Rodderz
New Member
Hi everyone,
I am a long time lurker on the forums and have been soaking up the excellent information here over the past few months. After a great deal of planning and preparation I finally picked up a captive bread panther from a local pet store last week.
The chameleon was sold as a male but I just wanted to get some experienced chameleon keepers opinions on the matter. I can see both male and female characteristics depending when I look.
Quoting the excellent book "The Panther Chameleon" by Garry Ferguson et al.:
"Immature males usually (but not always) have a slightly thicker tail base than females, even as hatchlings. Undeveloped hemipenal pockets give the underside of the tail-base more slope in males. Females sometimes have more orange or pink on the body and more red or orange on the interstitial skin of the gular region. Using these criteria one can sex immatures with about 90% accuracy. Usually males are misidentified as females more often than the reverse".
My Panther has bright red interstitial skin on its gular region. I have read elsewhere that juvenile male panthers reliably have black or blue interstitial skin on their gular regions, but im not sure how accurate this info is. My panther also frequently displays peachy coloration on its body. On the other hand it also frequently displays blue, green and greyish colouration. In some photo's i am certain I can see a hemipenal bulge, and in others I am entirely unconvinced.
If any experienced panther chameleon keepers can give me their opinion it would be very much appreciated.
I have attached some pictures.
Thanks in advance.
Rodderz
I am a long time lurker on the forums and have been soaking up the excellent information here over the past few months. After a great deal of planning and preparation I finally picked up a captive bread panther from a local pet store last week.
The chameleon was sold as a male but I just wanted to get some experienced chameleon keepers opinions on the matter. I can see both male and female characteristics depending when I look.
Quoting the excellent book "The Panther Chameleon" by Garry Ferguson et al.:
"Immature males usually (but not always) have a slightly thicker tail base than females, even as hatchlings. Undeveloped hemipenal pockets give the underside of the tail-base more slope in males. Females sometimes have more orange or pink on the body and more red or orange on the interstitial skin of the gular region. Using these criteria one can sex immatures with about 90% accuracy. Usually males are misidentified as females more often than the reverse".
My Panther has bright red interstitial skin on its gular region. I have read elsewhere that juvenile male panthers reliably have black or blue interstitial skin on their gular regions, but im not sure how accurate this info is. My panther also frequently displays peachy coloration on its body. On the other hand it also frequently displays blue, green and greyish colouration. In some photo's i am certain I can see a hemipenal bulge, and in others I am entirely unconvinced.
If any experienced panther chameleon keepers can give me their opinion it would be very much appreciated.
I have attached some pictures.
Thanks in advance.
Rodderz
