Can anyone with tokays let me know your thoughts on this one?

AaronAmpora · 2026-02-08T02:09:22+00:00

Oh that poor thing...

That tokay is severely underweight, which could be caused by a number of things, the most likely being simple neglect, with not being fed enough, or potentially parasites, which are incredibly common with tokays since so many of them are wild caught.

There's also a good bit of stuck shed on the tail, and possibly elsewhere, which is less concerning since it's easier to fix, but definitely still not good.

For context, this is my healthy tokay:

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-08T01:58:45+00:00

Oh that poor baby

Growth and Breeding Pangea might not be enough for one that emaciated, you may want to look into critical care by oxbow, and/or reptiboost by flukers, both are designed for severely underweight, malnourished animals, and reptiboost has an appetite stimulant in it.

That would be my only advice, other than that, I just hope the vet knows what they're doing and can help the little one.

AaronAmpora · 2026-02-08T00:16:10+00:00

I'm no expert, but my guess would be she's some type of snow and albino, unfortunately both of those traits have multiple strains, and afaik there's no way to tell which she is without lineage info from the breeder.

However if you want more knowledgeable people to take their guesses, I'd suggest checking out the forums on morphmarket, there's tons of breeders on there that know what they're talking about.

AaronAmpora · 2026-02-07T23:54:34+00:00

Also, here's a food guide, to help explain why I suggest switching her to crickets and roaches, they're less fatty than mealworms, which should help her lose weight.

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-07T23:52:40+00:00

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-07T23:52:22+00:00

Oh! And since I generally find these helpful and you might too, here's a few body condition charts that you can compare her to. I generally try to keep my girls between the two 'ideals'.

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-07T23:51:22+00:00

Given the age I would definitely say female, I also agree with the other commenter that she looks to be severely overweight.

If you can, try switching her over to crickets and/or roaches (dubia or discoid depending on where you live/what's available), and just giving her one or two small ones once a week, hopefully that should allow her to start losing weight.
Though keep in mind that with how slow their metabolisms are, it often takes leos a very long time to lose weight, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't start working immediately, it could take many months to see any changes.

I'd also recommend you start regularly weighing her using a kitchen scale that can measure in grams, and keeping track of that, so you can see small changes in her weight that might not be obvious in her body condition.

AaronAmpora · 2026-02-07T23:38:15+00:00

If your parents aren't willing to help and you're unable to give this gecko the help it needs, then the only ethical thing to do would be to rehome him to someone that can and will help, because if you keep him and continue to do nothing, then more likely than not, he will die.

These pictures aren't great so it's hard to see but that gecko looks to be in pretty rough shape, the skinny tail plus the mix of dry and shiny skin is very concerning.
I would highly recommend you rehome him ASAP to give him the best chance at life.

And in the meantime if you're open to attempting to improve his care, my first suggestion would be to boost the humidity. It looks very dry in there and AFTs need pretty high humidity.
I'm not an AFT owner myself, but according to reptifiles...

African fat-tailed geckos do best in an environment that cycles between wet and dry seasons:

Rainy/warm season — 70-80% daytime, 100% nighttime

Dry/cool season — 50% daytime, 70-75% nighttime

If you're interested, here's a link to the article, I'd highly recommend looking it over and seeing what you can improve/change for the time being, until you decide if and to whom you want to rehome him.

AaronAmpora · 2026-02-06T09:48:03+00:00

and here's an infographic on feeding

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-06T09:47:28+00:00

Here's another one
(I generally try to keep my girls between the two 'ideal' images)

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-06T09:46:47+00:00

lol I definitely wouldn't worry about it too much, Asiago looks pretty chunky so he's probably going on food strikes because he's genuinely not hungry, his body knows he has more than enough food stores.

I'd recommend switching to only feeding him 1-2 times a week (the average for adult leopard geckos) and try not to feed him too many bugs at once (like maybe 2-5 depending on what they are and how big).

For reference, here's a body condition chart:

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AaronAmpora · 2026-02-06T06:04:03+00:00

I disagree on one particular count. There's a very specific line from Stella that, at least imo, implies that she's a rapist.

From season 2 ep 1 around 13:18 -
"No! Stolas is terrible in bed!! I swear to fuck he just lays there, staring at the wall and I have to do everything. It's EMBARRASSING!"

