Judge Judy, in gecko form! hehe

Teal

Arachnoemperor
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Jan 11, 2009
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I have been looking at getting another gecko lately, and I've always liked Tokays. At the LPS the other day when I went to get crickets, I noticed a skinny Tokay in their gecko enclosure... she said it had come in a few days ago like that :( (for the record, I have no reason to doubt her... I've been going to this LPS for almost ten years, and it's where I got my first tarantula) so, I scooped up this pretty little girl (confirmed when she so politely climbed on the top of her tank hehe) her name is Jude, as she was all attitude when the LPS lady took her out, and then Judge Judy was on tele when we unpacked her.. we're such dorks {D

Her enclosure..


Being unpacked..


Chilling in her new home this morning. She wasn't interested in the lateralis roaches I put in there, or the dubia hanging off her face LOL




I am going to try crickets tomorrow... any other ideas on how to fatten her up?
 

Mack&Cass

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We got a WC tokay from an LPS in January and he was in rough shape, he was so skinny his head was caved in. We had to force feed him at first. The way we did that was take him out, make him angry (which wasn't hard) so that he would open his mouth, and drop wax worms in there. He wouldn't eat naturally so we had to do something to fatten him up. It worked, and now he eats like a machine. He prefers soft-bodied food (waxworms, butterworms, crickets). When we got him, he had an infection in his mouth from a superworm bite (that's what the dealer told us the infection was from). He's pretty nervous around superworms, he'll take one, but rarely any more than that. I'd suggest offering soft bodied food. Silk worms are good because they're said to be the best tasting of the worms. Butters (that's his name) didn't take crickets at first either.

It also might be a good idea to provide her with a hide. Ours never leaves his. He's in a pretty basic enclosure (exo-terra with paper towel, a hide, and waterdish) as we want to put him with our female but he has to be quarantined just in case he has any other sort of parasite or something we don't know about. With our female being CB, she's a big healthy girl, and putting a skinny WC male in with her would just lead to trouble.

I think the hide is what made him confident enough to start eating on his own. We would just put the prey right in front of it, and he would snatch it and immediately go back in his hide. He just started coming out at night a couple weeks ago.

Your girl doesn't look quite as bad as our male did, but that's the advice I have from my experience of dealing with a less-than-healthy WC tokay.

Hope this helps!

Cass
 

Teal

Arachnoemperor
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Thanks so much Cass! ugh, I HATE to think that she's WC and it makes me wish I would have bought one of the CB babies instead :( I hate buying WC animals!

But, what's done is done now I suppose... I just can't believe I didn't think of that!

I do plan on getting her a hide... the LPS's around here are waaaay overpriced (except for her and crickets) so I have to wait until I am passing by a Petco or something again. The spot where her tank is, is very out of the way and surrounded by things.. so she's atleast not out completely in the open.

I think I'll have to order silk worms online, but I can get mealworms and superworms at a Petco or something.

My last geckos loved roaches, so I figured I'd give it a try... but worms make sense, thanks!
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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Feb 10, 2003
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741
Yeah, definitely put a hide in there, these are pretty secretive lizards. I never see mine out during the day, but they roam all over the tanks at night. Give here time to settle in, I'm sure she'll start eating. Start with smaller prey items at first, that seemed to work with a sickly female I got a few months ago. Now she eats everything I put in the tank. :D
Enjoy!
 
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