Paul

I have bred them in trios before but, in my experience tokays do so much better when you leave them in pairs. If you do try to set up a trio you really need to introduce everyone at once. Once a pair gets bonded it is really hard to put another female in with them in my experience. I personally stick with pairs when it comes to tokays.

 

[Paul112]

Well I'll only attempt a trio should this one turn out to be female too. If it's male I'll stick with the pair

Best,
Paul