How does my boy look?
Long time phantasmal redditor, first time poster, freshly a tokay owner. This is my new boy, The Little Lord Fauntleroy <3 Does he look alright, esp weightwise? (I was told he dropped his tail and regrew it a while back, so, y'know, beyond that!)
I'm 99% sure he was bred in-house at a trusted local exotics shop and they told me he's 4 months old, born in February. They had even smaller baby tokays that weren't ready to go home yet and I know they breed most of their own stock, so I believe it, though I've heard captive bred tokays are rare so perhaps I'm just naive. His carry-home tote had his birthday on it though.
I didn't entirely plan on getting him (I had an empty arboreal baby tank I had planned for something else that fell through, went to the shop and asked what could comfortably live inside of it (at least for a couple months 'til I'm in a bigger space and can get him the big big tank of his tiny little geck dreams) and they recommended him -- I fell in love with his fiesty little self!) so I'm a little less prepared than I would normally be before getting a specific breed of pet (my only other reptile is a hognose and I did years of research before buying him, lmao).
They gave me a fantastic and thorough rundown on his care before I even decided to take him home, and I've spent the last few days researching nonstop. He seems comfortable and lively and has eaten very easily every time I've tried, but I can't stop wondering if there's something wrong that I'm not able to see or something in general I'm not thinking of.
I do plan on taking him to the vet in the near future but before that: does he look alright? Under/overweight?
Do you have any tips for handling/taming? He's fiesty but I have been consistently able to hold him in my hand without getting bitten, and yesterday he walked on me for the first time :^)
I've been feeding him 2-3 small-to-medium crickets* a day, is that enough for now or should I be doing more?
Also, when you feed your tokay, do you usually drop feed? I hand feed my hognose because that's how he likes it (he's a total diva) and it feels strange not to be handfeeding this gecko but I know that handfeeding isn't necessarily normal, haha. And what do you give them? *I've been doing crickets because it's what I have on hand for my tarantula but I want to switch to mainly dubias, I think, and also try and diversify his diet in general if I can.
Any other tips and tricks are appreciated. I know I've essentially thrown myself into the deep end, gecko-wise, but my dream pet is a chameleon and I gotta start lizarding somewhere. I'm relatively new to the game but I'm up to the challenge! I would just love to know if there's something I'm not considering.
Thank you so much!!