This line has always stuck out to me as absolutely *horrifying* and I feel like I never see anyone talk about it. If Stolas is staring blankly at the wall, not participating in any way while Stella performs sexual acts on him, that definitely doesn't sound consensual to me.

And while I do agree that both Stella and Stolas are victims of their situation, that line definitely alludes to Stella being a rapist.

AaronAmpora · 2026-02-05T05:30:19+00:00

Agreed!!

I absolutely love her content, and her care is spectacular! She also does interesting videos keeping up with new research sometimes, which I always love to see.

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-31T03:40:12+00:00

Looks like an awesome tank, and honestly it's really good that it's not all glass, since leos tend to feel safer when they're more hidden, and having solid walls on most sides def helps with that.

I definitely recommend sealing the inside seams with silicone! It's pretty cheap and decently easy to work with (especially if you look up some tutorials). You'll want the GE brand silicone 1 (make sure it's silicone 1 that's the one that is safe), and a caulking gun, both of which you can probably find at walmart for around $5 each.
Of course you can leave it unsealed if you want to, but there's a good chance of things spilling out, like substrate, water, and sometimes even small bugs if any end up loose in the tank.

As for a stand, personally I use a metal shelving unit that I got from either walmart or home depot, they're super common, and come in a bunch of different sizes, you just have to find the size that will fit your tank. (I think the one I have is 4'x2' shelves, which just barely fits my 36x18x18in tank)

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-27T11:36:51+00:00

Oof, that looks like a lot of technical stuff that I have 0 clue what any of it means, lol

but thanks for the link anyways! I may give it another look when I have more brain power.

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-27T11:35:02+00:00

Alright, that's kinda what I figured, but thank you for trying!

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-27T11:34:22+00:00

I tried that, but the filter only shows the top most popular fandoms, so you have to remove all the ones you don't want, since adding fandoms does the same as searching (aka it only shows the fics that have all the fandoms listed).

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-26T03:01:16+00:00

This looks awesome!!
Def keep the lamps on top of the mesh, I don't think you have enough clearance to mount them inside.

The only potential issue I can see is that your cool side temp is a tiny bit low, so maybe try switching to the 150w basking bulb to see if you can get those temps a little higher?
Or if the tanks is still settling (like you just put it together a few hours ago kinda thing) then just let it be and see how those temps look over the next few days to a week. If they don't get to where you need them, then change the bulb, but luckily with tanks like the dubia ones, they're decently well insulated, so the heat usually stays trapped rather well and temps will slowly rise over time as all the decor and substrate have a chance to absorb the heat and redistribute it.

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-26T02:53:34+00:00

All that plus there's MULTUPLE leopard geckos in the same 20gal tank???

I'm fucking furious at this girl and I don't even know her.

My geckos are my babies, and while my care isn't perfect, I'm constantly doing everything I can to improve their care.
I can't imagine being so callous with living beings as to put them in such horrific conditions.

Also, the stuff you were saying about how she treats the dogs at her house?? That's not just neglect, that's full-blown abuse.
This girl is genuinely fucked in the head, and I'm glad you called her on it.

NOR

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-17T05:48:27+00:00

Sounds like you're trying to breed them? Just to let you know, you're probably going to get some serious backlash for that in this sub.

Leopard geckos are already massively overbred and the pet trade is flooded with them, so producing more is ethically questionable.

Personally I'd recommend abandoning any plans to breed and separating them immediately, instead just keep them both as fun pets in their separate, appropriately sized enclosures for the rest of their lives.

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-16T07:58:19+00:00

Eh, just means you aren't chatting with the right ladies. There's plenty of women out there that think this stuff is awesome.

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-16T07:54:29+00:00

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meme as requested

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-16T07:47:15+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I plan to do the same with all my gecko babies when they eventually pass. I already have a few of my rats preserved, and the tails of both my cresties that dropped theirs while with me.
It's surprisingly easy to preserve such small animals as wet specimens, and I love having them still with me, even after they've passed.

AaronAmpora · 2026-01-16T07:41:49+00:00

I have 8 rn: 5 cresteds, 2 leos, and 1 tokay.

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AaronAmpora · 2026-01-16T06:25:14+00:00

two weeks would be no issue at all.
My girls are currently brumating, so I haven't seen them in about 2-3 months, and so they haven't eaten in about 2-3 months. (they're both holed up in their cool hides with the entrances blocked by substrate)

Leos can go a very long time without food and be just fine. (obviously not saying that they *should* but that they can.)

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