So I recently got me a tokay gecko, probably a good 6-9 inches long already. It's hard to tell I don't want to attempt to handle him until he acclimates to his new surrounding. He was from petco but seems to be extremely healthy. Taming him is going to be difficult if not impossible because of the duration petco has had him, he's pretty aggressive.
I've been keeping tokays since 1992; they are an under-represented, under appreciated, and misunderstood species to say the least. Taming can be done with lots of time, patience, and some skin/blood loss; even with wild caught specimens though much easier to do with captive and young animals. Petco, up here in the Dallas area, has been getting in some semi-decent juvies and under 6 month old-sized tokays. It's been a personal fight to pass up the very small ones, but I've no cage space to take on additional tokays for now. That in mind, I'm going to get a tad frank with the below questions/statements.
So I have a few questions, at his size does he have the ability to eat pinkies yet, or is that even actually even healthy for him? I've just been feeding him adult sized crickets for the most part but he doesn't seem to be eating a lot.
Any tips on an feeding schedule and the amount to feed?
Also I live in Louisiana and we have tons of Mediterranean geckos around, can he eat young ones? If not what would happen if I attempted to make them co-exist?
You can feed pinkies, I've even occasionally given hoppers to a large adult I have (my first CB, hatched in March 99, still have him). However, I DO NOT do this with any regularity. This is done typically when I have snakes that refuse food, which is not very often at all.
I tend to not feed heavily, or in other wording over feed. A number of keepers do, turning their tokays into obese leopard gecko wannabes. Young I feed daily for their first year, then I drop to an every-other-day schedule. Adults I'll feed on a similar every-other-day schedule, sometimes less sometimes more. Any breeding animals (which I've not done in years), are fed daily based upon appetite response. My tokays will actually "beg" like my leopard geckos when they are hungry, that is they will come to what they feel is a secure but visible location within their cage with a facial expression of OMG are you going to feed me?!!
Amount varies, but I feed a staple of crickets gutloaded on Repashy bug burger and various veggies. Superworms are also offered to 6 month + old geckos. My wife, has for now, killed any hopes of doing roaches, but that will change!
DO NOT feed wild prey items! This includes insects and Mediterranean geckos. It is not worth the risk of introducing,
potentially, additional internal and/or external parasites to a gecko species (tokays) that is 99% (possible % exaggeration) of the time wild caught when sold in pet stores and already stressed from said possible parasite load. The same goes for insects, but insects also offer up a 2nd threat: sequestered pesticides. Some insects are capable of tolerating pesticides, even at toxic levels, that can be passed onto whatever consumes them.
It's not worth the risk with all the commercially available "healthy/clean" insect options. Co-existence is also a pipe dream. It's not a matter of if, but when. This applies to housing smaller tokays with larger tokays. Yes tokays will guard/protect/care for young, but they will only
tolerate this presence for so long.
At the moment he's in a 20 gallon 20 high, on forest floor substrate with about 6 plants that are working on rooting (Terrarium has only been active ~3 days).
I keep a 75 watt nighttime heat bulb on top of the cage with something under it slightly holding it at an angle, this runs 24/7 and when I leave to work in the morning I turn on a uv bulb for the plants.
I mist the cage about 2 times a day, and slight misting doesn't seem to disturb him at all.
To be honest the plants are wild, and the few pieces of wood I have I got from the yard. I washed them thoroughly and then baked them at 300 for 20 minutes. I realize that might not have killed everything but it was the best I can do for the time being. I'm hoping no parasites get to him before I'm able to build his real cage.
Though very admirable, ditch the full naturalistic set up for now. Your goal is to acclimate the gecko. In doing such you're wanting to provide the most simplistically secure cage possible, that is also easy to clean and obtain fecal samples for having fecal float and smear testing done by a qualified reptile and/or exotics veterinarian. I did this in 10, 15, and 20 gallon tanks when I was a little more heavily populated in tokays. I kept temps in the mid to upper 80s, humidity 50-60% or higher, repticarpet floor, 2-3 inch PVC pipe cut down to cage size, and large water bowl, and a fluorescent light overhead for photoperiod.
Ditch the wild plants, the same risk of wild food items applies to wild plants. Additionally, wild plants may possess toxins, which if [the plants are] consumed by lingering crickets then those toxins can be passed onto the gecko.
Though wild wood can be used, certain wood species you want to avoid; like pines, cedars, and like trees. These wood types can also be toxic. Though cooked, your wood can still potentially harbor parasites and disease. I generally give the wood a good, thorough soaking in a 50/50 bleach/water solution to start. The wood needs to remain submerged somehow. From there it is a long, drawn out process of diluting the bleach out. This can take months! Long story short, use store bought wood like cork bark, mopani, etc. Those have already been cleaned and generally just need a good rinsing and then baking (I do 350° for 15-20 mins).
The light bulb is fine, in my opinion. I've done all sorts of combos for lights on my tokay cages over the years. Like other keepers, I've witnessed them actually basking, when given the option, in early morning and late afternoon hours. Even my leopard geckos that I have in naturalistic tanks will bask under basking bulbs for the first hour after lights on and about the last 2 hours before lights out. It's awesome to watch how different some nocturnal geckos behave (=active) when given a photoperiod that also includes a basking site.
Though you are in Louisiana, you can still dry out the cage too much. Keep a close eye on temps with a digital or laser thermometer and use your mistings to gauge humidity. The glass should be mostly or all dry by the time you do your 2nd misting. Keeping your humidity levels within range will be somewhat of a chore with the acclimation caging I described earlier.
For the final cage I'm looking at making a 14x14x36 to better create a atmosphere for him, I was thinking about corking all sides but the front for vines to climb...and maybe creating multiple ledges as well for plants to hang and him to walk as well.
Any tips, suggestions, criticism and help would be appreciated.
One other thing, is it normal for him to stay near his heat bulb during his day cycle? He's just sleeping in the warmest spot? The overall cage temp is 86 and I know the humidity is well were it needs to be. My room stays still w/ no major airflow when I'm not home. Plus a small bowl of water evaps in there to keep humidity up.
14x14x36 is too small in my opinion. In my opinion, no less than a 36 gallon tank (18x18x36) should be used to house a lone, healthy, properly acclimated adult tokay. Though I don't yet provide it, I feel they should be provided a cage of equal length and height. Tokays are an arboreal species with excellently structured toepads and retractable claws. Providing room to use said body features is healthy to the gecko's well being. Can they thrive in smaller, sure, just like some humans can thrive in a 300 sq ft studio apartment. But I wouldn't call it comfortable.
As for staying at the top...He could be too cool or insecure, or both which could explain the lack of eating. You also have to consider settling time, which is part of acclimation. Settling time is the time it'll take for he/she to feel comfortable (secure) enough to possibly eat or at least eat with typical tokay gusto. Regarding airflow...lack of airflow can actually be bad. Warm temps + high humidity + low or no airflow = stagnant air = mold = unhealthy environmental conditions.
One of my favorite tokay pictures
