Tokay female laid her first clutch of eggs, what now?

[Tamara]

Hi, we curentely keep 2 wc tokay females and one cb patternles male.

Now today i saw one of the females and she was much thinner then yesterday so i started searching and yes, she laid 2 eggs.

Only problem is that she sticked them in a corner of the thank where i can not see them or can not place a container over them to prevent them from destroying the clutch or eating the young when they hatch.

I have read about parental care in tokay's but i dont know if its the same in captivity and with multiple females.

What would you do in this situation?

Greetings , Kevin & Tamara.

 

[billewicz]

To be on the safe side, I'd remove the other female before she eats the eggs. Unless the females are siblings, she may eat them because they are not hers and female Tokay are very territorial over their males.

The other issue is the laying female may protect her eggs and bite the other female on the lower back. They have been known to break the other girls spine.

(Because the two females have been together for a long time you might get lucky,but it is not my experience.)

Now for the eggs. Is there other vertical hides in the enclosure? Of my 150 pairs of Tokay, none lay eggs on the glass or corners of the enclosure unless it is a single infertile egg and that's usually in the same place where they defecate.

Providing a couple of good vertical hides will give her better options to choose for a nest and egg laying site in which to brood their eggs and young.

In any event, you can just leave the eggs and the pair together. They will be fine with their own prodigy for at least 90 days after they hatch.

Good luck.

 

[Tamara]

Hi, there is plenty of hiding space for all 3 of them so that should not be the problem we think.
We are going to build a new tank for them because the lights are now inside the tank and its behind the cover of the light that she laid them.
Their tank is stocked with large branches and live plants so i dont now why she picked out that spot but we will seperate the other female just to make sure.
We saw our white lines protecting their clutch but the Tokays seem to be even more determind to protect their offspring.
The male does not let anyone even come neir the clutch.

Also at this time we keep :

2.2.1 Hemidactylus imbricatus
1.2.0 Gekko gecko
1.2.2 Gekko vitattus
1.3.0 Eublepharis macularius
1.1.0 Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis
0.1.0 phelsuma standingi
1.1.0 Ptychozoon kuhli
1.3.0 Correlophus ciliatus
1.1.0 Rhacodactylus Auriculatus
1.0.0 Mniarogekko chahoua (mainland)
1.1.0 Strophurus taenicauda
0.0.1 Uroplatus Henkeli
1.0.0 Uroplatus Lineatus

They al do very well and we breed with most of the mature couples we have.
Its just the first time since we put the male with the females that the tokays laid eggs.

We will try to post some photo's as soon as possible.
Greetings.

 

[billewicz]

Hello, I'd love to see photos of the set-up. Having lots of space with branches and plants is not the same as creating a good nesting area. They really like the space between layers of vertical slabs. Like slate and cork bark. From your description, she may have found the only protected place behind the lamp reflector.



Also, if you tear down the enclosure now, she will most likely stop laying eggs. It is mating season and she will drop another pair 28 days after the first set, and another set next month after that as well if left undisturbed.

I'd just add some vertical nesting options to the existing set-up. Also, the other girl may lay as well so give her the same options in her own enclosure too.



Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Tamara]

Thanks again for this info.
It really made a big difference and thanks to that yesterday our first baby hatched... :yahoo:
We really ow you some pics of them and their setup now. ;-)
Grts. Kevin & Tamara.