[gecko]Re: Egg eating tockay

[obeligz]

Title: Message

My female has never eaten her eggs up to now. This season and last she has laid many eggs, I don’t know exactly how many cause she lays them in a hollow bamboo, but until now she has never eaten any as far as I know. She has guarded both eggs and hatchlings up to now. It was only after I lent her to my friend a couple of months ago that she started doing this. I don’t know why she does it but I’m almost certain that it is not a matter of poor diet and malnourishment. I have fed her pinkies 1-2 times a month, cockroaches of different sizes and large crickets. She has calcium sacs, she is given vitamins and has a stored fat on the sides of the belly as well as in the tail and was in good condition when I she arrived at the reptile park. This is how it happened. I lent her to my friend who has a� Reptile park in Oslo. 2-3 weeks after this she laid a clutch of eggs during the middle of the day, opening hours, she laid the eggs on the glass in front of 20 or so spectators who were taking pictures.. �I guess this was pretty stressing for her? So maybe that’s why she ate her eggs the first time, or so I thought. The following 3 times she laid her eggs though, was after closing hours when there were no spectators in the park. In these cases she ate the eggs several hours later or during the following night. I have but a few years of experience with geckoes but the only reasonable explanations/speculations I have come up with are these.. 1. She got so stressed the first time laying eggs in front of so many ppl that she started eating every clutch? But why? She was used to different ppl (my friends coming over) and walking past the tank, I also handled her from time to time. 2. She was separated from her mate and was mated by another male? My male and female have been a steady couple since they were hatchlings 4-5 years ago. I’ve had them together all the time. For a while I had them roam free in my old herp room, even then they “travelled” always together. However, When I lent her to my friend was the first time she was mated with a tockay other than my male. Could this be a cause? My leachies sleep on top of eachother from time to time. How strong is the bond between a pair of tockays who have lived toghether all their lives? 3. I have collected 10 hatchlings from my tank so far this year. My female lays the eggs in a hollow bamboo log so I can’t see how many clutches she has laid but I can’t rule out that there is more eggs in the log. My male (who is otherwise calm for a tockay) still guards the log furiously so I guess there could be more eggs in there.. Could this have something to do with it= the female laying “too many cluthes in one year?   Sorry for all these long posts. Thank you for your time. Regards obeligz   -----Opprinnelig melding----- Fra: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] P� vegne av Leann Christenson Sendt: 13. november 2003 18:39 Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emne: Re: [gecko]Albino tockays   I have bred many tokays, none eating any eggs until this year and a female, first time breeder, started eating her eggs, one clutch after another.  Sometimes she would wait a whole month before she would eat a clutch, but always just before laying a new clutch.  Now I remove a clutch soon after it is laid.   I attributed it to not enough food.  I upped her to daily feedings and so far she has behaved herself.    Leann ----- Original Message ----- From: obeligz To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 9:40 AM Subject: SV: [gecko]Albino tockays   I feel the same way! ^_^ Tockays are so neat. In scandinavia they aren’t so cheap and common though, so people tend to take a little better care of them but one still sees ads abt giving away tockays over here too. Btw. During the reptile-intelligence-discussion earlier I mentioned that I had borrowed my female tockay to a friend and she ate her clutch of eggs. Well.. I spoke to the guy who has her today, it turns out that she has laid 4 clutches in total since she was moved and she has eaten all the eggs either right away or the same night. Sounds very weird to me. I asked him If he fed her enough and supplemented with vitamins and calcium, he does. Over in my tank eggs are still hatching and my male guards both eggs and babies with his life.. atleast that’s how my hands feel like… ;o) I had my tockays loose in my herp room (when I had one) too but when my breeder roaches started disappearing too fast I put them back in their tank... Here’s one of my hatchlings that I descided to keep from this season. Regards obeligz   -----Opprinnelig melding----- Fra: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] P� vegne av Danny Mendez Sendt: 12. november 2003 01:39 Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emne: RE: [gecko]Albino tockays   No problem Obeligz.  I work at a museum where we've had a male tokay for 9 years...last year it was time for him to leave the collection (he no longer fit the "plan") so he came home to live out his retirement with me  :)  So yes, i do and have in the past kept Tokays. He runs free in my reptile room.  I think they are one of the most overlooked geckos, simply because they are so common. Imagine someone told you they discovered a near-leachy sized gecko with bright colors and interesting behaviors, if you didn't assume it to be a Tokay I'm sure it would excite alot more folks!     -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of obeligz Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 11:03 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: SV: [gecko]Albino tockays Thanx Danny. ^_^ I can’t wait for spring now. ^_^ Do you keep tockays? Regards Obeligz   -----Opprinnelig melding----- Fra: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] P� vegne av Danny Mendez Sendt: 10. november 2003 22:18 Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emne: RE: [gecko]Albino tockays   Obleigz, You should be okay purchasing from Rare Earth.  I've obtained a few animals both directly and indirectly from Joe Lewis the owner and have never had a problem.  The Tokays are very beautiful indeed!  I saw them in person about a year ago...I'd love to have one but they are still a bit too pricey for me...I'm hoping that in the future, enough people will be working with them to where they are a bit cheaper. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of obeligz Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 1:56 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [gecko]Albino tockays Hi. I have been wanting an albino tockay from rare earth inc for what seems like an eternity but up to now it’s been hard for me to import animals from USA. A friend of mine recently acquired a permit to import tockay’s though and I was hoping maybe I could get one too. Does anyone have positive/negative experience with Rare Earth Inc? Has anyone bought albino tockay’s from them? If so, were the animals as beautiful as the pictures show? The animals on their website has pigment on it’s pupils while the rest of the animals seems to be albino, is this considered true albinism? Sorry for all the questions, I hope I’m not offending anyone but I’m really exited now that I’ve got a chance to get an albino of one of my favourite species (if any are available…). Regards obeligz