color variety connected to longevity?

[jeanie]

Hello, I have a question that I hope I can phrase right. I do not mean to offend any breeders first of all. If genetics and breeding for color is similar to other animals, and captive bred animals have a limited gene pool could certain varieties be less hardy ie sunburst. My girlfriend lost her 4-5 yr old sunburst male , and the vet said it may be due to genetics . I thought veiled chams lived longer. Lastly my cham Louie has a bent helmet ( sorry can't remember proper name for it). I hope this just makes him unique. He doesn't have to win any contest. I love him as is.

 

[Brad]

Hi jeanie

Are you referring to inbreeding and how that can affect the lifespan of a chameleon? I do not know enough to give a good answer there. It is an interesting question though, so I hope someone else can answer.

About your cham's bent helmet. This could be a big sign of calcium deficiency. Do you have any pictures? Have you been dusting his food? What kind of schedule do you use?

 

[neil nosy be]

inbreeding

Hi jeanie

Good question, i can only speak from experience but i have been breeding panthers for some time and have crossed many different locals say nosy be with sambava and have not noticed them becoming any weaker from generation to generation.But i have been breeding them a short time compared to some keepers so this may magnifer further down the genarations

The correct name for a helmet is casque

 

[jeanie]

thank you reply

Well I guess I was wondering why the vet said Louie1 may not have been as robust or long lived because of his color ( sunburst). I think the vet may have believed that health ( genetics) of the animals were compromised to achieve the color variety. Yes I believe he was talking about possible inbreeding or just too small of a gene pool. Louie II is my new 6 month old cham. He was through mail order and his casque ( thank you for correct name) was bent when I recieved him. He eats a lot, about 20 gut loaded dusted crickets, 6-10 king mealworms, 6 wax worms, and 2-3 grasshoppers a day. I think he is still growing.
I finally got him to eat out of my hand today! He does not have chubby hind legs
or show any signs of a problem. He balances on his hind legs and stands up to catch his crickets. I hope he is not sick. I bought him from a on-line reptile store that had good references. Now that I have all this new info I hope I can take care of him right. Thanks again, Jeanie

 

[neil nosy be]

Greed

Hi


Are you sure he eats that lot in a day as this will more than keep a adult panther alive as they require between approx 30-50 adult crickets a week to maintain body weight

 

[Heika]

My juvenile panther was eating around that amount in a day also. He has recently slowed down to about 15-20 medium sized crickets and as many moths as I can catch.

 

[jeanie]

hungry cham

Yes, Louie eats a lot. He slowed down a little since I got him about a month ago. He is about 7 months old now. He is definitely growing yet. I just got back some of my first pics of him. I thought he was big when I got him! Is it wrong to let him eat as much as he wants? He loves chasing down his crickets. I did make him eat out of my hand in order to have a king mealworm. I'm tring to get him used to me. I watch him eat so I know he is eating that much. Will he slow down when he grows up?