tokay gecko

Question
QUESTION: I recently bought a 6 mo, male tokay gecko.  He was dark when I bought him and had already had to regrow his tail, but is pretty active and eats well.  I keep him well-hydrated, supplement Ca2+, run a UVB bulb during the day, etc.  I have noticed that he has a few raised lesions on his dorsum and these have me a little worried.  They appear to be hard and dry, are the same dark grey as the rest of his skin and the skin has puckered up around the lesions themselves.  They don't appear to be ulcerous and I don't note any swelling.  I had thought that maybe they were scabs from cricket bites he may have received when I first brought him home (I observed the crickets gnawing on him), but am not sure.  I'm not worried about parasites because I had a fecal done and it came back negative.  I was also worried about fungus because I overhydrated the tank once and found a small colony of white, fibrous fungus growing under the grapevine I keep inside.  I have since cleaned the tank.  Any ideas of what these could be?

ANSWER: Hi Nate,

It is difficult to make an assessment without the benefit of seeing them but from your description of the surrounding puckering affect I would agree that they sound like scabs. The lack of redness, swelling or leaking fluid are all good signs that they are not part of an active infection.

He is young and eating well which means he should shed rather soon and the whole situation should resolve with the next shed or two.

It is virtullly impossible to remove all uneaten crickets from a well planted tropical set-up. I like to keep a small bottle cap with some flaked fish food or crushed Cheerios hidden in one corner to give the enclosure crickets something to eat. A small piece of lettuce will give them moisture if the tank does not have live plants. That should keep your Tokay safe from cricket bites and make the crickets more nutritious when he does eat them.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks again.  Just a few more, less-pressing questions.  How often can I feed him meal worms?  He's thin and I know that they have a high fat content so I'd like to give them as often as possible to help him put on some weight.  

Also, is a darker color normal?  I know that there are various morphs.  His patterning is identical to the lighter blue pictures I've seen, but he is a dark blue-grey.  I've read that this can mean he's stressed.  Is that true or could this just be his normal coloration?

Answer
Hi Nate,

There is some colour variation among individual tokays. I have seen their base colour range from a teal blue to a gun-metal gray. Stress can cause them to darken, as will an impending shed cycle and also cooler temperatures.

I breed both large and small mealworms and have used them 2 or 3 times a week for years without problem. Offer the largest size that your tokay can easily subdue which should not be a problem with those strong Tokay jaws. The larger ones have more "meat" relative to the amount of surface area. It is the  exoskeleton of mealworms which is made of chitin that is not very digestible and the source of caution against using them. For a sub-adult animal I would suggest offering a couple large ones per meal to avoid too much chitin at once. An adult tokay should be fine with 3 or 4 per meal. Hydration and proper temperature are also important to effective digestion.

Waxworms are another soft bodied high fat feeder insect that can easily increase his calorie intake.