Toaky Geckos - They May Soon Become A High Priced Herp

If you are at all familiar with lizards ten you probably have seen or at least heard of Tokay Geckos. They have been popular animals within the pet trade for decades. Why they are so popular is certainly not due to their demeanor, they do not tame easily (but yes they can be tamed) and have a proclivity for biting the hand that feeds them or biting anything else that gets too close to their mouths. So, that leaves us with some other possibilities for their popularity as pets. One of the foremost has probably been that they are certainly an eye catching lizard. They are quite colorful and beautiful little animals. Certainly, their beauty has caught the eye of more than just one person at a reptile show or in a pet shop and those folks just bought them on impulse. Those folks often wind up getting a couple of surprises after they buy those cute little lizards. The first being their aggressive biting behavior and the second being the size to which they grow - adults often grow to over 12" long. Tokay Geckos are one of the largest gecko species.  Those two surprises often result in pet Tokay Geckos being offered for adoption or otherwise gotten rid of by a disenchanted owner. Yet, they remain popular in the pet trade so, what other reason(s) could there be for their popularity?

Maybe another reason could be their ravenous appetites for insects. I remember, years ago, back when I was in my young twenties, there was a pet shop, on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, that rented out Tokay Geckos. Yes, you read that right, they rented them out to people for short term use. The idea was that people who had roach infested apartments would rent the geckos, turn them loose in their apartments, let them wipe out the roaches by eating them and then the renter would return the gecko to the pet shop. Since I first saw this in the winter months, I asked the shop owner about how the geckos survived an apartment in the winter months, when even indoor temps were not ideal. The shop owner told me the Tokay Geckos usually found their way to the kitchen where most roaches thrived and where there was a constant source of heat so the geckos could thermoregulate. What was the heat source? Nope, not the stove. It was the refrigerator which would have a warm area around its motor while running. That is where the shop owner told folks to look for the geckos if they wanted to find and catch them to return them to the shop after the roaches were controlled or eliminated. While he went on to explain to me that he never really expected anyone to bring back any of the geckos, at least one person had done so and that person swore his (or was it her) apartment was then roach free. As for their supposed roach eliminating abilities, even though they have great appetites, and certainly will eat roaches, I don't think a Tokay Gecko or two would be enough to clear an apartment of roaches but who knows. Yet, I find that little incentive to make them high demand pets since there are many other ways to eliminate those six legged vermin. So what other reason(s) are left to us for their popularity.

Did you see the additional reason in the above paragraph, other than them being roach eaters, for their popularity? They are fairly hearty and are pretty easy to keep; although, I do not recommend depending on the heat from a refrigerator motor to suffice. Keeping them in a proper enclosure under proper conditions is essential. They need to get the right amount and variety of food and the correct amount of water and heat to thrive. Care sheets are available online and there have been several books published about their care.

Dried Tokay Geckos for sale for medicinal purposes.

I suppose the fact that there were always a lot of Tokay Geckos available was one of the driving reasons for their popularity. The were never, in decades past, endangered in the wild - not even close to it as far as I am aware. Many were taken captive, the lucky ones making their way to the pet trade.  I called them the lucky ones because many a Tokay Gecko was not as fortunate to wind up as some one's pet - millions of them wound up being killed and dried and then used in traditional Chinese medicine. I used to see dried Tokay Geckos (like the ones pictured) for sale in shops in New York City's Chinatown all of the time. (I have not seen them offered in recent years - probably because of Mayor Bloomberg - you know like the soda thing it probably became illegal to sell Tokay Geckos over a certain size.) They were used to cure many ailments and as aphrodisiacs. Then, a few years ago, they reportedly were pronounced to cure HIV/AIDS. The demand for them, already fairly high at that time, supposedly skyrocketed. A lengthy report on Tokay Gecko trade and their use in medicine can be found at this link: http://www.traffic.org/species-reports/traffic_species_reptiles35.pdf. (I am not vouching for the validity of said report, just offering a link to it.)

If the report is correct, the Tokay Gecko may be facing drastically declining numbers in the wild. Luckily, as the report points out in a small snippet, Tokay Geckos are commonly captive bred in the UK and USA. Still though, if wild populations are extirpated, wild caught Tokay Geckos will be much harder to come by in the pet trade because legislation will likely have been enacted to prevent them being taken from the wild. Thus, the cost of wild caught Tokay Geckos is almost sure to rise and that will undoubtedly impact the price of captive bred and born specimens which will also increase. Once, if ever, they are considered endangered the demand for them, among reptile fanciers, may also increase and that would also cause the price to rise. A few countries already have Lawson the books trying to protect native populations.

So, if you have ever wanted a Tokay Gecko, now may be the time to acquire one - and maybe even to start a captive breeding project. You certainly would be helping them in nature if you were to breed them in captivity, if only because you would be lessening the demand for wild caught animals in the pet trade. You also could be doing yourself a favor by getting the jump on others who will be sure to turn to captive breeding of Tokay Geckos if and when they become an endangered or threatened species. Anyway you look at them though, they are an attractive and interesting lizard. The time is right for you to get one or three - it is not too late yet - so what are you waiting for - afraid of a little bite now and then, are you? I sure am!

All the best,
Glenn B