[Russ90]

Hi All

I have two male Pictas which i have had for several months now (both housed seperately). They have both been settled for some time now, eating well, active and no complaints at all. Everything has been fine so far.

A couple of weeks ago one of the males began digging up the substrate in the corner of his viv and has continued to do so almost every night now. The same spot every time, right the way down through the substrate to the bottom of the viv.

Now in the last couple of days the other younger male has begun doing exactly the same thing in his viv, digging up the same spot almost every night.

I'm not overly worried about it (it just makes a mess more than anything!) but was more intrigued as to why they have suddenly started doing this as they haven't done it up till now!?

Is it something to do with the time of year and coming into breeding season or is this just regular Picta behaviour?

They are both definitely male (they have "bulges") so i'm sure they're not looking for a laying spot and they are both housed in different vivs in different rooms so it's not like they are trying to get at each other either.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

[LordNyax]

I think mine did the same thing to get closer to the UTH, or he was just bored.

[rcobourn]

Confession: many times I've thought a young pictus was male only to have it start laying eggs. In my opinion, female pictus have bulges, just much smaller than on the males, but without a male for comparison, the females are misidentified. Post a good closeup of these bulges, and the ages of the pictus, and get some expert opinion on the gender. (Not that I'm an expert, again, half the time I find a male is a female when she starts laying!).