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Is it possible she's a he?

chimbakka Jul 16, 2003 07:56 AM

I figured that Orion was a girl because she doesn't have any colours showing... she's only about eight months though. She's probably about the size of a five to six month panther, because she didn't grow much the first few months I had her because of her URI. At about what age do panthers start showing thier colour? I looked at Jamie's pics, and his boy looked about the same as Orion when he was small.
Also, about a week ago, I had Orion out and she got all flared up for some reason. She turned yellow with black stripes with an orange chin (I can't remember what that's called). Do females do this?
When I had her out at the vet yesterday I was holding her for a while, and I got a good look at her. I don't take her out much, and it is amazing to see how much she is growing! She seems to have a bit of blue in some of her stripes now. I am starting to wonder... Poor thing, she's going to have a sexual identity crisis!
Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated! Thankyou!
~Lindsay

Replies (3)

jusmebabe Jul 16, 2003 09:04 AM

Generally at 4 months you can see the difference in males and females, earlier if you have a trained eye. By 8 months you can definitely see the color differences. With the pic you provided you can barely see it..

chameleoncrow Jul 16, 2003 12:48 PM

Lindsay,

It is very possible for Orion to be a male. I look after a number of panthers, and among them i have had a few "late bloomers". I have one panther "female" that i always thought was a female becuse of her colour and lack of hemal penal bulge. she was 7 months old at the time. I mixed her with one other female, thinking that it would be fine. Well, she got along fine with the other. About a month ago, she starting turning grey and blue(kind of resembling expensive marble floors ), and like your chamleon, her bars start turning dark. i took her out for closer inspection, i saw something that resembled a hemipenal bulge. a pretty small one. It was then i realised my "girl" is infact a Boy! So it is not uncommon for chameleons to start showing colour at 8 months or older. I had one other freind that reported the same asact thing. I guess the best thing to do is check for a hemipenal bulge. I always did that with my said chameleon, but he never seem to show any ealier on. even now it is a pretty small one. I hope he isn't a hermaphrodite!

chimbakka Jul 17, 2003 08:01 AM

Thanks, I am really starting to wonder.... I was told that both the chams in the enclosure at the store I bought Orion were male blue bar ambanjas. I would think that the breeder would know how to tell... Hopefully. So, I thought he was either mistaken or there was a mix up, because some red ambanjas came in the same order. I am seeing some blue sneaking in there every once in a while. The pic I used was taken about 1-2 months ago. She is small for her age, because of her being sick (she ate about 3 crix a month for the first 2 months I had her). Hrm. I guess time will tell. Thanks for your post!

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