Panther colours - normally.

[Echoezra]

Okay, so I'm half nervous to post this question, because I'm sure it's going to come off so superficial and "nube", but here goes. The thing is, I'm presently shopping for a new baby. Going with a panther, just having such a hard time deciding. They're all so beautiful! Lol.
I thought we had it narrowed down, to one picture of an ambilobe dad my whole family fell in love with, but then the breeder explained that he only had cross babies with tamatave also from that dad, which might be nice, but will likely look different from what i was expecting, and also that he almost never showed those great colours, most of the time he was pretty dull looking. I really appreciated him telling me that, as it got me thinking.
And it's funny how much like medical and husbandry knowledge I've gathered over the past month or so, but I still have such a basic question:

What colours are the panthers normally??

Like, most of the time? Obviously, people, especially breeders are going to
post the brightest pictures, but what are the keepers going to be normally looking at?
Can you guys please describe the colours of the various locales, Ex. like most of the time, when sleeping, when stressed, etc. So I'd know what to expect. If I have a choice between two kinds and I really like them both but one is goin to be a little funner to look at the majority of the time, well, I'd rather go with that one.
I appreciate your assistance with my indecision. Lol.
Thanks.

 

[carol5208]

I can vouch for the Sambavas. They are pretty much a lime to dark green with dark dark blue or burgandy looking stripes when resting or "normal" Sleeping colors are much more brilliant and you are looking at mostly oranges, yellows and reds, same when they "fire up". They are not the most colorful when resting, kinda drab I hate to say but still beautiful in their own right. If you click on my name and go into my photo album at the bottom right of the page, you can see some of the typical Sambava coloring.

 

[Johnny909]

I have an ambilobe, when he is just chillin, hes green and blue with dark green bars, when i feed him he turns red-orange (going more red towards the belly) with blue bars. When he is sleeping he turns lite green, with no bars and a white stripe across his side. When he is angry, he turns very dank green with black bars.

 

[Olimpia]

From my gang I can tell you that I like the way my blue ones look most of the time. That would be my nosy be and my faly-ambanja cross. Maybe because to me a slightly gray pale blue is still a pretty color, and they fire up either turquoise or a light aqua, so to me they're always pretty. Cerberus, the ambilobe I have that is more typical, can go from a stunning red, yellow, and blue combo to a very dark green and marroon red. I'm not particularly fond of his dark phases but this is how he is most often, because he's either basking or just calm.

I was going to include photos but I guess I don't have any good photos of them when they're dark or calm (most of them see the camera and fire up). At any rate none of the colors are UGLY (unless they're really basking in which case they go almost black), but they aren't usually as vibrant as when they're fired up.

I was worried about the same thing when I got my first panther, but honestly, as soon as you get yours you will be madly in love with everything he does You will probably be just as amazed by variety of colors and shades he'll throw at you every day.

 

[Echoezra]

Thanks guys, that was exactly the kind of thing I was after.
Carol, those pictures are great, is that the same guy who can go red/yellow, and the lower one that's that bright lime green/blue? The lime/blue combo is one of my faves, but I also can't resist some yellow, even if it's just around the eyes or lips like on the nosy's. I do like an orange better than a red for some reason.
I was thinking the same thing about the blues, I just wasn't sure if they got dark green too when resting. I love the blues, but like I said, I light up at he yellow or oranges too.
It seems I'd have access to ambilobe/tamatave cross, ambilobe, nosybe/tamatave, nosy be, or nosy faly.
I like the faly's alot, but probably most expensive. I could probably get three others for that price. Or two & a cage. Lol. You can see I'm already getting crazy ideas. Haha.
The only thing that I'm not sure about the crosses, is the white speckling onthe tamataves. Not really a fan of that. It comes out looking like a loss of colour, like somebody splashed bleach on them. Lol. Do you think that would come through in a cross? I like the white background on the faly's fine, just not speckled like some pics of some tamataves I've seen.
Do the nosybes and nosyfalys usually have that yellow on their face? I really like that.
Sigh, I'm not getting it narrowed down much, am I? Lol.

 

[carol5208]

yes, that is all the same chameleon! He has those blue light blue bars when he was a bit younger with the lime green. The Sambava's can go through a "blue" stage but as they mature the bars will be a very dark blue(not light blue) or kinda burgandy as I said. I wish they stayed like their sleeping colors allthe time!!! Mine has a blue spine which has stayed with him til this day and he shows that everyday which is kinda neat. Good luck in picking your chameleon out!

 

[Echoezra]

Well geez, like it wasn't hard enough, now you've got me lusting after a sambava too... Thanks a LOT carol. Hahaha. Unfortunately neither breeder has those, or you may have made my decision for me.
So back to the beginning.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Well geez, like it wasn't hard enough, now you've got me lusting after a sambava too... Thanks a LOT carol. Hahaha. Unfortunately neither breeder has those, or you may have made my decision for me.
So back to the beginning.

Sambava's are the shizzle! Lol!

 

[NWD]

Yeah

I agree blues hold their color...my cross is always bright blue sometimes a hint of green and u can see faint red spots and white and when he's fired up his red comes out more....and he is still pretty young he's starting to get red around his eyes too.

 

[Echoezra]

What kind of cross do you have, NWD?

 

[NWD]

Oh

I thought I put but he's an Ambanja mostly but he has sambava and nosy be as well. His sire is thorongil and his mom is Sanchos sister from kammerflauge.