Baskden a warm den for reptile folk

🩺 Your free vet-prep sheet

Your Tokay Gecko Vet-Prep Sheet

Reptile vets are rare, and it is easy to freeze in a crisis. This is the one page to have ready — how to find a vet, what to bring, what to tell them, and the questions to ask. This helps you prepare for a visit — it is not a way to treat at home. Print it and keep it with your care notes.

Black & white saves ink and prints cleanly on any printer.

Not sure it’s a vet trip yet? Try the Is this normal? triage first — many worries turn out to be a husbandry fix.

Baskden a warm den for reptile folk · baskden.com
Tokay Gecko — Vet-Prep Sheet

🔍 Find a reptile / exotics vet — before you need one

  • Search the ARAV Find-a-Vet directory (the Association of Reptilian & Amphibian Veterinarians), or in the UK the RCVS Find-a-Vet — or search "reptile / exotics vet near me".
  • Call ahead and ask the key question: "Do you see reptiles?" Not every practice does.
  • Ask the exam fee when you call. Knowing the cost up front removes the money-panic in a crisis.
  • Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.

📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis

Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.

My reptile vet
My tokay gecko
What I'm seeing

🚨 Is this an emergency now?

See a reptile vet promptly if you notice any of these:

  • Refusing food for an extended period alongside weight loss or a thinning tail (dehydration/parasites/illness) warrants an exotics vet visit.
  • Stuck shed, especially around the toes or tail tip, that could cut off circulation.
  • Soft, rubbery, or bent jaw/limbs, tremors, or twitching, which can signal metabolic bone disease from calcium/D3/UVB problems.
  • Open-mouth breathing, wheezing, clicking, or bubbles/mucus around the nose or mouth, which can indicate a respiratory infection (often from too-cold or too-stagnant-wet conditions).
  • Any new wild-caught or freshly imported tokay: get a fecal exam, as heavy parasite loads are common.
  • Lethargy, sunken eyes, or a persistently gaping/limp animal that is unlike its normal bold self.

When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.

🚗 On the way / while you wait

✅ Do

  • Keep it warm at a safe transport temperature — a cold reptile crashes fast (a warm car or a covered container with a warm, not hot, pack helps).
  • Keep it calm, dark and quiet in a secure, ventilated container — stress makes almost everything worse.
  • Bring it in its own container so the vet sees it as it lives.

⛔ Don't

  • Don’t offer food, or any OTC, aquarium-shop or online-forum remedy — many are useless or harmful and can mask the signs.
  • Don’t let it get cold on the way in.
  • Don’t handle it more than you must.

🎒 What to bring

  • A short video and a couple of clear photos of the behaviour or sign — it may not show it in the clinic.
  • A note of your setup (basking, cool-side and night temperatures, UVB, humidity, substrate) and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
  • Your reptile, transported safely in its own secure, ventilated container — kept warm (see below), not in a cold car.

🗣️ What to tell the vet

A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:

Temperature
A warm basking spot of 90-100°F (32-38°C) measured with a digital probe on the basking surface. (Some sources cite up to 105°F; keep the true basking surface in the low-to-mid range and always offer a gradient.) 80-85°F (26-29°C) on the cool end, giving the gecko a real thermal gradient to move through. A natural nighttime drop to about 75-80°F (24-26°C) is fine; do not let it fall below ~75°F (24°C). Use a non-light heat source (like a ceramic heat emitter) if the room gets cold, so you don't disrupt the day/night cycle.
UVB & lighting
Yes, provide low-level UVB. Tokays are nocturnal so they can technically survive on dietary D3 alone, but modern keepers get healthier animals with UVB. Aim for a Ferguson Zone 1 basking UVI of about 1.0-2.0 using a T5 or T8 tube such as a Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 or an Arcadia ShadeDweller, mounted so the basking branch sits roughly 6-10 in below the lamp (measure with a Solarmeter to be sure). Replace UVB bulbs every 12 months.
Humidity
High: aim for roughly 60-80% average, measured with a digital probe hygrometer, allowing it to cycle down between mistings rather than sitting soggy. Mist 1-2x daily. Ventilation matters just as much as moisture; a stagnant, waterlogged tank causes skin and respiratory infections.
Enclosure
Minimum for one adult is a tall 24 × 24 × 48 in (60 × 60 × 120 cm) per modern authority guidance (ReptiFiles, The Bio Dude); bigger is better. These are arboreal, so height and vertical climbing space matter more than floor space. One tokay per enclosure, always.
Substrate
A moisture-holding tropical substrate at least 2 in (5 cm) deep: coconut fiber (Zoo Med Eco Earth), a soil mix like ReptiSoil or Exo Terra Plantation Soil, or a bioactive soil blend. Loose substrate holds humidity and supports live plants; a planted/bioactive setup with cleanup crew is ideal. If using loose soil non-bioactively, spot-clean constantly and replace it every few months.
Diet
Insectivore. Feed a rotation of appropriately sized feeders: crickets, dubia and discoid roaches, red runner roaches, locusts/grasshoppers, hornworms, and silkworms. Prey should be no larger than the space between the gecko's eyes (roughly its head). Juveniles daily, adults every other day, offering what the gecko eats in about 5 minutes. An occasional pinky mouse or crested-gecko diet can be given roughly 2x/month as a treat, not a staple.
Supplements
Dust feeders and gut-load. A common approach is an all-in-one like Repashy Calcium Plus LoD dusted on feeders at each meal. If using plain supplements instead: calcium with D3 (more often for growing juveniles than adults, e.g. daily for juveniles vs. 2-3x/week for adults) plus a reptile multivitamin about 1-2x weekly. Gut-load insects for 2-3 days before feeding.

⚕️ Reptiles are ectotherms kept at species-specific temperatures — a cold reptile can’t metabolise medicines properly, so tell the vet your exact temperatures and keep it warm for transport. Reptiles are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so early changes matter. Mention your UVB/lighting and any supplements or remedies you’ve already used, and ask for reptile-safe products and doses.

Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.

❓ Questions to ask

  • Do you routinely see reptiles? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
  • What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
  • What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
  • How do I prevent this from happening again?