My Tokay Gecko

Question
Hello,
My science teacher gave me a young Tokay Gecko that she could not have anymore.  She eats a TON and is really neat to watch. She lost the tip of her tail recently and we couldn't find it anywhere in the cage and we dont know how it happened. It is taking a while to grow back am it is a different color.  I wanted to know if it is normal for these guys to lose their tail without finding any trace of it at all.  
Thank you,
Ashley

Answer
Hi,
it's perfectly normal for geckos to loose their tail when disturbed, and especially wild-caught animals are very easily stressed out. Why you cannot find the dropped tail I cannot say, because I don't know what the terrarium looks like (does the gecko live alone, what plants, if any, are in there, what is used as substrate...). I can only guess that maybe she ate it, the tail moves for some minutes after being dropped and since Tokays eat anything they can find, this might be a possibility.
I hope this helped you a bit
Jennifer