Is this for sure a male halloween hisser?

[SeaweedWitch]

I’m totally new to keeping hissers. I had two male madagascans and decided to give it a whirl with putting a halloween hisser with them.

I ordered a male online and got it today. I was kinda surprised by how small it was. Also, the horns don’t seem as prominent as on my others. I really don’t want babies so I just wanted some reassurance that it’s a boy!

On a side note- I always intended to upgrade to a 5 or 10 gallon tank, but the first two seemed to be fine in a little-over-3-gallon kritter keeper (12”x8”x8”). With enough hideouts and foliage, do you think the three can live in peace? What’s a minimum size for three hissers (considering one is pretty tiny?)

 

[mantisfan101]

Definitely male, most likely extremely malnourished.

 

[SeaweedWitch]

Definitely male, most likely extremely malnourished.

Oh no! Because of the size?

Guess I’ll be more careful where I order from in the future.

 

[Polenth]

Oh no! Because of the size?

Guess I’ll be more careful where I order from in the future.

I had regular hissers kept separately as older nymphs, as I wasn't looking to start a colony. They were all fed the same amount of food and they all turned out to be male. Some turned into big males with prominent horns. Some turned into smaller males and had smaller horns. There's natural variation in such things, so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Hisserdude]

Definitely male, I don't know if I'd call it malnourished though, I mean they are a dwarf hisser species after all. Might not be a major male, but I'd say that's within the normal size range for adult male E.javanica... And that critter keeper should be fine for all three.