Reptile & Amphibian Forums

are all female ambanja pinkish in color? and if so, how can i make sure there are "blue" traits in her blood line(if i do decide to breed i'd like to maintain the blue)? what is the recommended breeding age for the female and a male? can someone recommend a book or site strictly about breeding and care of gravid females?

dennis
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working for the man again

Hi Dennis,

Most female ambanjas do range in the pinkish/salmon/tan tones for their overall body color. However, they often have blueish hues that show in patches, especially the cheeks. Some even have orange and a bit of green or lavendar. A perfect example: we have 4 CH sisters (from wc parents) that are all different.

To best judge the color potential of a female, it is best to see her clutchmate "brothers" - but there is no guarantees even then.

Females reach sexual maturity at 6-7 months, however most breeders wait until the females are at least 10 months of age before breeding. We wait until they are at least 11 months of age. Males can begin breeding at 7-8 months (be careful not put him with too large of a female, as she may intimidate him). We allow our males to breed at 10 months.

There are a few good books out there... many have chapters on breeding - but most are sadly out of date with the information presented. Many books were written 10-15 years ago, and the keepers and breeders have learned a lot since then.

Keep in mind there are different colors of ambanjas - the "classic" ambanja has both red and blue bars; the red bar ambanja has mostly red/wine bars; the blue bar ambanja has predominantly blue (some have a small amount of red); the turq/blue ambanja has no red. The classic is by far the most colorful - often having orange and yellow on its face as well as some greens on its head/body. Some of the blue bars have nice yellows on their faces too. We happen to love all the ambanjas.

Hope this helps some,
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