Tokay/Feeding

arlo17

New member
Having a hard time getting my tokay gecko, Mr. Marble, to eat much of anything. I'll give some information and explain the situation. I can't seem to find much information or any advice that fits his situation. Almost all I can find is about parasites/wild caught geckos and totally improper conditions.

Age: About two years
Length: Eleven inches
Sex: Male
Weight: I can't pick him up to weigh him, but I'll try to attach pictures
Handling: Although I can't touch him much now, if I can get him eating a stable amount, I'll start trying to handle him but I know there's no guarantee he'll ever be handleable
Activity: Normal, likes to hang out in the open at night and sometimes very early in the morning
Vocalization: Not much, the occasional bark if I get too close too fast, and I believe he's started making a clicking noise at night but it doesn't happen a lot
Parasites: Under the circumstances, doesn't seem like it, I'll explain below
CB or WC: Captive bred
Date I recieved him: May 25, 2017
Recieved from: Found on faunaclassifieds, 123user
Health on arrival: Great
Last poop: One week ago, very healthy, though UPDATE: just now, another healthy one, great sign for me

Enclosure: Exo Terra 18x18x24
Substrate: Eco Earth
Foliage: Exo Terra jungle vines, two large two small used to cover the back wall, adding more asap
Hide: Cork tube
Water dish: Large dish for humidity
Ledges: Two large made by magnaturals, one normal ledge, one with a large dish
Heating: Overhead lamp, 40 watts, red, sits on the back left corner of the tank
Heat: About 80f-85f where he normally sits during the day, 75f-78f at night
Humidity: 50%-60% between misting, I mist at night to achieve 80% or so, not too heavy not too light

Before anything else, I don't believe he has parasites, due to his health before I got him, when I got him, and his activity and weight since then. I've seen no signs. There's been no rapid weight loss, no lethargy, nothing visible in his poop. I have eighteen other animals in the room which are all perfectly healthy.

I've offered many different foods. Some I've hoped to make a staple and some I've hoped to use just to entice him to eat. I've offered crickets, dubia roaches, super worms, hornworms, wax worms, pinkies, even a small amount of repashy CGD and finally resorted to Mazuri's insectivore diet. I know positively he's had a handful of crickets, accidentally ate the head of a pinkie (ripped it clean off while trying to bite,) a bit of CGD which he actually seemed to enjoy more than anything else he's had, and I'm guessing he's had some Mazuri. Since I've offered it, he's shown a big interest. One of the first nights, he sat with his face in the bowl, checking it out. He's pooped far more since I started providing this diet, although I don't see much of a dent if any in the food. His most recent poop was the healthiest and biggest I've seen since the first few days I had him. He drinks when I mist the tank and sometimes produces urate without poop, but that doesn't happen too often. one thing I feel may be a problem is where his terrarium is. It's on the floor now, but I'll be moving my tanks to a large rack soon, and hopefully I can get him higher up since his terrarium isn't too heavy, and I'll see if it helps. I don't know if he'd still be settling in after all this time. He was super dark when I got him and it took him a few weeks to lighten up. He's beautiful and active and seems completely normal other than his diet. I've contacted his previous owner and told him what's going on and he said this is very unusual and that he used to eat fifty to sixty crickets a week, and I believe it. We sent him pictures and told him what I've been doing and he said exactly what I've been thinking, he doesn't look like he's lost much weight at all. Hopefully the pictures show up, I'd really love to get some advice and opinions. He's my first tokay and I'd love to get more someday but if I have a bad experience with him I don't know if I ever will. I love him so much and I'd hate to have to resort to sending him back or giving him up to someone else.
 

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Aimless

Super Moderator
I would like to see more photos of his tank. from what I can see, it looks like he doesn't have anywhere close to enough vertical cover; can you give some more comprehensive pics?

his color and body condition look fine to me.

I'm also going to say that I think you're right; being on the floor is a problem for an arboreal gecko.
 

arlo17

New member
Thanks for replying, I was hoping to hear from someone soon.

As far as being on the floor goes, I got the rack today. I'm painting my room and once that's aired out the rack is going up and the terrariums are being put on it. I'm going to get more cork and plants as soon as I can. Ideally I'd like to use live plants but I can't take him out to do anything extreme.

Obviously the sides of the tank are totally bare, other than his ledges, which will be taken care of soon. I need to know what to add, and what to change. If the tank itself is a problem, I'm not sure what to do other than sell it, and I'm not sure what I could get for it. I've only had it a week or so longer than I've had him.

If pictures from other angles are needed I'll get them. I'm just hoping I can fix any problems soon. I'd just really like to get this figured out, quick.
 

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Aimless

Super Moderator
yes, more vertical cover. a good way to accomplish this is to get a few tiles from a hardware/home improvement store and stack them vertically so there are crevices between them. long cork tubes set upright are also great hides.

for live plants, you can set a plant in a pot into the cage.

the cage is on the small side for a tokay, but otherwise totally workable.
 

arlo17

New member
I'll definitely get more cork and a couple plants etc. Once he's up on the rack and I've added more cover and he's settled a bit I'll update.
 

arlo17

New member
Had to stop working on my room during the hurricane. We're starting again today and hopefully I'll have all of my animals in here and on their racks by the end of this week. For the time being, I've added a fern to his tank, and plan to add ivy soon. He seems to like the fern. He's been hiding all around it since I put it in there. I'm hoping I'll be able to get him moved to a temporary setup sometime soon and maybe do a more natural tank, but I'm going to need to do a bit more looking around at pictures and videos and figure out what to plant etc. I just don't know how I feel about totally moving him out and back in after everything that's been going on lately. I don't want to stress him any further.
 

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arlo17

New member
Thanks :)
He's come a long way in the past couple weeks. I have some carnivore care coming in for him today and he'll be up on the new rack either tomorrow or Saturday. Things are finally settling down and he seems to be getting more comfortable.
 

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Will3

New member
That terrarium is waaay to small for a Gekko gecko, i wouldnt even use it for a Correlophus ciliatus
 
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