Tokay Coloration vs. Mood

Emily

New member
So, sometimes my tokay is dark dark blue/gray with orange spots. And other times he's baby *baby* blue with RED spots. Which coloration expresses comfort, and which expresses stress?
 

NathanSoto

New member
I heard that this could be different between the sexes but with mine and others ive seen typically dark means stressed and light means comfort or happiness.
 

holocaustto

New member
It's kind of confusing for me.
Normally during day mine is very light... and sometimes as I get into the room, he turns dark. So I associate it with stress or uncomfort. Somedays he stays longer with dark coloration and suddenly becomes lighter. After eating he normally becomes lighter.
BUT, during night, during his most active hours, he's kind of dark too and seems pretty happy. So I guess it isn't that simple...
 

Sanchez

New member
If your pet isn't hiding , then it should be darker , because dark things are gettin warm much faster than light things ... My friend has 1.1 phelsuma grandis, he says that they are always dark in the morning. We all know that in terrarium our pets doesn't get warm if they are darker, but that is how reptiles think :).
 

tokeh

New member
tokay's do not warm up by sun light so the color has nothing to do with warming up.
at night they are dark because its dark out side , when they are dark during the day its means they are stressed. when they are light during the night it could mean they want to impress a female or warn other tokay or animals they are to close
 

holocaustto

New member
tokay's do not warm up by sun light so the color has nothing to do with warming up.
at night they are dark because its dark out side , when they are dark during the day its means they are stressed. when they are light during the night it could mean they want to impress a female or warn other tokay or animals they are to close

I pretty much agree with you.
I think that's close to the coloration-behaviour relation.
 

ILoveMyTokay

New member
So then, the question that would spin off of this would be tips to "destressing" a tokay? For instance, our female tokay who is primarily always dark, day or night, but sometimes gets a more bluish hue shade. We have placed vines up the one wall to cover the only high traffic area she faces. We have done a lot of "sprucing up" of her tank, including sticks wider than her body's max width which she makes use of, a whisper quiet waterfall, the vines, natural plants and moss as well as two logs that she can hide beneath if she sees fit. So what would some other tips be to helping keep her calm and happy?
 

Emily

New member
One thing I have noticed is that my tokay is usually dark during the day, and light @ night. Makes sense when you see him during the day against the cork-bark background...he blends in pretty well. I wonder if it might have something to do with camoflauge? During the daytime they're sleeping and need to stay hidden from predators. And during the night, tokeh's theory comes into play: impress the girlies, and warn predators to stay away.
 

holocaustto

New member
One thing I have noticed is that my tokay is usually dark during the day, and light @ night. Makes sense when you see him during the day against the cork-bark background...he blends in pretty well. I wonder if it might have something to do with camoflauge? During the daytime they're sleeping and need to stay hidden from predators. And during the night, tokeh's theory comes into play: impress the girlies, and warn predators to stay away.

Im not sure...
It's the opposite for me.
Light during day, dark during night... but changes. This is just in general.
Camoflauge has something to do though I think...
 

Emily

New member
Im not sure...
It's the opposite for me.
Light during day, dark during night... but changes. This is just in general.
Camoflauge has something to do though I think...

Hmmm....those wacky tokays! They're like us women...you never know *what* we're feeling! :evil:
 

ILoveMyTokay

New member
Pffft, men wish they could determine our actual moods based off of our color. Their lives would be so much easier :) Or at least, they would know when they are walking into an ambush.
 

tokaysunlimited

New member
tokay's do not warm up by sun light so the color has nothing to do with warming up.
at night they are dark because its dark out side , when they are dark during the day its means they are stressed. when they are light during the night it could mean they want to impress a female or warn other tokay or animals they are to close

What are you basing this on??
 

cliff_f

New member
tokay's do not warm up by sun light so the color has nothing to do with warming up.
at night they are dark because its dark out side , when they are dark during the day its means they are stressed. when they are light during the night it could mean they want to impress a female or warn other tokay or animals they are to close

I am also curious to see what you are basing this on.
 

tokeh

New member
tokay live in their native habitat in forests and they are night active.
a tokay lives in warm countries and they don't need sunlight to warm up, if they would need sunlight they would be lyijng in the sun to warm up.
a tokay has natural colors that fit to their native surroundings.
tokays use their color changing (just like most reptiles) to show their mood.
when they calm their colors will fit to the background they are at.
if you have a lot of light colors in your viv they will be lighter that someone who has a dark viv.
a tokay that is sitting on a dark tree and is totally calm still will be dark nomather if its day or night.
this does not count for every animal as none is the same there all always exceptions.
this is not especially researched for tokay but for reptiles in general.
you can find it on internet. but have to do a lot of research.

but if anyone has an other opinion please let me know we are here to share and learn from eachother.
this is just what i've heard and red and doesn't mean it all true.
as soon as my home is finist i'm planning on having a lot of tokay in different surroundings and do a lot of sudy and research on them . there is to litle information about tokay and there is a difference in keeping/ breeding tokay and actually doing research on them.

sorry for my bad english:sad:
 
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Saille

New member
None of this makes sense to me, because my male, when sleeping, looks like a Halloween decoration, he gets so dark he's almost black with the orange spots. On the other hand, the female turns almost ghost white when sleeping. here they are snoozing together:
KanoodlingTokays_02.jpg


And when they're awake, (in mating mode here) this is what they looked like:

Tokay_sex_05.jpg


Sometimes the male is pale when sleeping as well, and sometimes the female is fired up a little darker.
They mystify me, thats for sure, but as long as they're eating, drinking, mating, climbing and are alert and active, I don't worry too much. :)
 

tokeh

New member
@ Saille
they look great.
and about their color????
i'm lost:roll:

your male is really dark looks almost like a morph???
 

holocaustto

New member
@ Saille
they look great.
and about their color????
i'm lost:roll:

your male is really dark looks almost like a morph???

Both look pretty similar on the 2nd pic, so.. no way that's a morph.
Actually mine looks that dark sometimes too.
 
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