Ha! Same situation here. He courts, but if she starts the countertesting, he goes green and moves to "his" area. He is 2/3 the size the female, both in a 3 x 5 x 7' walk-in enclosure.

The other two females from Megana's shipment are in the 3-400's. I had to cut them back to handfeeding because they were gorging at the bucket, getting too heavy too fast, and defecating like small dogs daily, instead of every other day or so. It sounds like Megana is eating a lot. She may be developing eggs at that weight. Has she started to gray or fade out?

I am not standing there, observing them within their context, but it sounds like she's eggy and wants him to get lost. In the pic, he's so cute and hopeful in his courtship suit.

__________________
Kristina Francis
http://www.melleridiscovery.com/

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the
body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
- Peter B. Medawar
Nobel Prize-winning immunologist

Ya know what... In that picture Herc looks an aweful lot like my female, Merline and Megana looks like my male, Dume. Color- and size-wise.

__________________
1.1.1 Ch. (T.) melleri, 1.2 Ch. (T.) jacksonii xantholophus
My work: www.gibbonsrock.com

It is definitely a change in behavior for her. But she has not begun to gray or fade out. She only looks lumpy when she is vertical. Will she develop her eggs and then want to mate? Or, will she develop her eggs and then deposit them without mating? Or, are you saying she has tried to mate with him, but he gets scared and runs off? If she and Herc did mate, it would have been weeks ago, and we likely would have seen her color changing by now, I guess.

She is good about hand feeding, so I will hand feed her. Can you recommend a proper amount? She's been getting dubias- 2 of the largest nymph size (about 1 1/2" long and 2 smaller nymphs). And then she will occasionally clean out Herc's dish too. But I can hand feed him, too, I think, although he doesn't take it as readily as she does.

This photo was taken a few minutes ago, showing Meganas colors.

I put up the barrier this morning. This afternoon I decided to do some video at their range. Herc saw me and came to the edge and climbed up my arm. Megana saw that and she crossed over and came to the edge and pursued him up my arm! That's pretty extreme behavior.

I put them back in. One on each end of the range, with the barrier between them. Megana crossed over, climbed the barrier, and crossed Herc's area and climbed up to where he was basking. He first went to turn away and climb down the otherside. he then must have had a change of heart, because he suddenly spun around, stuck his lobes up (both of them) and began flicking them. He also puffed up a bit and enlarged the gular a bit. Megana IMMEDIATELY backed off, went down about 4 feet and over about 2 feet and sat there. I set up the video and came inside. I am headed back out there now to see if she retreated to her area or challenged him again.

What does she want? Her own place? Or is she trying to initiate something?

I'm out of ideas right now, but very curious to hear how this develops!

__________________
1.1.1 Ch. (T.) melleri, 1.2 Ch. (T.) jacksonii xantholophus
My work: www.gibbonsrock.com

Sounds like she is counter-testing... if she truly wanted him out, I don't think she would back down from a smaller melleri.

Some receptive females do the "chase me" thing, where they get real close to a male, get him to display, then casually "escape" at a slow pace, all the while keeping an eye on the male, and being very bright leaf green with no spots. How fast did she move away? Was she falling all over herself to get away, or more casual? Spots?

__________________
Kristina Francis
http://www.melleridiscovery.com/

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the
body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
- Peter B. Medawar
Nobel Prize-winning immunologist

I have it on video. As soon as I can remember how to get it uploaded I'll let you know. I'm pretty sure she fell all over herself when he turned on her that way. But she didn't go far.

Here is the video of Hercules standing up to Megana. She enters from the center left of the screen. (View it on full screen. SHe is very leaf green and difficult to see. He is in dark/light stripes). He backs off and turns away and then changes his mind and confronts her. She heads down into the branches and stays there for awhile. This is a short clip. After this episode she stays down there, then slowly slips up to where Herc is and sits there right below him for about an hour. Just humbly sitting there near him, without either challenging the other. That is covered on another video.

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Wow, he was angry. Notice how he rapidly straightened his tail out behind him, partially coiled at the end? Males challenging males will do that, coiling and uncoiling the tail, and knocking the coiled end like a clenched fist.

She didn't drop to the cage floor or run, and she didn't get all dark from what I can see. I think she's courting him by counter-testing. The fact that she chose to stay near, below him and bright green is pretty receptive behavior. If she had been really frightened by him, she'd be all-black and dropping like a stone to get away from him.

Again, great that you have vid capabilities, very helpful!

__________________
Kristina Francis
http://www.melleridiscovery.com/

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the
body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
- Peter B. Medawar
Nobel Prize-winning immunologist