Resolving Thai Myths and Truths about Toktaws.

[lvr181]

In Isaan I had a big one go in my shower room and sit in the squat toilet water looking upwards and never moving until I forced it out with a toilet brush handle. I even prod-chased it outside only for it to go back into the toilet water. It became increasingly lethargic over the next day or two then died on the shower room floor.

Obviously sh$t itself that is why it is now dead

[DavidB4]

Here in Bangkok I have only heard them called Tokay and they do seem to think they are bad, probably because of what chilidog said. I've only seen one on my back balcony and I think it was beautiful. I fed it chopped up chicken for a week or so till it moved on.

[Traveling Sailor]

I live on Koh Samui and hear it, or them, outside my window, all hours of the day and night. I sometimes respond to it to have a conversation but I don't think it works. I have never seen one. They seem to be shy. Since my windows have screens and I have never heard one inside, I doubt that they are in my house. Gekos, well I seem to have a family of those. They are welcome because they eat bugs.

[seancbk]

I used to keep them as pets in Hong Kong (where they are sold for medicinal use)

Some good info about them here - http://www.tokaygeckos.org/tokay-gecko-fact-sheet

[duanebigsby]

If you want to google them, use tokay for the spelling.

I leave them alone and see them in my kitchen often

A Thai friend says "not worry, they don't come down" He's right and they do more good than harm, except droppings of course.

They're eaten all over Southeast Asia and may become endangered.

I love it when skyping with family and one starts his call "to-kay, to-kay" and they say "what the ? was that?"

[Cpkt8]

I heard tokays comes in pairs. If either one dies, the other partner will follow suit.

[Vogele123]

I like sitting outside at the days' end listening to the Tokay over the road in the wooden house. This Tokay is a posh one and says doctor ,doctor. I love the way they run out of breath at the end after about 10 shouts. I also like the fact that folk here on TV also seem to like them. I would like one for a pet but have only seen bugs and frogs for sale in the markets.

I think the posh ones live in Chiang Mai which is why the locals refer to them as Toktaw rather than Tokae, different regions different pronunciations, along with the other one Takap (The evil centipede from hell) up here it is Jakep. Northern Thai lottery ticket...10, 10, 10, 9, 9 ,8 eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Vogele123

[Dumbastheycome]

Have never decided if they are ugly or beautiful....but either way I think impressive. Only time I havehad one be aggressively defensive was when I uncovered a batch of eggs behind a sheet of roofing iron that had not been moved fora very long time.

Our cat had a small one attached to one foot for about 3 hours . Left them to the dispute as a lesson to leave them alone. It must have only had a mouthfull of fur because the cat was simply confused as to how to get it to let go and was not suffering pain.

[Jimjim]

"GEH-KO" "GEH-KO!" That's what I always hear it saying. So ya it's a gecko. Even the ones that are not tokay geckos sound the same pretty much the same, to me.

[MW72]

I see plenty of small geckos about the house but when I started hearing this loud noise at night I assumed it was a large frog or toad. The GF kept saying it was a toktaw. Didn't have a clue what she was on about until I saw one in daylight hours. Never heard the myth before but an amusing story all the same. I'll be sure not to try and pick one up unless I have previously administered a good dose of alcohol anesthetic.

[Tonto21]

On first being in Thailand I heard a 'Tokay'... I assumed, wrongly it was a bird, and it was some time later I was surprised to see what they were....

I have a few around my house, I like them, so long as they stay outside, (there urine can give of quite a stink...... Don't let them in)

We did have one in particular, (named Ted the Tokey) and in the mating season to help get the edge over the other males he would position himself on the outside bathroom wall by the air vent and shout down the vent to amplify his call......... Clever boy!

Ted the Tokay!

[FarangKyAy]

As other members, I heard about Tokay's strong bite but some people also told me that tokays can get sticked to your skin. Because of their skin structure, it's very difficult to remove them. Is that true?

[RasiMike]

As other members, I heard about Tokay's strong bite but some people also told me that tokays can get sticked to your skin. Because of their skin structure, it's very difficult to remove them. Is that true?

Yes it is true. We had one in our bedroom years ago that liked to sit above our heads at night and call out from midnight to early morning. I got the sh_ts one evening and grabbed the offender. He held onto me tight (with his limbs, not this jaws) and I had a hard time throwing him outside. The skin structure is similar to a remora/pilot fish, where the small backward folds create a vacume that allows them to adhere as if by suction on most surfaces.

[plachon]

The sod barks 5 times on the hour every hour, all night.

That must be the extremely rare Tiktoktaw

Really? Apparently more than 5 barks is good luck.

I thought 7 + was the lucky number. After that you can start noting down how many calls and buy a lottery number based on the tally.

I like the thought of having a trained tookay-clock instead of a cuckoo clock to mark the passing hours, though. You've surpassed Swiss engineering with that one Sipi.

[JingerBen]

The sod barks 5 times on the hour every hour, all night.

That must be the extremely rare Tiktoktaw

Really? Apparently more than 5 barks is good luck.

I thought 7 + was the lucky number. After that you can start noting down how many calls and buy a lottery number based on the tally.

I like the thought of having a trained tookay-clock instead of a cuckoo clock to mark the passing hours, though. You've surpassed Swiss engineering with that one Sipi.

That's what I've always heard... 7 or more is good luck.