Another, simpler locale question.

[fluxlizard]

OK, this one is a little less philosophical and a little more practical than the last thread I started on locales. Probably a lot more ignorant on my part too. LOL

I got a couple of ambilobe panthers this past year in a trade.

The male is a blue bar, the female a red bar. The only reason I got them this way is because it was a trade situation. Otherwise I would have just gone with a blue bar female. The male is now my favorite panther chameleon ever- just got his blue bars a few weeks ago- beautiful light blue bars on a yellow background with red above and below and on the head and tail when he's fired up.

Are blue bar ambilobes a different locale than red bars or are they the same? I don't know if the color is individual or locality based.

For that matter I have no idea how a person could tell if a wc female was blue or red bar.

(ie- if I want to keep them "pure" do I need to get a female blue bar for him and a male red bar for her?)

Thanks!

 

[hallenhe]

My (limited) understanding of this is that the factors determining red vs. blue bars are complex, to say the least. My first panther was the offspring of a blue bar father and (based on her father and brothers) a blue bar mother. He had red bars. Most of the time. He was capable of displaying blue bars, especially if quite upset (i.e. at the vets), but almost never did. Sometimes he went for a more burgandy or purple. I've certainly seen other reports of red bar offspring from what should have been solid blue bar background. I believe it's Screameleons who used to have a breeder on their page that had been a very convincing red bar for two years, then became blue bar (or vice versa).
In other words, with Ambilobes, mating blue bar to blue bar does not seem guaranteed to yield blue bar. I personally wouldn't consider it "crossing morphs" to mate a red bar and blue bar Ambilobe - but for me the funnest part of baby panthers is not knowing what colors they're going to blossom into.
I'd love to see a picture of your Favorite Male Panther.

 

[fluxlizard]

I'll have to see if I can get a pic taken over the weekend. I'm not saying he's the most beautiful in the world or anything, but something about those light blue bars popping against a yellow background is magic for me, and then he's got red and orange on the face, along his spine, along his belly, his tail and feet. I was really tickled when he finally colored up for the first time.

 

[pssh]

You can breed two red bars or two blue bars and get the opposite in some of the offspring. They can be anything from full blue, a mix, or full red. Completely red bars with no blue are much less common than full blue bars. Both are less common than a red-blue mix. I haven't bred ambilobes, but this is what I have seen and heard from those that have.

I think mixing a blue bar and red bar are just as likely to have any kind of bars.

 

[warpdrive]

the reason Ambilobies have such color variation has everything to do with genetics and nothing to do with where they come from...yet you will "normally" find "blue bars" more around other "blue bars" in the wild.

Harry

 

[fluxlizard]

Thanks for your input everybody.

So, I guess I can breed the two that I have and the offspring are still considered "pure" ambilobe then.

That is what I was hoping for.

Good deal.

 

[warpdrive]

Thanks for your input everybody.

So, I guess I can breed the two that I have and the offspring are still considered "pure" ambilobe then.

That is what I was hoping for.

Good deal.

yep, for sure.

Harry

 

[sageghost]

I would agree too that they would still be "pure" Ambilobe's.

Ive seen them change bar color from Red to Blue during the span of their life as well.

I purchased a RB Ambilobe and he was gorgeous. He was RB all the way to adult (he was 6mths when I purchased him)

Literally, the FIRST moment he saw a female, he fired up, his bars changed from red to blue and remained blue through the remainder of his life.

 

[fluxlizard]

Thanks for your guidance everybody!

I'd love to see a picture of your Favorite Male Panther.

I put a few up for you here:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-male-ambilobe-52236/#post489445