Does age, size or both matter as far as fading?

I see alot of posts talk about the fading of colors the bigger the snake is. I was wondering if it is the actual size of the snake or age of the snake that determines the fading. For instance, My yellow boy is supposed to be 3 years old but was not well cared for so is more like the size of a 1 year old. Should his color quality be judged on his size or age?

*Fila*

it depends on the morph, some get lighter (like the Fire Morph) and some get darker Or Brown out (like the Pastel morph)

as for age vs size I'm not sure... it probably is a combination of both

I wondered if it were an actual pigmented color change, or the fact that the scales were getting bigger and colors were showing up better. I guess i was just reading the pastel pages about them getting darker and not the fire pages about them getting lighter. I was able to pop my new yellow one, the one I asked about before and pics are linked here, and it appears that this is in fact a male. I am glad for this, so I can use him on normal females to see what we get and maybe a fire and or pastel just to see :) if all goes well over the next year. I am going to try to get things very soon and not add any more until all is settled I am confident that we have no bugs floating around.
*Fila*
http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7025/...0924f506_s.jpg



UOTE=The Serpent Merchant;1757323]it depends on the morph, some get lighter (like the Fire Morph) and some get darker Or Brown out (like the Pastel morph)

as for age vs size I'm not sure... it probably is a combination of both[/QUOTE]