Posted by:
eric adrignola
at Thu Jan 15 15:04:07 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by eric adrignola ]
Well, I'm starting to see results from my deremensis idea. My male was a pushover, not only was he NOT showing courtship displays when a female was in sight, he would his defensivly, and retreat--doing the same thing even with his own relfection , and a SUB-ADULT male. To top it off, he was not eating. He hadn't eaten more than one insect evert 3 days for months.
SO, I threw the little male in with the trio. It's been a few weeks, maybe a bit more, and I have some info.
I had to separate them. The big male became SO aggresive, he wouldn't let the little one leave the bottom 2 feet of the enclosure. And when the little one started to court the females, the crap hit the fan. I actually tried to stop it, but it happened so quickly. I never would have thought he could move so fast. The big guy tore after him, knocked him off the female, and bit both of them on the base of the tail. Not too hard, just enough to leave a nice faint, black "V" on the little one.
Funny thing was, after the little one was removed, the females became more tolerant of the big male, even top the point of sleeping right next to him.
Even better, his appitite has returned, he's eating like crazy now, and doesn't cower when I approach.
I could have kept them together, and as long as the little guy stayed in his place, things would have been fine. However, that little guy has some guts. Attempting to mate with a massive female(and last night a calyptratus--I'm telling you, he's got guts). I want him to grow as fast as possible.
Tonight, Im putting up an old cage for him.
I was debating as to what I should do, as I have such a large space in my deremensis enclosure. Theadults have 8', and the other 4' is seperate, for the little ones. But I can't keep him in with the little female, she's too meek now. SO, I'm going to see if my female calyptratus will get along with the female deremensis. They're about the same size, and seemed to not react much to each other, so well see. They have a 4x3x4' area, so things should work out fine.
As long as I keep the males locked up, I should be fine.
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RE: how many jacksons.... - eric adrignola, Thu Jan 15 15:04:07 2004