Genetics and color mixing

[wurmpie]

Hello everyone,

I am kinda new to keeping panther chameleons, and I was wondering about some genetic things.
So, there are several different color ''morphs'' (not sure if they are called morphs). If you mix them, will they combine or will it just be a 50 percent chance of getting the color from the father or from the mother? Is it mixed often or are breeders trying to keep their chameleons as pure as possible? Are there dominant and recessive types (like with ball pythons) or are they all equal? I've seen some pictures on the forum here of nosy be x ambilobe. Also, are ambilobe red bar and blue bar completely different?
And what would happen if you breed
Ambilobe x Nosy Faly
Mitsio x Nosy be (would they be green?)
I cant find anything about chameleon genetics on the internet, I would like to know more about it

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

It's very variable when you mix locales. They're called locales rather than morphs because the colors vary based on their native region of Madagascar, rather than being engineered in captivity by selective breeding like with ball pythons and leopard geckos. So because it is a natural trait that was created by evolution and geographical barriers it is commonly held that mixing should be done sparing or at least with care. The main reason for caution is that females are not representative of the locale because they all look the same. So because of that if you are not very clear, or honest to who they are sold to, or the buyer forgets or resells and someone breeds her to a pure locale later it can muddy the genes without them realizing it. And some locales are very hard to get or aren't imported. And in the future there may be more of them in that category. So...ethically most breeders try to retain purity of the locales for that reason.

As far as genetic contribution goes, it is not straightforward so you can get a large range of colors from one pairing. This often means some males will be fantastic combos, others will be moderate combos, and you'll probably get some with a drab or boring combo. There are lots of threads on this subject if you search the forums.

 

[wurmpie]

Thank you for the interesting information!