Housing!

[Cuppencake]

Housing + help??

Okay, I've posted before and it'll probably be a few months but I want to get an idea of a good sized enclosure WxDxH for my tokay, he's about 8 1/2 inches long, maybe longer. I have pictures. He's been camping out on the back wall of the tank for the past week and stopped hiding in his trunk hide. That's great, he's off of the ground for now, but who knows when he decides to go back down again. I'm also afraid my cricket stash died from the cold weather. It's not normally frigid in Florida, but we had a surprise winter storm. ALSO recommendations for a light / heating source? I have a 50w Infared but it doesn't seem very hot, perhaps it's the surrounding weather causing it as it's normally pretty hot.

Edit;
My tokay has gone completely dormant. He doesn't even move when I touched him?? Could he be that comfortable with me touching him already? I haven't held him at all, maybe once. I thought he was dead when I checked on him this morning. But he is still on the back wall, that's good. If he dies he won't still stick to the wall will he? I put in a cricket yesterday, and I am guessing he ate it because it's no longe in there.

 

[billewicz]

Hey,

Adding an under the tank heat pad is much better for overall heating of your enclosure. The absolute minimum height should be 24" for now. Soon you'll need to get to 36" and taller if possible. Remember their world is vertical, so the taller, the better with lots of vertical hiding places.

Temps this time of year can be a little cooler. It's 'winter' in Indonesia too. 65/night to 80 for the daytime high.

See for yourself: 10 Day Weather Forecast for Bandung - weather.com

 

[Cuppencake]

Would it be in my best interest to wait until I get all the money to purchase everything I need all together? Or just one at a time?
Then I just have to figure out how to move him Into his new home without any hassle. He hates being picked up and pestered. He'd probably get extremely stressed and try to bite me or quit eating for a while.

 

[billewicz]

Would it be in my best interest to wait until I get all the money to purchase everything I need all together? Or just one at a time?
Then I just have to figure out how to move him Into his new home without any hassle. He hates being picked up and pestered. He'd probably get extremely stressed and try to bite me or quit eating for a while.

IMO, proper heat, a safe vertical hide and humidity are most important, in that order.

If he's too cold, then his immune system will fail. How do you feel when your are tired/stressed and cold, you first thought is that your going to get sick, right?

Safety and a sense of security will reduce stress. Anything that creates ongoing stress is lethal. Stress; as in too cold, too scared, too almost anything will cause the immune system to shut down.

Misting for drinking droplets is essential. Tokay can tolerate short dry spells as this does occur in the wild. Unlike the core of the South American tropical rain forests, Indonesian Islands have ocean breezes blowing through most of their tropical jungle environment. I hesitate to write any of this because someone will see this as a justification to keep Tokay in desert conditions.

Your biggest expense is the enclosure since they are typically glass. Now there are several folks that keep Tokay in certain types of cheap plastic bins or 'plastic' enclosures turned up on end. Not really as nice of a display, but assuming the Tokay can cling to that kind of plastic and there is no mold and bacteria build up, this can work too. (Tokay cannot cling to some type plastics. Also plastic, in hot, humid conditions can hold bacteria if not cleaned and disinfected often. Good ventilation is key here.)

If you are handy, building a custom enclosure is nice too. Just don't use a lot of exposed wood. Again, hot and humid conditions play havoc on wood as well. It can bow and warp causing the sealant to crack and peel.

 

[Cuppencake]

I have been talking to this guy, I had yet to see any photos but he supposedly has a vertical enclosure he's willing to sell me for $10. Hopefully it's tall enough, but well see!

 

[zuper8]

In your other thread, I recall reading that you had something like a 30 gallon horizontal tank. If you turned it upright, you could give your Tokay the height he wants and not even need to buy a different tank. I have never done this before and always wondered about how people do this successfully, so I started a thread in the Vivarium forum. I figured you might find it helpful too if you wanted to try to convert your existing setup.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...rizontal-enclosure-vertically.html#post417050

Hopefully I get some replies, if so perhaps you could give it a try. I can see how you would basically just need some screen clamps, but not sure about the heating and substrate in such an enclosure so I hope people chime in with suggestions.