Detailed Explanation of Key Points of Artificial Breeding Technology for Tokay Geckos

The tokay gecko belongs to the gecko family and is also known as the immortal toad or great gecko; it is a precious wild economic animal. The dried product of the tokay gecko is a precious medicinal material famous at home and abroad, with effects of tonifying the kidney, warming the lung, strengthening yang, benefiting essence and blood, and stopping asthma and cough. At present, market demand is large, and the product supply falls short of demand. Its rearing methods are introduced as follows:

I. Breeding site and facilities

A shaded site with good ventilation, warm winters and cool summers, and convenient for attracting insects should be selected. Build a closed surrounding wall with stone and brick, 40 cm thick and 3 m high. On the lower part of the inner wall around the perimeter, at 1 m above the ground, build several recessed windows 1 m square for raising cockroaches; on the upper part of the inner wall, at 30 cm from the wall base, build several rectangular grooves for tokay geckos to rest and lay eggs, 20 cm wide, with length depending on the wall, separated by movable bricks for easy capture of tokay geckos. Open windows in the walls of the rearing room. Nail on wire mesh, nail wooden shelves on the indoor walls, shade light with gunny bags, etc., and cover the top of the site with wire mesh to prevent tokay geckos from escaping. Set up 2——3 black light lamps on the ceiling to attract insects at night for tokay geckos to prey on. Set up a small water pool in the center of the site for drinking water.

II. Feeding and management of tokay geckos

Tokay geckos hide by day and come out at night, dormant in winter and active in summer. The optimum growth temperature is 22 ——30°C, and relative humidity should be maintained at 60%——80%. Tokay geckos are carnivorous animals. They mainly eat insects, but avoid dead and rotten food. Using black light lamps to attract insects, each 20-watt bulb can attract enough insects in one night to feed 200——400 large tokay geckos. When feed is insufficient, artificially reared ground beetles, cockroaches, etc. can be supplemented. The method for raising cockroaches is: stuff old newspapers, animal bones, corn flour, and rice bran into the recessed windows, then put the captured cockroaches in and let them reproduce naturally; when grown, they become high-quality feed for tokay geckos. Tokay geckos also eat plant-based feed. The preparation method is: cook cornmeal, sweet potato, pumpkin powder, or red sweet potato, etc. into porridge, add an appropriate amount of flour, shrimp powder, eggs, etc., smear the feed on the inner wall every evening, and let the tokay geckos feed freely; after eating their fill once, tokay geckos can go 3——5 days without foraging again. Tokay geckos like a clean and refreshing environment. The rearing room should be cleaned every day, feces removed, and drinking water changed once a day to keep it clean. For rearing density, it is appropriate to rear 30——40 per sq m of ground. During the rearing process, attention should be paid to preventing enemies such as cats and rats from preying on tokay geckos. In addition, ants will bite and injure the skin of tokay geckos, affecting fattening and causing wound rot, so prevention should be noted.

III. Reproduction of tokay geckos

1 Tokay geckos come into estrus and mate from March——April each year, lay eggs from May——June, and hatch from July ——August. Male tokay geckos have an obvious appearance. Females are thick and plump, yellow, with finer markings; males are slightly thinner, black, with coarser markings. Female tokay geckos weigh 100——200 grams. After raising young tokay geckos for 1.5 years, females can reach 32 cm; males are smaller and have a slightly pointed tail. The female-to-male ratio is 20——30:1. If there are too many males, they will compete with each other for females and food, bite off their tails, and reduce medicinal value.

2 Keep egg-laying females in cages. Separate them with paper grids. Paste a layer of thin paper inside the paper grids. Let them lay eggs on the paper, then tear off the thin paper to collect the eggs. Shade the outside of the cage with cloth to keep the tokay geckos quiet while laying eggs. Half a month before laying eggs, feed more insects. When feeding artificial compound feed, add some white sugar and eggs to the porridge to increase nutrition. After each pair of eggs is laid, tokay geckos lay another pair about 50 days later, producing 4 pairs per year. Under conditions of relative humidity 70%——90% and temperature 30——32°C, young tokay geckos can hatch after 70 ——80 days.

3 After young tokay geckos hatch, they must be separated from large tokay geckos immediately to prevent being eaten. Within 6 days, feed young tokay geckos some white sugar water every day; after 6 days, feed some small insects. When young tokay geckos grow to about 10 cm, they can be returned to the rearing room for rearing. Early-laid eggs can be controlled at a suitable temperature to hatch young tokay geckos earlier; in that year, the growth period can be extended, and the winter survival rate is high; when laid warm and hatched, the survival rate can be increased. When hatched in the warm weather of the following year, the survival rate can be increased.

IV. Disease prevention and control

1 When pesticides are sprayed on nearby farmland, black light lamps should be turned off to prevent tokay geckos from eating pesticide-carrying insects and being poisoned.

2 Tokay geckos are susceptible to angular stomatitis or stomatitis; in mild cases they lose appetite, and in severe cases they die. If this disease is found, they should be isolated for treatment. The affected area can be washed with 0.5% nitrofurazone solution or 0.1% potassium permanganate solution, and vitamin B1 and vitamin C should be fed, 3 times a day, 2.5 mg each time.

3 Another disease to which tokay geckos are susceptible is night blindness. After onset, the eyeballs protrude, become red and swollen, and the animal becomes emaciated, dying after 15——20 days. The prevention and treatment method is: regularly feed vitamin A and vitamin B.

4 When tokay geckos develop rickets, they become weak and lacking in strength, lose appetite and move little, gradually become emaciated, and die after 30——40 days. When this disease is found, eggshells can be fried black, ground into powder, mixed into feed and fed, or more bone meal can be added to the artificial feed.

V. Capture and processing of tokay geckos

1 Generally, capture is mostly done from May——September. At night, when tokay geckos come out to forage. A nylon thread can also be tied to one end of a small bamboo pole and used to touch into stone crevices or tree holes; when they bite the thread, quickly pull them out and capture them.

2 After capturing tokay geckos, they can be processed and dried. The method is: lightly strike the back of the head and occipital region of the tokay gecko with the back of a knife; after it dies, dig out the eyeballs, place the ventral side upward, nail the head with an iron nail, hold the base of the hind limbs with the left hand, slightly straighten the body, use a sharp knife with the right hand to cut from above the anus to the pharynx, prop open the chest and abdominal wall with bamboo strips, remove the internal organs, wipe dry the blood with cloth (do not wash with water), then gently straighten the four limbs and tail, dry over a slow fire, take two of the same size and combine them into a pair, tie them well, and they become commercial tokay geckos.