[Calfirecap]

This morning I noticed that there was a female phantasticus under a leaf, so I figured she was getting ready to lay. A few hours later I check on her and it looked like she was holding one of her eggs as they typically do. Now what's different is that a few hours after that I found the sire down on the ground perched over the leaf she was laying under and he's been in this position for a couple of hours now. In the photo you can see the female is still under the leaf and the male looking down upon her. Has anyone here ever seen this sort of behavior before, I sure haven't. The females usually hang out perched facing the egg for the next day or two, but not the males....

Maybe he's one of those sensitive 90's kind of guys...

Lawrence

[pakinjak]

I haven't noticed anything resembling paternal interest, but I've seen what looks like curiosity from some of mine. The way my enclosures are set up, the animals can be about 3 inches away from a different species of Uroplatus with only two layers of screen between them. I catch my fimbriatus staring for long periods at my henkeli. Of course, they also stare at crickets in the henk tank, but I expect that.

[miguel camacho!]

I wonder if this is so much paternal interest as it is the male showing interest in breeding/courtship. When I was keeping/breeding the species, I would frequently observe courtship and copulation hour to days following oviposition.

[thorrshamri]

Originally Posted by miguel camacho!

I wonder if this is so much paternal interest as it is the male showing interest in breeding/courtship. When I was keeping/breeding the species, I would frequently observe courtship and copulation hour to days following oviposition.

Same here. I also observed my lineatus male staying near a clutch for at least 2 days, though I cannot give any explanation on this.

[Calfirecap]

I think Miguel may be right, it is peak breeding season over here (Calif).

[luevelvet]

I wonder if the female releases any scents while laying that attracts males. If they encounter each other infrequently, it may make sense to advertise sooner than later after laying.

This is all conjecture, of course.

Cheers!

Luis

[Salzy]

Interesting observation Lawrence. I wonder what is going on there as well. Good thoughts by everyone though...who really knows what the male might be doing. I haven't seen it with any of ours before, but I think I've only witnessed one of our sikorae "nesting" only once.

[Calfirecap]

Update.
The male stayed within 3" of the eggs all day. Now that it's getting dark he's moved up a limb away from the eggs. The female isn't even nearby and they look like fine eggs. Like I said before it's usually the female who watches over the eggs, at least for the first day or two.
The other female in the cage laid eggs about 3 weeks ago, but I wasn't home to observe the behavior. Too bad, as this is definately different.
Interisting behavior none the less.

Lawrence