Tokay Gecko escaped

[drillman]

2 1/2 weeks ago I left the door to one of my enclosure open a little. When I came home I found that Rambo, my 140 gram male Tokay Gecko was gone. He was the one out of four baby that I had hatched. He is in the basement somewhere but it would be impossible to go through every box, shelf and junk. I've assumed that he would hang around the females enclosure since was always eye balling her from his enclosure. He would always be on the side closest to her cage. I've set up a security camera with infrared night vision. A Tokay Geckos eye glow bright white under infrared light. I've tried playing a mating call which would set off my other male upstairs. I've even set up a large plastic tub with 20-25 crickets in it hoping he will go after the crickets and not be able to get out if he falls in it. So far I haven't seen even the slightest glimpse of him. Not the slightest noise or call from him. He used to call when he was in his enclosure.
The basement is 85-80 degrees right now. I would like to find him before it starts to get cold. I live near Las Vegas which doesn't anywhere near as cold as most of the U S does. Does anybody have any secret way to catch him?

 

[billewicz]

This is my favorite late-night pass time. Here's a few things you can do to stake him out assuming he has not left the building. (In that case you can call him Elvis! Viva Las Vegas!)

As best you can, pull boxes and book shelves a few inches away from the walls. They LOVE cruzin' behind these things. Especially closest to the female enclosures. Leave the crickets on top of the, or just behind the enclosures. My loose Tokay like to sit on top, or on the back side of the glass enclosures of other Tokay.

If your basement is fairly dry, set up a water dish against the wall near the girls.

Start looking for droppings at the base of the walls. This is usually my first clue as to where they're hanging out.

Assuming you feed in the evening, you can let a couple loose near the poop sites, and turn off the lights. Then come back about 5 minutes later with a flash light. Start checking the poop site, then the enclosures. Also peek behind all the items you pulled away from the wall. Come back an hour or two later. Look all along the tops of the walls, enclosures, boxes, etc. They like to stay high up near the ceiling.

Wear gloves and don't take the flashlight off of him if you see him, he'll dart. In tight places I've had good luck with a big fish net from the aquarium shop. They do not seem to mind having the net slipped over them. I use a small one for tiny hatchlings instead of grabbing them so they don't drop their tails.

Check your weather for any storm fronts or barometer drop. The promise of rain may get him calling so be home especially early evenings and rain.

And here's the one that seems to work the best. Leave his enclosure door open with his usual setup. More often than not, I've had them come back home since it is his territory and favorite nesting site.

Good Luck!!!

 

[Shadow&Kitten]

With zero I had problems with having to hunt him. the nature of his enclosure is i can keep food going in and it cant get out only zero can. I gave up one night sealed the room so he could not leave it and just left his home waiting for him with all the service(food water heat). I found him the next morning in his enclosure waiting for his morning spray and snack (the 40 crickets I put in the cage to get him to come home were all gone) he was also giving a look that said "i am thursty i am hungry feed me now #@$%#" it was kinda cute and it was the first time I could not find a singel surviver. This was also the first time I actualy truly saw him eat a cricket. Its usualy I hear a "backoff" and then missing cricket. 3 crickets went in and lived a grand total of 75 seconds (the 3 crickets were part of his reguler schedualed mist and feed I do when I wake)

Also a good hunting tool is a biting rag the point is to make him bite the rag and then ake sure the rag "stays alive" and make sure there are no losse threds on the rag as they can be a choking hazard

To sum it up if hes established in his enclosure dening him acsess to his enclosure is stressing him out large how would you like it if some one locked you out of your house.

i can only speak really on the behalf of zero so my knolage is fairly limited

I hope you find him

 

[zuper8]

The past 2 times I let my gecko loose in the house, for a few days she was absolutely gone. No trace. Waited patiently, and she would always turn up walking around on the walls. Her hides would change occasionally, but they would all be between something and a wall. Fridge and the wall, bookshelf and wall, bath towel and wall, headboard and wall... I always thought she would go for the closets amongst all the stuff but nope, never found her in there.

We also left the top off her cage and let crickets loose in there.

The main thing that worked for me was to pretty much stop looking for her COMPLETELY so she didn't feel the need to hide. After the initial 3-day disappearance she relaxed and was never hard to find. you could maybe make sure there aren't any cabinet or closet doors closed on him, just in case he is stuck somewhere...

 

[billewicz]

OK, so a friend of mine had a handful of fresh, but very skinny imported Tokay get loose just outside his building last spring. So periodically over the summer, they would find a fat & happy Tokay hunting around the lights and recapture it.

