Hello- I'm new to the forums. I am the proud owner of Jaws, a female tokay that a friend of mine ended up giving to me while he was over in South America filming a documentary. I've had her for two years now and I absolutely adore her (despite her less than sunny disposition). However, I've done a lot of research and the tank that I have her in now is not appropriate for her. Its 20?Lbut its a very long, wide and relatively low tank, which is not ideal for a gecko that likes to climb walls! (The exact dimensions are 30 x 12 x 12). So, I'm going to upgrade her tank but unfortunately I'm not as up to speed on the conversions as I ought to be. I found a very nice terrarium that is 18 x 18 x 18 that seemed nice, and the salesperson was adamant that this would be plenty of space for Jaws. I also mentioned possibly being interested in getting another male or female to put in the tank with her, and he said this STILL would be big enough for the both of them. I'm skeptical. I did the math, and the cubic inches of space are as follow: 4320 for the current tank she is in, and 5832 cubic inches in the other tank. When you look at it that way...its much bigger than the other tank. So, I'm just confused. Is that tank really going to be big enough for one, let alone two tokays should I decide to get another one sometime in the future? Your input is most greatly appreciated, Thanks! ILoveMyTokay
no that tank isnt big enough. an adult tokay can reach more than 30 cm /12 inches in length and need a lot of space to climb. i think its best to get high tank, like the exoterra has the pt2612 or pt2614 is quite suitable. it doesnt has to be really high without floor space as tokays will use nearly every corner of the tank. i recommend at least tank like pt 2612 is the minimum size for 1 happy tokay. i dont think you should add more tokays, but the pt2614 is ok for 2 tokays. heres a link to those tanks. http://exo-terra.com/en/products/glass_terrarium.php hope this helps. anyway welcome to RR
Hey- Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for the advice! I actually found an even better deal than that tank while picking up some more stuff for her. It was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. Its the nearly the exact measurements of pt2614 (thanks for tip!) only its more vertical than it is horizontal. Its a much larger, and much more suitable tank. We're in the process of cleaning it out and setting it up for her, I'll take some pictures as soon as we get everything set up I only wish that I had known she was going to be "mine" sooner, I feel bad for keeping her in that too-small tank for so long. But, her previous owner just recently said I could keep her. While he is an expert in reptiles, I don't think he ever intended to be over in South America so long, and the set up was only meant to be temporary. I have another question if you could give some advice...we are struggling with keeping the tank humid enough for her. Most sites say to mist the tank once a day and you should be fine, but we're misting at least 3 times a day to keep it right for her. We have moss in there, a mulch/woodchip blend for the bottom that is supposed to be helping keep it humid. At least once a day, we're putting an ice cube on top of the cage to help. We've recently bought some live plants that we will be putting in this new tank as well. We've been looking at this machine called a "fogger" that is on the exo-terra site also. Any tips or tricks to help keep it humid enough for them? Thanks, ILoveMyTokay
not sure about foggers-seem expensive to me i have the bark/mulch mix too, but actually pour water into it every few days and spray twice daily, the bigger the water dish the better too,
get some water keeping substrate like cocopeat, they really kep the humidity up. brendy is also right, big water bowl is good, fogger is not to suitable but still an option. anyway please make sure the plant isnt poisonous for the tokay
Yep, we did all of our research beforehand, the plants aren't poisonous With the waterfall in the new tank, the humidity is no longer a problem. Now, we just face heating options. Her tank is currently adequately heated with the Exo Terra Dual Canopy that allows for 1 Night Glo (although we aren't using this one as the lowest wattage the pet store has was a 40W. We added it for a about 15 minutes to see what would happen and the bulb didn't burn out and the system didn't fry, but we aren't using it now just in case) and 2 Sun Glo at a maximum of 25W each (the most the canopy is said to be able to handle.) Unfortunately, this Canopy is a little bit bigger than the rest of the tank, and we are looking to downgrade it in size as this tank is only 50cm long, but is nearly 80 cm high and 48 cm deep. The canopy is 60cm long. The other options that are smaller and would fit on top of the tank however would not provide adequate enough heat (in our best estimation). With the 2 26W Sun Glos and the thermometer near the lower middle of the tank (further away from the heat sources), we are staying at approximately 80F. This is sufficiently heated as we also have undertank radiant heaters from Exo-Terra to help heat the lower part of the tank as well. Now, all we need to do is get this same amount of heat/wattage in a smaller (preferrably dual) lid so that it can fit atop our aquarium without hanging off the sides, and allow us to switch between day and nighttime lightings for her. Do you guys have any recommendations for products that might fit a 50 CM tank with enough power to heat a terrarium that is approximately 50 gallons? With the help of the radiant bottom heating, of course. Please let me know, I appreciate all of the advice guys! ILoveMyTokay
