Tokay Gecko Care and History - by Chris Newsom - White Sands Reptiles

The tokay gecko is a member of the genus Gekko. These are mostly an Asiatic genus that are wide-ranging and have some 25 or more members.
The tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) is nocturnal and native to southeast Asia. They are medium sized lizards, about 14 inches in length. I have seen (no lie) a large specimen that was about 2 foot. Talk about a huge gecko!! The head was about 4-5 inches in length and 3-4 inches wide. The body was about 8 inches long and 3-4 inches wide and the tail was a complete tail , about 8 inches long. Unfortunately the gecko died about a year ago and the lady that had it, has it preserved.
The tokay is bluish pale gray background with white and orange small spots. The skin has wartlike bumps on the head, body, legs, and tail. There are enlarged toe pads for climbing virtually all surfaces, including glass. Young geckos are about 3 9/16- 3 15/16 at hatching. The tails of young are banded dark blue and white, with the dark bands broader than the white ones.
These geckos are often released in homes in its native tropical range to eat the cockroackes and other insects that inhabit the house. Tokays will also eat other lizards, especially ones that are smaller than them. So if you plan to keep another lizard in with a tokay gecko, make sure that it's bigger than it, but not big enough to eat the tokay. Other prey items for tokays include: crickets, small mice, grasshoppers, cockroaches, and beetles.
If you are after a lizard species that you can handle, DO NOT get a tokay. They have a very large mouth meaning a very bad bite. If you really want a reptile to handle, get a corn snake or a leopard gecko.
The voice of the tokay is like a to-kay or tuk-koo and is repeated about 6-8 times, but dropping off in loudness at the end of the call. When frightened, the call is Geccccccck.
Male tokays are larger, have larger pre-anal pores, and heavier tail base. Hemipenile bulges are not too prominant. During the breeding season males are very vocal. Breeding may occur most months of the year in captivity, and is stimulated by lowered barometric pressure and misting. Tokays don't require much breeding preparation, other than good body weight to stimulate breeding activities. In order to get mine breeding I mist them every other day during the fall and feed like crazy until November. Once November hits I mist only 2-3 times a week and reduce feeding to 3-4 times a week. The photoperiod is also adjust to what it is outside. If the sun rises at 6:45 am, their light and all my other lizard lights are going on at 6:45 am. And if the sun sets at 7 pm, their lights are going off at 7 pm. This lets them know what time of year it is. Around early March I start misting and feeding every other day again and come April I'm feeding and misting every day. By late April or May I get my first clutch of eggs and about 1 month after that time I'm averaging a clutch a month from the female. This lasts until about August. Hatching takes about 3 months exactly maybe give or take a day or 2. The hatchlings go through a post-hatching shed within 24 hours of shedding and 5 days later they are eating crickets. Hatchling care is the same for adults, keep them humid and warm basically.
Tokays do well in naturalistic cages. I have mine in a Lizard Lounge by Oceanic with 3 pothos plants, a branch, orchid bark for substrate, and a light. The light is basically for the plant and to keep a photoperiod (the time of day light and night per day).
The natural range of the tokay gecko is southeast Asia amd the Malay Archipelago, but is now has established breeding colonies in the U. S.. They are established in south Florida in the Miami area along the Atlantic Coast in Dade and Broward counties and in Lee county along the Gulf Coast.