Chameleon Genetics?

I am interested in breeding my panthers. As of yet, I only have males. My question lies in choosing a female. I have taken a few biology classes and maybe this has left me with more questions. I know that sex determination, in humans, deals with the sex chromosomes giving males XY and females XX. But I know that not all animals have X and Y type chromosomes. I know that birds have ZW chromosomes which are somewhat opposite of ours, in that the ZZ matching will develop into a male.

Does any expert know which chromosomes determine sex in chameleons?

The reason I ask, I know that (in layman's terms) the male chromosome Y is somewhat dwarfed by the female X in our species, so that in some ways it cannot express itself in the offspring's phenotype. An example would be color-blind males, the part responsible for this trait lies on the X chromosome. Since males are XY, the Y chromosome cannot "mask" the trait passed on from the mother. But in females, if one parent is a carrier and passes this on to their offspring the other non-affected X will mask that trait, which is why color-blind females are so rare.

This all comes back to my question above, would the female's sire's appearance be the determining factor for purchase? Or would the appearance of the female's brother be more important? Or is color in chameleons analogous to human race, in the same way that no genes "code" for race?

very good question. while I cannot help you because I haven't done this kind of research, I am very interested in the answer because the same question has been on my mind...

Yeah, I'd really like to hear what some of the experts think or know about this. Even a breeder's input would be awesome cuz there is the practical side to this question as well. Anyone's input would be appreciated, really.....

XX/XY and ZZ/ZW systems have both been reported for lizards; I have been unable to find which is relevant to chameleons. There are reports in the veiled chameleon that incubation temperature does not appear to affect the final sex determination (as is the case in several reptiles; see <http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=119>).

Unless the gene/trait of interest is actually encoded on a sex chromosome (as is the case for human colorblindness and hemophilia), the sex system should be irrelevant. The offspring will be obtaining genes from both parents. In panther chameleons, it is always recommended to look at the female's brothers, if at all possible (the father may be, say, a beautiful solid-blue Nosy Be, but her mother may have not had the same solid blue genes to pass on; if the brothers are mostly solid blue, there's a good chance she inherited the blue genes, too).

Ok i sort of get it, but them how are purple barred panthers made, it cant be as simple as a BB male and a RB female right? or is it?!