[sjames86]

I was observing my pair of williamsi today and noticed that every time the larger male passed by the smaller female he puffed his throat up and bobbed about a bit. The female went rigid and still with eyes on the male.

Is this courtship behaviour or is it possible that my female is in fact another male??

[lemniscate]

Hi, sjames86,
It's Great to hear how delighted you are with your beautiful little blue geckos. I'm glad they arrived safely and I'm sure they love their most beautiful home. (Ref: your previous post "New pair coming tomorrow")
The behavior you've observed is the male's courtship display, much throat swelling, back arching, head bobbing, tail waving, he really puts a lot into it!! and the females response, which is simialar, but much less impressive. She might respond, but then seem to refuse him; encourage him, but lead him around, but as long as she is old enough (and I believe yours are 18 months old; plenty old enough), she will eventually stand still and raise her tail for him. The mating that follows is a surprisingly affectionate affair lasting in the region of half a hour with much licking and stroking.
Eggs follow in about a month. There are posts relating to the effect of temperature on the eventual sex of the offspring, that I wish I'd made sure to read before my SEVEN male nippers were formed, though they are beautiful healthy little chaps. Am hoping for females this time around.
Good Luck.

[lemniscate]

Originally Posted by sjames86

I was observing my pair of williamsi today and noticed that every time the larger male passed by the smaller female he puffed his throat up and bobbed about a bit. The female went rigid and still with eyes on the male.

Is this courtship behaviour or is it possible that my female is in fact another male??

I do hope, for your sake, that the smaller 'female' is, in fact, female. The mating display and the male-to-male territorial displays are, as far as I've observed, more or less identical.
Search postings for some excellent photos from members with better cameras than I have. The males, even the greeny juvenile or adult 'repressed' males, have a more distinctive triangular-shape in the genital region PLUS a fuller, darker beard than the female.
The female might initially be concerned by the male's attentions and turn brown, the colour of 'concerned' in these geckos, or even black, the colour of 'very concerned indeed'. But, a smaller, submissive male will do the same.
My observations are that you can tell two males by behavior when, in a relatively short space of time, the little male is still brown and hiding and the dominant male has lost interest.
My first supposed breeding pair turned out to both be males, though one was very distinctively green.. see photos. The green chap, who turned brown and hid when approached by the big blue male, himself turned bright blue very shortly after being set up in his own viv.
I knew nothing about them, then, in July 2009.
Shortly after, one of two females that I bought in for my boys turned out to be another boy. So, I do have a pair, but also, two big blue boys for whom I've unable to locate a pair of females for love nor money. My ignorance of the importance of temperature on incubating eggs resulted in my own seven williamsi offspring all turning out to be males, also.
Fingers crossed that I get another crop of nippers. I've been reading a lot in posts about temperature ranges for ensuring a better chance of females.
Keep us updated, would you??
Good Luck.

[sjames86]

Thought it was courtship behaviour but as my female isnt very green i was worried it might be a submissive male. Guess i will have to observe them more.

I watched them for ages last night after i put some crickets in for them and it was fascinating watching them stalk their prey and share (and by share i mean the female stole a piece) a cricket the male caught.

However i cant seem to get them to take their gecko diet - i use clarkes cgd wth a bit of fruit baby food mixed in or just plain but the only things that seem to like eating it are the fruit flies!!

[lemniscate]

Originally Posted by sjames86

Thought it was courtship behaviour but as my female isnt very green i was worried it might be a submissive male. Guess i will have to observe them more.

I watched them for ages last night after i put some crickets in for them and it was fascinating watching them stalk their prey and share (and by share i mean the female stole a piece) a cricket the male caught.

However i cant seem to get them to take their gecko diet - i use clarkes cgd wth a bit of fruit baby food mixed in or just plain but the only things that seem to like eating it are the fruit flies!!

All mine like fruit flies. I grow cultures of fruit flies in a fortified porridge mixture (I could give you the details). I've more or less stopped putting the 'small' crickets in for them because any that manage to avoid getting eaten are very difficult to catch out again and if they manage to get big the geckos seem almost afraid of them.. and I'm concerned that they might attack the geckos or their eggs. Many would probably disagree with this, though. I feed the fruit flies and fortified fruit baby food. I add the recommended number of drops of cacium lactate solution and multivite drops. I've just bought some of the Clark's fruit-feeder diet, I have one crestie, too. Neither he nor the lygos seemed to take to the rapashy diet, either.. even when mixed with fruit.
I have made little hanging dishes for the fruit mixture, as I found the lygos didn't like to go down onto the ground to eat it. I use strands of raffia held in place around with an elastic band around a variety of small deep lids & tiny dishes.. and knotted at the top. These I hang from an S-shaped thick wire attached to either the top edge of a bamboo or from a plant branch.. as if it was a fruit. They look very cute climbing down to the hanging dish and lapping the mixture.. with surprisingly big tongues!!