ideal breeding age for male panther chameleons?

[LanceLee]

May i know what's the ideal breeding age for male panther chameleons?

1) i understand that some male panther chameleons may be sexually eager to mate as early as 10 months old but we ought to wait till they are past 12 months old, yes?

2) the earlier and more frequent a male panther chameleon starts to breed, the sooner he has to retire?
is it true that if a male starts too early, by the time he's 18months old, he's no longer good as a sire?

3) is 18months old the ideal age to start mating a male panther? if a male panther only starts to mate when he's 18 months old, up to what age will he be effective as a male sire? 30months?

 

[LanceLee]

while waiting for replies, let me share some errant bad practices i have witnessed among chinese breeders in China

some chinese breeders will start getting their male panther chameleons to mate as early as 10-11 months old, often mating them with several females, in some cases up to ten females, within a span of 6-9 months, and then they start to sell their well-worked breeding males to less experienced hobbyists, at about the age of 18-24 months.

and when the less experienced hobbyists try to breed the same males, they end up with few fertile eggs (along with mostly infertile eggs) from subsequent clutches, perhaps due to lower sperm rates?

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. Here in the US most respectable keepers say to wait until a year old for both female and male. I would never breed a female until over a years but with a male it he's a healthy well filled out male a month or two earlier would be ok...in my opinion. I would personally retire my female after three clutches of fertile eggs because I really love my chameleons and their health is very important to me. Allot of keepers here probably never retire their males but the respossiable ones that I look up to retire them between 3 and 4 years old. I am not a professional breeder but I don't think you have to retire them depending on the age that you started breeding them.

 

[LanceLee]

thanks Jannb, it's good to know that it's possible to keep a male panther chameleon sexually healthy and fertile till 3-4 years old.

would love to hear from others as well. pls do share your experience on this