Tokay gecko

[dfourer]

I have had a single Tokay for a year now. She(he?) rarely shows herself. I never see her eat, though she has fattened up on roaches, grown larger, and molted. If I could see her, she would be a better pet. She is skittish. Even at night she will hide if someone comes into the room or turns on a light. I'm getting real tired of keeping this invisible animal. Is there anything I can do?

I've had a vivarium with plants and also one without. Both were tall and full of things to climb on. I have used heaters in the winter to keep temperature up.

 

[T-ReXx]

I have had a single Tokay for a year now. She(he?) rarely shows herself. I never see her eat, though she has fattened up on roaches, grown larger, and molted. If I could see her, she would be a better pet. She is skittish. Even at night she will hide if someone comes into the room or turns on a light. I'm getting real tired of keeping this invisible animal. Is there anything I can do?

I've had a vivarium with plants and also one without. Both were tall and full of things to climb on. I have used heaters in the winter to keep temperature up.

That's just the way most tokays are. I have 8, and only 3 of them are even remotely interested in being regularly visible, and that's only because they're moderately tame, captive bred adults I've had for years. If you want to observe your gecko use a red or blue light at night and sit quietly by the cage. Even then she may not be interested in being visible. It may be that she's just a exceptionally skittish animal, and you'll just have to accept her for what she is.

 

[dfourer]

Do you keep them in a very large enclosure? I have always been interested in the behavior of animals, but for many it seems that any enclosure is too small to observe much. On the other hand, if it's large, they may be too hard to find.

My little tree frogs will hop round looking for food every night, and also take bugs from my hand or from the end of a stick.

 

[T-ReXx]

Do you keep them in a very large enclosure? I have always been interested in the behavior of animals, but for many it seems that any enclosure is too small to observe much. On the other hand, if it's large, they may be too hard to find.

My little tree frogs will hop round looking for food every night, and also take bugs from my hand or from the end of a stick.

I keep my adult tokays in pairs in custom built cages 24 in long X 36 in high X 18 in deep. Plenty of space to from territories and they all show fairly normal behavior patterns. Tokays are pretty big and active, so I prefer to offer enough space while still maintaining a size that's fairly easy to keep clean.