Introducing a femaleTokay

[DeepSeaKitten]

Hello,

My Male tokay has been calling the last couple months (A LOT) and the other day, a friend of mine at the pet store I go to offered me one of his captive bred females- She is chubby and very healthy :biggrin:
I was wondering what the best way to introduce them would be. I have her in a smaller container at the moment with water and food. I showed her to him in the container and he attained instant stalker status. There was no aggression
I know I am supposed to keep her quarrentined for at least a month, but he has been in that cage solo for a long time now. Should I take him out and re-model the cage & introduce them at the same time like another website suggested, or would it be a better idea for me to finish out the quarrantiene and just introduce her into his territory as is???
Any advice would be helpful :cheer:

 

[XoVictoryXo]

(my novice advice as you wait for expert advice)
Finish out the quarantine. Changing environments is stressful for a territorial male, adding another gecko is double the stress. I would also do a fecal exam just in case she carries parasites- you do not want to detriment the health of your lovely pet.
Good luck!

 

[billewicz]

Hello,

So, I once trusted a seller that said the animal was captive bred and it was not. I introduced it to it's mate without a quarantine and lost two very expensive albino's. Lesson learned.

I like introducing them into a freshly cleaned, reset enclosure so there is no pre-established territory. With 300 Tokay here, it does not always work out that way.

Having said that, I'd say equal sized animals and at least two separate vertical hiding places are far more important that who was there first.

If they both have to share the same hide before they are ready, than there will be stress on the one of them, usually the female or the smaller Tokay.

Have fun,

Michael's Tokay Hoard

 

[DeepSeaKitten]

Thanks- Guys!

I'll get another hide a rock for the Female. I'll see hopefully everything works out

 

[billewicz]

I'll get another hide a rock for the Female. I'll see hopefully everything works out

Hide a Rock???

I'm not sure how you are setting these up. I'm only aware of this being used by ground loving animals horizontally as a hide. Usually on the bottom of the enclosure. So forgive me if I don't understand your set-up but I see this a lot so here goes the sermon, ........

Forcing Tokay to the ground is a death knell. Tokay must live on vertical walls and crevasses to enjoy life.

I know there are U-tube pieces showing Tokay housed under coconut hutches and half-hallow logs laying on the bottom of the enclosure. If this is the only hide provided, they will go there but they will fester and eventually die.

(I know this first hand because I unknowingly purchased an expensive Tokay collection of 14 animals kept like Leopard Gecko. Sadly they all died young because they were broken of their natural behavior to live on vertical surfaces.)

I've tried using the magnetic versions of these type hides on the sides of the enclosure and the Tokay don't like them either. Mostly they are just not long enough. Tokay don't really curl up their tails especially when they get older, so they can't curl into these type hides very well. Adults need at least 14" to 16" of vertical space from top to bottom in the hide. Mine are 18" to 24" for full grown Tokay.

There are several ways to create vertical hiding places. A curtain of hanging plastic plants just off the glass, cork bark tubes or PVC pipe leaning up on end, or my favorite; slate leaning against the sides of the glass and cork bark slabs leaning an inch or two off of that.

The gap between the two creates a nesting area that they will hang out in, lay eggs in and are visible from the front of the enclosure.

The basic idea is shown in the photo before all the other decorations are in place.

Have fun.

Michael's Tokay Hoard @ www.billewicz.com

 

[MC gecko]

It's not specified, but I think the male should be introduced into the female terrarium and not the opposite. Otherwise it could greatly stress the female, as in nature it's the male who goes in search of females.

If ever I'm wrong, someone can correct me.

Mathieu Bigras

 

[DeepSeaKitten]

The hide a rocks are vertical & have magnets built in to them so they can be mounted against the terrarium glass I have ledges and one that even holds water dishes!!! The only things on the ground are paper towels & large sticks that are vertical in the cage and a giant feeding dish

 

[T-ReXx]

It's not specified, but I think the male should be introduced into the female terrarium and not the opposite. Otherwise it could greatly stress the female, as in nature it's the male who goes in search of females.

If ever I'm wrong, someone can correct me.

Mathieu Bigras

Actually tokays in the wild are the opposite. Males hold a territory and females come, lay eggs, and leave again. The male guards the eggs and young. So introducing a female to a male's territory is more natural.

 

[billewicz]

Actually tokays in the wild are the opposite. Males hold a territory and females come, lay eggs, and leave again. The male guards the eggs and young. So introducing a female to a male's territory is more natural.

... and we've seen family units that have several related females all nesting/laying in the same place. Double strings of 24 to 30 eggs are not uncommon.

 

[MC gecko]

Actually tokays in the wild are the opposite. Males hold a territory and females come, lay eggs, and leave again. The male guards the eggs and young. So introducing a female to a male's territory is more natural.

Ok thanks a lot for that information T-Rexx and sorry for my mistake.