Nosy be Panther growth and coloration

One thing that I have had no luck finding information on is the grwoth rate of chameleons and the coloring variations. If you ask one of the breeders, all of the animals grow huge and vibrantly colored (I exaggerate, but no one ever mentions in an article that an animal might be small and brown), but my panther sure has not turned impressive yet. He is about 5-6 months old supposedly, and is not as long as my 4 fingers together STV length (maybe 3 inches if that). His coloring is limited to the area below his eye and back to the back of his head and to a small degree his eye turrets. There is a hint of coloring to the shoulder area of his body, but overall he is a tan color with some light bands of a raddish brown occasionally visible. Sometimes he shows the horizontal white stripe to a small degree. He never has strongly visible bars. He eats and drinks readily. I mist him 2 to 3 times a day and have provided a UVB light source. He eats crickets occasionally supplemented with reptical, I generally add 6 or so at a time (about every other day or so). I do not keep him very warm (mid to upper 70s), but from what I have read I am certainly not keeping him at a cold temp. I feel certain that his growth must be too slow, but he is somewhat active, and responds to visual stimuli (generally with a bit of aggression such as slightly gaping and puffing up). Will he eventually turn into a blue gem or will I be the owner of a little brown lizard? I do not own a decent digital camera, but I might be able to get some low rez pics made if needed.

Kept them years ago, never had luck with the eggs, and dont remember all the specifics. But Panthers definately need a hot spot, and to be able to escape it to thermoregulate. I dont remember the exact temp. Sure someone else can help with that.

Sounds small to me though, for the age. Colors take time, and this one sounds pretty small and/or young. I dont think there is such thing as a brown adult male Pardalis.

Scott,
There are some good websites out there with pictures of adult panthers. I'm going to say that you likely haven't exhausted the search opportunities of your computer. Here's a link to the Nosy Be page for Aline Reptiles:

http://www.alinereptiles.com/new_pho...ms_nosybe.html

While many breeders, myself included, usually only picture our held-back breeders, Aline and Kalam show many just as they came in from the wild.

Color is more a function of size, not age. Since you only mention the ambient air temp of being in the 70's, there's no way to offer much help. If you have concerns about your set-up, check the husbandry pages in my website, linked below. It also helps to purchase animals that are a bit larger and showing more color at time of purchase. Takes some of the guesswork out of it. Good luck.

Scott,

I tried to post a message with a pic of my blue Ambanja at that age, but I don't think I'm computer savvy enough to figure out how to do it since I don't have my pics on a web site. My guy wasn't too big or colorful at that age. He was more of a grey/brown color and would get black stripes when he was excited or stressed. He is about nine months old now and is quite large and blue. His color has really started to come out in the past few weeks.

I was wondering, are you sure of the gender? Although I have never owned a female panther I hear they are a lot duller in color than the males. I think they are a bit smaller too, although I'm not sure at what age they start showing a difference in size.

Good luck and I'll post pics if I ever figure out how.

-Julie

Oh, I forgot, my avatar pic is of him at about that age. You can't really get a feel for his size, but that is about what color he was most of the time unless I got him fired up.

-Julie

Panther chameleons typically start to show starting around 3 months of age, sometimes not showing color until around 5 months, and can continue to gain their coloration up to about 1.5 years. The colorations you describe to me sounds like female colors. Are you sure he isn't a she?

Jenna Tynan
Prism Chameleons, LLC
www.prismchameleons.com
(240) 626-8040