Hisser adolescent behavior

Ralph

Panchlora
My thought-to-be subadult hissers, when I gave them a heat lamp, suddenly began fighting and attempting to mate. They are only about 2 inches long and maybe 1 inch wide. Are they just small adults (I did have some husbandry issues early in their lives), or is this normal for subadults?

 
2 inches can be right but slightly small. By "attempting to mate" do you mean to say that you saw a male/female attempt to connect, or is it another movement you are describing? The fighting or shoving around is not unusual. True male to male battles on the otherhand will normally only be seen on mature adults.

 
It could be that you just have some smaller adults. Like you, I had some husbandry issues with my colony earlier in their lives, and they turned out kinda small.

 
Thanks guys! The fighting I described was male-male, and consisted of headbutting, abdomen-wagging, and attempted biting. There was one interesting male-female battle. By attempted mating, I mean attempted mating as in genital contact. So far I have no actual mating. I'm glad that they are adults, these guys' babies should be bigger.

 
I can also show you male hissers that are 1/3 the weight of other males that were reared in the exact same cage at the same time.

 
I've found temperature to greatly influence female development.

For a while I kept my hissers in my basement; They developed slowly. When I finally moved them back upstairs, I had MEGA females; All pushing or over 3". This could also do with that fact that I cull for the biggest males in my colonies...

 
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