hi everyone, almost new owner!

[Benton1576]

hi to all reading,

so... i went to the pet shop today and finally ordered my chameleon after months of looking and gathereing informaton.

ive just ordered a blue bar ambilobe! i also ordered all the accessories im gonna need including the tank which is 100x60x60cm. i live in Germany so thoought a glass tank would be in order as it does get really cold here and i was informed that a glass tank would be best for retaining the heat required.

does anyone have any information they would like to share on this species. as ive said, i have looked on the web quite a lot but there are a few things that i would like to know. the main thing being colouration. it seems that most of the blue bars ive seen appear to be green with a bit of red on the underside. i looked at the parents for mine (its only a baby so no colour yet) and the father seems to be nearly all red. is that normal. the guy in the petshop says that the more red the more desirable. is this correct? also, how long is it before their true colours come through, i think from what ive read its about a year?

i would appreciate any imput anyone has on any subject regarding this species, even if i already know it!

thanks in advance and also, thanks for reading.
regards,
Mark

 

[laurie]

Welcome Mark we are happy to have you. I am in the US so we will wait for the German guys to give you advice but you are starting with a good cham.

 

[hallenhe]

Welcome! Red and blue barring can be variable. Several blue barred Ambilobes will have a red background; sometimes a good blue-barred parent can give rise to red barred offspring, or vice versa. Either way, Ambilobes are pretty, and it will take a while for him to develop his true colors. People usually say up to 18 months for full color development in a panther; you should start to see some colors coming in around 4 or 5 months, and more with each shed (the sheds are more or less monthly with young, rapidly growing ones). This page by the American breeder Screameleons, shows some of the variation in Ambilobes. Most of those chameleons are in their display colors - they may have been shown a female or another male - relaxed will still be colorful, but not quite as vivid. Nighttime colors are also cool, as they relax and often get very bright.

 

[jojackson]

Welcome Mark, congrats on your new lizard!

 

[Benton1576]

Welcome! Red and blue barring can be variable. Several blue barred Ambilobes will have a red background; sometimes a good blue-barred parent can give rise to red barred offspring, or vice versa. Either way, Ambilobes are pretty, and it will take a while for him to develop his true colors. People usually say up to 18 months for full color development in a panther; you should start to see some colors coming in around 4 or 5 months, and more with each shed (the sheds are more or less monthly with young, rapidly growing ones). This page by the American breeder Screameleons, shows some of the variation in Ambilobes. Most of those chameleons are in their display colors - they may have been shown a female or another male - relaxed will still be colorful, but not quite as vivid. Nighttime colors are also cool, as they relax and often get very bright.

wow, some pretty chams on there, the father of mine looks like the 1 called sirius on this page. not sure if i like the red bodied blue bars much though, i prefer the green body but as long as my baby is healthy i dont mind too much. do any ideas how to tell if its definatly a male when i pick it up? it will only be bout 5 weeks old.

 

[Pure]

Hi and welcome to the site.

Wile you are correct in your thinking about the glass for your part of the world, they still need a good bit of ventilation, for this reason most use something like this or make something custom. The ones in the link have air holes along the bottom of the front. These are vital for the chimney effect that is critical for them to have good ventilation. I apologize if this is something like what you are talking about, but you used the term "tank" and well a "tank" as in fish tank is not advised. They lack proper ventilation.

 

[hallenhe]

any ideas how to tell if its definatly a male when i pick it up? it will only be bout 5 weeks old.

Look for bulge at the base of the tail; that's indicative of a male. On a five week old, it may be tricky to tell (some are obvious from early on, others are not).