Strange brown discoloration on my baby ball after feeding 3 days ago

My ball is about a month and a half old. I fed him a decent sized rat - nothing he couldn't handle - on Friday. I left him alone but today when I pulled him out of his cage I immediately noticed strange discoloration on the large part of his belly where the rat is being digested. This has never shown up before.

I keep my tank on the humid side, but I was told that if there he was sick, he would not have eaten.

What's going on? The breeder who sold it to me said he doesn't suspect anything is wrong. I trust him a lot - he owns two large reptile stores and is very well reputed in the area.

On the photo below it is on the area of his body that is wrapped around my index finger. This area was much more vibrantly colored before and the gold was pure gold, not brown.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../2/photo_7.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/show...hp?i=40364&c=3

Perhaps he's going into shed?

I highly doubt anything is wrong. Sometimes color pigment changes a little bit based on nutrition levels (though usually it's a lack of nutrition) which would only occur say, if you didn't have him on proper heat (80-85F cold side, 90-95F warm side). I highly doubt that's the case.

He's probably beginning his shed cycle. No need to fret.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by heathers*bps

Perhaps he's going into shed?

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x2 and he looks a little older than a month and a half; and a decent sized rat?

Yeah he might be older... maybe three months?

I'm going to give it a few days and see what's up. The tank stays very humid as it is totally sealed (wooden top with low-wattage light inside). Some people have warned against keeping the bulb inside but this one doesn't get extremely hot and my ball doesn't mess with it. I'm thinking of drilling some holes in the top, though, to lower the humidity (which I've never measured, but there is almost always condensation on the side of the tank).