spadefish
Member
I thought the first time I noticed this, it was a fluke. But, now it has happened every day for the last 5 days. Some background: I got this group (was 3.3 but the baby died so now 3.2) at the end of March or so. Within days, they were mating like crazy. I expect the first clutch of eggs in 7-10 days or thereabouts (I am estimating based on tavetana gestation since I can't find any scientific info on the boehmei).
The largest male goes to the bottom of the cage every morning and digs in the same hole. He sticks his head in and seemingly uses his horns as a shovel to remove dirt to creat a tunnel of sorts. Yesterday and today, the same female has joined him in the hole. After about 20 minutes, they leave the hole/tunnel and return to circumventing the exoterra looking for breakfast. They otherwise behave normally. The female is clearly gravid.
It seems like the male is digging the hole for the female to deposit her eggs, but I have never seen this nor read about it in any journal or heard about it happening anecdotally, etc. Anyone have any experience with this? Take a look at the photos. In the photo with just the male, you can see dirt accumulated between his horns from shoveling. There is some glare becase there is schmutz on the glass, but they should be clear enough to tell what I am talking about.
The largest male goes to the bottom of the cage every morning and digs in the same hole. He sticks his head in and seemingly uses his horns as a shovel to remove dirt to creat a tunnel of sorts. Yesterday and today, the same female has joined him in the hole. After about 20 minutes, they leave the hole/tunnel and return to circumventing the exoterra looking for breakfast. They otherwise behave normally. The female is clearly gravid.
It seems like the male is digging the hole for the female to deposit her eggs, but I have never seen this nor read about it in any journal or heard about it happening anecdotally, etc. Anyone have any experience with this? Take a look at the photos. In the photo with just the male, you can see dirt accumulated between his horns from shoveling. There is some glare becase there is schmutz on the glass, but they should be clear enough to tell what I am talking about.