Quick Questions..

[VW_Rick]

I'm having trouble sexing my robertmertensi trio, I've had a look at the femoral pores but can't see much difference but was assured by the seller that they were a 1.2trio. I've never thought about it before but do only females have calcium sacs? If they're there solely for egg production then males wouldn't have them I suppose, ???

Thanks, Rick

 

[VW_Rick]

Hmm, sorry found this..

'Often females have well developed endolymphatic chalk sacs on the sides of their neck for storing calcium. The calcium is used for the development of the eggshell. But sometimes males also have these sacs.'

I've tried to take pictures of their vent areas but it's not worked too well. I've got a video of their behaviour for you to try and see if it's sexual or aggressive, I'll try and youtube it but this is gonne be my first time using youtube as an upload so might take a while!

 

[VW_Rick]

Okay it's not working.

(NB Not sure of sexes) I have two Plump, colourful 'females' with big chalk sacs, that are fighting, & one male that's not very colourful, a little scrawny and quite small in body length, 'he' is a bit skittish of the other two but doesn't really get involved. I thought if one of the females were getting 'bullied' then one of those would be the scrawnier one, but 'he' is! arghh?! Recently I've noticed the females showing a bit of interaction with each other, some chasing and hypnotic tail movements in synchrony with each other, is this a duel of fitness or a mating ritual? Could one of them be male and it's just quite a forceful copulation routine? I thought my male would be larger but this has got me thinking that there is sexual selection intra-sexually within females? Is this a common trait of phelsuma species? I'm getting quite confused as I can't seem to sex them accurately because my 'male' is so small and I have no experience with sexing phelsuma!

Sorry if that doesn't make too much sense!

 

[Adrn]

It is very hard to answer or provide feedback without pics. Are the females producing eggs yet? What are their ages? Did the seller provide age and confirm that they are a proven trio? What size enlcosure do you have them housed in? I didn't finally notice my female producing duds until she was ~14 - 15 months of age(. I just recently picked up a male and am planning on having some fertile clutches pretty soon. I have even heard of "successful" trios having issues with female:female aggression.

 

[VW_Rick]

It is very hard to answer or provide feedback without pics. Are the females producing eggs yet? What are their ages? Did the seller provide age and confirm that they are a proven trio? What size enlcosure do you have them housed in? I didn't finally notice my female producing duds until she was ~14 - 15 months of age(. I just recently picked up a male and am planning on having some fertile clutches pretty soon. I have even heard of "successful" trios having issues with female:female aggression.

Yeah sorry, I thought so! I've been observing them for a couple of hours whilst I've been revising (ironically enough, revising animal behaviour) & witnessed more chasing & some biting so I've just split them up. I'm of to get a RUB or a new exo terra tomorrow, she's currently in a washed out persil capsule box, about 8"s high, 6"s wide and 4" deep, set it up with some soil, moss, leaves, bark & bamboo, it's pretty poor size (awesome decor though ) but will do for the night.. They're captive bred '08s all different bloodlines collected from hamm '08. He did not confirm that they were a proven trio, I don't think :roll:, he's not had any eggs from them I don't think, :roll:, but he didn't mention any aggression issues between females. I'll give him a ring tomorrow, looks like I'll have a healthy plump very dominant robertmertensi for sale soon though as I've no plans for her!

 

[colinmelsom]

I do not have experience with this species and as far as I am aware they are not sexually dimorphic.You will get same sex aggression as well as male to female aggression.I would guess that yours are not quite adult.
Whilst it is usual for females to have the calcium sacs I have seen males with them so this is not a true indication of sex.It is always better to look for femoral pores or hemipenal bulges on sexually mature males.