I have always loved tokays and can’t find a good answer for if keeping them in pairs is a good idea or not. Around half the care guilds say not to but the other half of the care guilds and then all the videos say it is fine/show them being housed together.
I have no reason for asking this other than it bugging me
My experience with a breeding pair is that they did absolutely fine together… With adequate hiding spots and we’ll planted caging. But oh boy did they get aggressive when defending the cage once eggs started happening. Lol.
This was years ago at a small mom and pop pet shop. I got so mad when the manager said he ordered tokays ‘because they looked cool’ instead of leopard geckos.
Eventually the manager got asked about the ‘breeding pair of tokays’…so they handed him a box and a towel and said ‘if you catch them they’re yours. No charge.’ xD
Thankfully… Some of them are much calmer these days because of captive breeding. Not the wild caught rodeo of wholesale animal purchases of the early 2000s.
Hi! Travis asked me to hop on here so I’ll do the best I can to give you a thorough answer…
If you’re interested in breeding keeping them in pairs is fine. If you’re not, I wouldn’t recommend it. If they’re being kept properly they will mate. This doesnt necessarily mean you’re going to end up with a bunch of babies (hatching the eggs requires cage temperatures and humidity levels to remain within a stable range) but it does mean the female will require adequate additional calcium supplementation to prevent a crash once she starts laying. Also once they’ve paired up they will become extremely defensive of the cage. They’re very protective of each other and their eggs/offspring.
I’ve not experienced this myself yet with any of my pairings (others that I know have) but there’s also the risk that because they’re so territorial one of the tokays may not accept the other and attack it rather than pair up and bond. Tokays can do severe, potentially lethal, damage to each other in the event of a fight.
It may seem obvious but I’d also like to note that a pair will require larger caging than a solo individual. If breeding the female will also require more food than if she were to be kept solo and a good eye should be kept on her to make sure she’s maintaining good weight and isn’t being worn down from overproducing.
I hope that helps. If you have any further questions I’d be happy to answer them.
Thank you! That was very helpful and informative. As for them bonding, are they picky about it or will most be fine to pair up without being too particular about it? Thanks again!
From my experience, most will be fine if the cage is large enough and plenty of decor is provided. They need to have the ability to get away from each other and still feel secure in their own hiding places.
A few tips I can offer for successful pairing… if the male is calling he’s ready and wanting a mate. The likelihood of him attacking the female is slim. But I don’t place the female into the male’s enclosure, nor the male to the female’s, they are both moved to a new enclosure together. If introducing one to the other’s cage everything should be cleaned and decor should be completely rearranged prior to the introduction. Also, do not place an immature juvenile tokay in with one that is mature and ready to breed. I don’t pair females until they hit 80 grams or over and their body should be “filled out”, not slim and lengthy. (I’ve seen plenty of tiny females that never come close to hitting this size because they were paired too early, but that’s probably a topic for another discussion).
I could keep going on this, but I think the answer of compatibility has more to do with proper housing and their ability to feel secure more than it does anything else. Every example of a pair fighting that I’m aware of, the cage did not have nearly enough cover for them to have security and distance from each other when needed.