It seems one of them had taken up residence under the hood of his truck. While driving down the highway at 60 mph, this Tokay comes crawling out from the front grill and over the hood.

He was safely recaptured and no Tokay was harmed in the making of this film.

 

[drillman]

My wife came running into the house 2 days ago and said Rambo was outside on the outside of the house. I thought how on earth could he of got out there. I ran out there quickly because I didn't want him to get on the roof and under the roof tiles. I got out there and found this Chuckwalla. I caught him and took it out to the desert and found a large rock pile for it and released him. He was quite calm and friendly after I caught him. Here is the link to a video of him. "www.youtube.com/watch?v=w12TcIH6U5E"

If Rambo escaped in the house he would be pretty easy to find, but he escaped in the basement. There are shelves going around the basement on a lot of the wall area. Above the concrete wall for the top foot of the wall is fiberglass insulation. I don't know if he would crawl behind the insulation. I would assume he would go as high as he could. So far I haven't heard the slightest noise from him. As far as I know he could be watching me and slowly, quietly backing out of sight.
A long tome ago A friend gave me an alligator lizard which immediately escaped and went down a hole by a hot water pipe. I tried pulling up the baseboard to get him. The next day I came home and found him sitting on top of hid cage ( that he has never been in before).

 

[XoVictoryXo]

OK, so a friend of mine had a handful of fresh, but very skinny imported Tokay get loose just outside his building last spring. So periodically over the summer, they would find a fat & happy Tokay hunting around the lights and recapture it.

It seems one of them had taken up residence under the hood of his truck. While driving down the highway at 60 mph, this Tokay comes crawling out from the front grill and over the hood.

He was safely recaptured and no Tokay was harmed in the making of this film.

View attachment 25777View attachment 25778

LOL!!! This made me spit coffee all over my computer screen! LOL can you imagine? ahahah

 

[zuper8]

I know, I could believe what I was seeing at first!! that would be SO bizarre to see, just looking down the hood of your truck while driving.

 

[drillman]

Found Him! I quietly went down to the basement at 12:30 am with a flashlight. I looked in the area where I found his foot prints in the dust on the lid of a plastic tube. He was sitting on top of the concrete wall just above where I found the foot prints. I looked all along the top of the wall in this area about 2 weeks ago. Then earlier today I again looked in this exact same area with a snake camera looking behind the joist above. When I saw him he crawled behind a piece of 2X4 about 16 inches long that was nailed to the top off the concrete wall. There was a hidden gap about 1 1/2 inches wide behind the 2x4 piece. He didn't want to come out so I put a paper towel tube in the gap. So with rubbing his back and his grunting he crawled into the tube. So I probably went right over his head twice and couldn't see him. Billewicz was right right you do need gloves. He got me once and he still can bite hard through leather gloves. He didn't seem to happy to see me. I put some crickets into a plastic bowel, but so far he hasn't eaten any. His weight dropped from 140 grams to 125 grams. Thanks everybody for the help.

 

[zuper8]

what a sneaky geck!! so happy for you that you found him!

 

[billewicz]

Well I'm glad you tracked him down. The limited food supply and the dryness would have eventually taken it's toll on him.

He'll settle down again soon enough and start eating. If you haven't already, give him a good misting. That'll help.

 

[XoVictoryXo]

Found Him! I quietly went down to the basement at 12:30 am with a flashlight. I looked in the area where I found his foot prints in the dust on the lid of a plastic tube. He was sitting on top of the concrete wall just above where I found the foot prints. I looked all along the top of the wall in this area about 2 weeks ago. Then earlier today I again looked in this exact same area with a snake camera looking behind the joist above. When I saw him he crawled behind a piece of 2X4 about 16 inches long that was nailed to the top off the concrete wall. There was a hidden gap about 1 1/2 inches wide behind the 2x4 piece. He didn't want to come out so I put a paper towel tube in the gap. So with rubbing his back and his grunting he crawled into the tube. So I probably went right over his head twice and couldn't see him. Billewicz was right right you do need gloves. He got me once and he still can bite hard through leather gloves. He didn't seem to happy to see me. I put some crickets into a plastic bowel, but so far he hasn't eaten any. His weight dropped from 140 grams to 125 grams. Thanks everybody for the help.

YAYYY!
and
OWCCCH!! :yikes:

 

[Anitec90]

****

 

[YouPetCha]

I wish I had read this earlier! So, I run a pet store and when feeding him the other day the lid wasn't secure and our Tokay went away. This morning I went in to find droppings on the top of his enclosure!! I'm going to try to leave it open with some crickets and water tonight