How to identify a juvenile female Sambava?

[morpheon]

Hey there,

Lately, i have been looking very actively in finding a good female for my male. However, since no trusted seller has any for sale at the moment, i have been considering in getting one from any random petstore or personal seller. For those who didn't already know, i live in Canada, otherwise i would have a few chameleons more already! My main concern is to avoid as much as possible the chances of getting hybrid babies. Another possibility would have been to reproduce my male with a female that has 50% of the same blood, but i am not a fan of consanguinity at all.

So, do any of you have tips and tricks for me? As to what to do and what not to do?

Here is what i found so far:

Body greyish brown with faint vertical bars. Eye turrets are dark grey. Two middle vertical bars on the flanks merge below the mid-lateral stripe and forum a U instead of a Y.... This description was mostly applied to males, so i don't even know if it's good for a female! Nor for a juvenile!

 

[eisentrauti]

There's no option beside find a reputable and trustable breeder. Even with male pardalis it's in most cases not sure what local it is

 

[morpheon]

I don't expect to hear a step-by-step scientific way of making sure it is a Sambava. However, getting tips to lower the chances would be great.

 

[ChromaChameleons]

i sent you an email

 

[ChromaChameleons]

Eisentrauti is correct.... you would be very hard pressed to distinguish one local female from another.....

 

[morpheon]

Great! Thank you for the heads up Harry! I'll be waiting for your follow-up with eagerness!

I know this is hard, but if i can find a tip or two, at least it would be better than nothing! I know some people still try to identify females just by their look, so there must be a few details that can help them to form a few hypothesis! Note that i wrote hypothesis and not thesis!

 

[eisentrauti]

Believe me or not. I'm definitly no pardalis expoert but this is one of the facts I know for sure.
Ask persons who have travelled personally to Maddy, they will tell you that's even impossible to distinguish the males from close localities

 

[ChromaChameleons]

Here are some characteristics that lend themsleves to suggesting probability of locale in Females such as high orange in Nosy Bes, rounded casques on ambanja and Nosy Bes. Ambilobes often have pointed casques, smaller size and more slendere than nosy be , ambanja or sambava. Tamatave females tend to have an olive green hue... etc, but none of these tips are 100%.

the only characteristic I would know to look for in a sambava female would be that it might be a large female panther. Sambavas tend to be large.

But none of these "tips " are 100%... not even 50% .. so deal with a reputable source.

Also, there just aren't any Sambavas in Canada , other than Cedric at Generation, so you won't likely run across one in any pet store.

 

[morpheon]

If i don't try, it won't work for sure! If i try, i take a chance that it might work! And thank you for trying to help me Harry!

 

[morpheon]

Some French lady told me that like you, identifying a female Furcifer is indeed hard. However, the U form does help, even though it still applies for most chameleons in the east coast. But at least, it discriminate a bunch of other chameleons.

She also says that females from the east coast are usually colored like the sand when they are relaxed, instead of a salmon-like color for the west coast. She adds that females from the East when they are non-receptive, they wear a more uniform (consistent) brownish color than the females from the West.

I thought I could share the informations with you guys, if someone wants to confirm or infirm this, go ahead! Feel free to add any other tips or opinion, as i am eager to get more and more knowledge about this subject!