I have quite an interest in exotic animals, as well as my Tortoises ( see my other thread) I also have snakes, geckos and a selection of bugs. This thread is to show you Talulah, my Tokay Gecko. They are not very common in the reptile hobby due to their aggressive nature. They cannot be handled like most commonly kept lizards, if you go anywhere her she will open her mouth and 'bark' at you. Fail to pay attention to her warning and she will bite and not let go! They have very tiny teeth but they are as strong as diamonds and they have been known to clamp their jaws on and not let go for over an hour! That being said, I respect all my animals and get my pleasure from observing them, I very rarely get them out and handle them so her aggressive nature is not really a problem to me. The following photos where taken whilst I was trying to move her for cleaning. You can tell by her darkened colour and open mouth she was not a happy bunny! She feeds mainly on Dubai Cockroaches (I breed them myself!) and locusts. Her vivarium is located in our living room so every evening, around 8pm onwards she starts hunting for food! So funny to watch her crawl around the glass looking for a cockroach then jump across the vivarium to catch it. In their active range, Southeast Asia, it is considered good luck to have a Tokay Gecko lining in your house!
I used I have a male who would keep me up all night with his barking, it's where they get there name from as the bark goes "tok....Kaaaaaay" Here is a video of a male calling (not mine). My female got rather excited when I started playing it!
I'm sure I would feel myself very lucky to have such a creature living in my house. The bit about it being very aggressive, and able to clamp its jaws shut for over an hour on part of my anatomy would kind of put me off slightly though. But thanks for showing us.
I avoided keeping Tokays in the past and stuck to Leopards, the saying then was the way to remove a Tokay if it clamped was to cut it's head off but that wouldn't guarantee it letting go! All I have now are my Fire Bellied Toads two of which I have had for over 16 years!
