Pink Tongue Skink Care Guide
November 13, 2025
In this care guide we will be talking about the Tokay Gecko, Gekko gecko. I’ll be covering comprehensive care information, from housing, heating and lighting, to diet, handling and breeding and I’ve been keeping and breeding Tokay Geckos myself for over a decade.
If you’re looking for a Tokay Gecko for sale in the UK then please call us on 02920 190291 or message us on Facebook. We sell our offspring from our store in Cardiff or can courier UK wide.
Meet the Tokay Gecko
The tokay gecko is a medium sized (10 – 16″ long) species of lizard that is very common in the wild. They have a very widespread territory, and are considered invasive and even pests in some areas. You can find them in the wild in northeast India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. They are invasive in some areas such as Florida, Martinique and Belize. There are reports of them living wild in Hawaii and some Caribbean and Pacific Islands. In the UK they are a captive bred pet, famed for their big personalities, tons of attitude and attractive colouration.
Tokay Geckos are entirely arboreal and in the wild would avoid coming down to the ground as their survival requires them to stay up high and out of the way of predators. They are famous for being very defensive, gaping their mouths and shouting a loud “Tokay!” call which will echo throughout an entire house. This defensiveness scares predators that might come close. Captive bred Tokay Geckos can be handled from babies and may tame down, but they always have this instinct in them. They are not shy about biting if they feel threatened and have a very strong jaw. As such they are generally considered a display species.
The wild type Tokay gecko has a pale gray base with a blue-ish tinge and orange/red spots, or darker black spots, depending on locality. There are also quite a few genetic morphs now bred in captivity which alter these colours, although they are generally still considered very rare. Guides say they can live 15-20 years in captivity, but recent reports have suggested they can exceed this with correct care. In the wild their lifespan is greatly reduced due to predation.
Due to their abundance in the wild a lot of the Tokay geckos in the pet trade at the moment are still wild caught. We do not support this and only sell captive bred babies.
| Common Name | Tokay Gecko |
| Scientific Name | Gekko Gecko |
| Origin | Northeast India and Southeast Asia (Native) Florida, some areas of the Caribbean (Invasive) |
| Size | 10-16″ including tail, with males being larger than females |
| Lifespan | 15-20 years |
| Diet | Live Insects |
| Housing | Arboreal – 24x24x36″ or larger |
Housing Tokay Geckos
Tokay Geckos are Arboreal and need a large enclosure that is taller rather than wide. We recommend a minimum of 24x24x36″ for an adult, but you would need larger for a pair or group (single male only). The enclosure can be glass or wood.
Provide lots of branches, plants, and hiding places and in particular Tokay Geckos like large vertical spaces to hide, such as upright hollow cork bark. We find that ours live in cork bark the majority of the time and feel secure enough to lay their eggs inside.
Substrate and Bioactive Options
This species inhabits tropical and semi tropical regions and you want a substrate that is able to get damp without growing bacteria or mould. Orchid Bark is suitable, as is a soil or coir mix.
Tokay geckos thrive in bioactive enclosures. Although these take more time and a bit more expense to set up, they are well worth it for how rewarding they are. They even improve the air quality in the room for you, too, and are self-sustaining, self-cleaning environments. We sell everything you need for a bioactive setup.
A bioactive setup requires a layer of drainage balls at the bottom of the tank, to stop water from building up. A layer of substrate mesh, and then your soil mix substrate, which will be populated with custodian insects such as springtails and woodlice. Well fed Tokay Geckos won’t bother eating the custodians as they are so small and on the floor of the enclosure.
Then you can plant a selection of indoor plants that do well in a hot and humid environment.
Lighting for Tokay Geckos
Tokay Geckos are primarily nocturnal, although you may see activity at any time in the day from a confident gecko, particularly if food is involved.
When Tokay geckos were originally kept in captivity people did not use any lighting with them, but as more and more research is done, we have come to realize that even nocturnal species can benefit from UVB. You can read more about this in our full UVB guide if you’re interested in learning about UVB lighting.
Whilst a Tokay gecko with a correctly supplemented diet may live without lighting, we highly recommend a low percentage UVB. We follow the well-researched Arcadia Light Index guide, which recommends at 40-45cm height you have a T5 6% UVB bulb, whilst at 25-40cm height you have either a T8 6% UVB bulb or a T5 7% ShadeDweller, which will give a UVI index of 1-2 in the basking zone.
There are several brands of UV available, but make sure that you are purchasing tested and reputable reptile brands. The bulb will have a lifespan recommended by the manufacturer, at which point it needs to be replaced even if it is still emitting light.
Heating for Tokay Geckos
In the wild Tokay geckos would get top down heat from the sun, which would filter through the rainforest canopy. They do not need a directed basking spot to sit under like a diurnal species, but will still benefit from top down heat that emulates the temperatures they experience in the wild.
Top of enclosure / Basking Temperature – 90 to 100F (32 to 38C)
Bottom of enclosure – 80 to 85F (26 to 29C)
Night time temperature – 75 to 80F (23 to 26C)
As you can see this is a warm overnight temperature and you will likely need additional heating to achieve this. You can provide an overall ambient with a heat mat, ceramic bulb or deep heat projector – the choice will depend on the size of your enclosure, the type of enclosure you’re using and the ambient temperature in the room you’re keeping them in. Feel free to drop us a message if you need advice. Whichever method you use to heat the enclosure ensure that it is controlled by a thermostat.
