Indian boxer breeding problems

[kamakiri]

I bought 2 males and 4 females as sub-adults. My first male molted to adult about 5/24. The other male died shortly after molting (just my luck!). Lost one of the females and the rest turned adult in June.

So I've had the lone male with each of the three females and have yet to see him connected to any of them! He tries fairly frequently and have seem him mounted for several days until getting humgry enough to step off and grab a crix to eat. Females do not seem to have a problem hunting with the lone ranger on their backs, so feeding doesn't seem to be a problem for the girls.

My understanding is that these males do not live very long...so any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[d17oug18]

u may not want to have all 3 females in with him, he may be to scared of cannibalism, also seperate him from them for a few days

 

[Rick]

Males live as long as females in my experience with most species. If he mounts but does nothing you can blow a quick, sharp breath on him. Sometimes that will make him do something besides just sit there. I've also found that gently squeezing the males thorax with some tweezers can also get him moving.

 

[kamakiri]

u may not want to have all 3 females in with him, he may be to scared of cannibalism, also seperate him from them for a few days

:lol: Doug...he's never been together with 3 girls at once! He's also been given a day break or more in-between for feeding an recuperation.

Males live as long as females in my experience with most species.

Agreed in general, but he's at least two weeks older than the oldest female. He still seems to be doing okay, but if I had to guess, I might have as little as two or three more weeks for him.

If he mounts but does nothing you can blow a quick, sharp breath on him. Sometimes that will make him do something besides just sit there. I've also found that gently squeezing the males thorax with some tweezers can also get him moving.

I'll try the thorax squeeze soon. But he's always trying...just not making the connection or at least not observed! All the females have seemed very receptive and patient. He just always seems to be 'brushing' over perhaps a little too quickly. Usually starts touching from her mid/ventral abdomen to her wing tips. Just doesn't stop where he needs to in order to connect. He has adjusted positions several times on all three...just a little frustrating so far.

Totally opposite from the only other small species that I've kept which are the Gambian Spotted-Eyes...Those two males would *always* connect in under a day.

One crazy thought in desparation is to cut one of the female's wings back a little...

 

[Rick]

Under a day? Most males i've had connect within minutes of mounting.

 

[kamakiri]

Under a day? Most males i've had connect within minutes of mounting.

For my two GSEs, "M2" took about a day for his first time and then they'd usually connect under an hour, or by the next time I checked on them.

I did have some other individual males of other species that took a full day once mounted, (limbata, sinensis, religiosa) but most do seem to connect in minutes. The biggest problem so far has been apparently from size differences -- most often large males with small females.

Longest time from introduction to connection was about 3 days with a pair of limbatas. The male on a branch stared up at the female on the lid about 3" away for over two full days.

 

[kamakiri]

Well that's all moot. He was eaten yesterday. I didn't see them coupled at any point...

 

[agent A]

Totally opposite from the only other small species that I've kept which are the Gambian Spotted-Eyes...Those two males would *always* connect in under a day.One crazy thought in desparation is to cut one of the female's wings back a little...

My gambians never connected when I kept them. The wing cutting thing, that's a good thought. The females can't fly anyway. Or manually slide the abdomen to where he needs to connct. I've tried that before. Good luck!