2/23/2017 MBD spent the day guarding Ditto up in the shell shop again. This happened 2/9/2017 and then MBD spent several more days in a guarding pose outside the log DItto was in so I thought the mating attempt was over.
I watched them all day and while Ditto seemed uninterested there were no obvious signs of aggressive behavior. Late in the evening while I was recording, Ditto swapped shells to trick MBD into leaving her alone and it totally worked. The video is a bit long but I think it’s worth watching to see MBD try to figure out what has happened. I can’t help but feel bad for him. He is a man deeply in love. You will see he had no interest in her shell. A little later in the evening I check on them again and MBD was gone and Ditto was just settling back in to her old shell.