You will want to monitor both the top and bottom of the enclosure with a thermometer. Some digital thermometers have the ability to monitor two locations at once.
Humidity
The ambient humidity in your Tokay gecko tank should be 60-80%, with a daily misting briefly raising the humidity. It’s also important to provide ample ventilation in the enclosure. If you’re using a glass tank then a mesh top will be adequate. If using a wooden enclosure, you may want to add an additional few ventilation panels.
Diet
Tokay geckos are insectivores and have big appetites. They will happily eat a large varied diet of live insects, consisting of bugs such as crickets, locusts, cockroaches, mealworms, silkworms and occasional treats of waxworms. In the wild they are very opportunistic and will eat smaller lizards, snakes and even frogs. If you want to give a small vertebrate as a treat in captivity, you can feed a defrosted pinky mouse very occasionally.
Juvenile Tokay geckos should be fed daily, whilst full grown adults can be fed every other day or even every couple of days. They can tend towards obesity as adults in captivity which will affect their lifespan.
Dust the food with calcium powder and add a multivitamin once a week.
Wild Caught vs Captive Bred
Due to Tokay geckos being extremely abundant in their native areas, they are often caught and exported into the pet trade. This is not something that we support for such a common species. Whilst there are arguments to be made for catching animals in the wild for conservation purposes, it does not apply here. Wild caught Tokay geckos are likely to be considerably cheaper than captive bred, however you do not know their health history, they may have external or internal parasites, will have endured stress, injury and dehydration and will almost certainly never tame down. We sell captive bred babies from captive bred adults and highly recommend that you look for captive bred over wild caught.
Tokay Gecko Social Needs
Tokay Geckos are fine living a solitary life. They are a territorial species and two males will fight, causing severe injuries to each other and can even cause death to each other. Some females can be very territorial with other females too, especially if a second female is added after the first reaches maturity or lays eggs. She has then laid claim to her territory and will attack interlopers If you prefer to keep more than one we would recommend one male and one female together, ideally raised from a young age together, or two females from the same clutch who are not breeding, but even that needs to be closely monitored. As a pet, it’s best to keep them solo.
Handling Tokay Geckos
We often get asked about handling Tokay geckos. This is not a species we personally recommend handling as they can be extremely defensive, fast and even bite if they feel threatened. Whilst it’s possible to work with captive bred hatchling Tokay geckos until they are somewhat tame, they still exhibit this behaviour and don’t enjoy being handled. If handling adults we recommend using gloves as a bite can be painful and cause bruising.
Sexing Tokay Geckos
Adult Tokay geckos can be sexed by looking for enlarged femoral pores, cloacal pores and cloacal spurs on males. Males also tend to grow larger than females, although this isn’t guaranteed. Juveniles can be very hard to sex.
Breeding Tokay Geckos
Tokay geckos are quite special in that they are one of the few lizards that provide parental care for their babies. Pairs will guard the nest of eggs and chase off predators that might threaten their young. This may explain why they are so abundant in the wild, as the young have that extra bit of protection after they hatch.
Once your pair of Tokay Geckos is between 2 to 3 years old and is at least 90 – 100 grams in weight then you can consider them for breeding. Sometimes a male and female will simply refuse to integrate with each other. We do not understand what socially makes some pairs reject each other as mates, but it happens in some other large gecko species too, such as New Caledonian Giant Geckos. You need to monitor your pair and ensure that they are not fighting. If they are sleeping together in the same location then it is likely they have chosen a nest and accepted each other. You may never witness mating behaviour, but eventually eggs will appear in this nest.
The eggs will be glued very firmly in the nest and will be laid two at a time, with multiple clutches over a season. We recommend leaving them to incubate in the enclosure naturally. Whilst we would take the eggs out of most species and pop them in an incubator, this is likely to cause stress to the adults and risk damaging the eggs. The eggs can be incubated at various temperatures depending on where the adults have made their nest. As long as your temperatures in the tank follow the guidelines, they will find a good spot, but hatching time can vary, anywhere from 60 days all the way up to 180 days! Juveniles can be left in the tank for a period or removed immediately to go into their own enclosure. We personally remove them once we manage to spot and catch them as this allows us to feed the appropriate size livefood and fully monitor their health and growth.
How do Tokay geckos stick to glass?
Tokay geckos, along with a wide range of arboreal geckos, from day geckos, to crested and gargoyle geckos, to house and mourning geckos, and more, can climb glass. About 60% of their feet are covered in something called setae, which are tiny hair-like ridges, which through a molecular force called van der Waals forces allows them to climb smooth surfaces. This is a crazy evolutionary development which scientists have studied for years, creating new tape and glue because of it! Tokay geckos in particular excel at climbing most surfaces with ease, with large extremely strong legs, feet and toes.
Any Questions?
If you have any questions at all about keeping Pink Tongue Skinks in captivity, please message us direct on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.
Please note that the images used in this caresheet are either photography used with licensing rights, or photography taken by Reptile Cymru. All images are protected by their original copyright. Do not reproduce this sheet or use any images within without permission.
