diff --git a/gga_init.py b/gga_init.py
index af8e2c1231db642ebffa0da457e4e12e44a52bd7..99eb3f604b5723f405d632adc288c7a0ee7aaabc 100755
--- a/gga_init.py
+++ b/gga_init.py
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ class DeploySpeciesStack(species_data.SpeciesData):
             logging.critical("Cannot access %s" % self.genus_species)
             sys.exit(exc)
 
+        print(self.strain)
+        print(self.sex)
+        print(self.strain_sex)
+        print(self.full_name)
+
         # Copy the custom banner to the species dir (banner used in tripal pages)
         # If the path specified is invalid (because it's empty or is still the default demo one),
         # use the default banner instead
diff --git a/species_data.py b/species_data.py
index 308478e4ef44a4cb3c60cb085ca0cda7b77aaa77..37cb0debec4ac45ed1e1584d2498dec50bd67cd1 100644
--- a/species_data.py
+++ b/species_data.py
@@ -102,8 +102,14 @@ class SpeciesData:
 
         self.genus_lowercase = self.genus.lower()
         self.species_lowercase = self.species.lower()
-        self.strain_lowercase = self.strain.lower()
-        self.sex_lowercase = self.sex.lower()
+        try:
+            self.strain_lowercase = self.strain.lower()
+        except AttributeError as exc:
+            self.strain_lowercase = None
+        try:
+            self.sex_lowercase = self.sex.lower()
+        except AttributeError as exc:
+            self.sex_lowercase = None
 
         self.genus_uppercase = self.genus[0].upper() + self.genus_lowercase[1:]
         self.genus_species = "{0}_{1}".format(self.genus_lowercase, self.species_lowercase)