Could this be hormones?

My female Jen is normally very light, to the extent that she is considered to be a possible dinker along vanilla lines. I think that she was locked a bit back by my pewter-I didn't actually see the lock but there were plenty of indications that there might have been one. At the time the male left a pair of sperm plugs in the water bowl; I'm not sure if that is a good sign or not...
Jen has, over the last couple of days, become the darkest royal in my collection. I have heard of girls glowing but can they have a reverse glow? She seems fine and recently started eating after a fast of a few weeks so I put another male in with her yesterday and they were locked within a few hours. Now she is looking even darker and her belly is looking pink along the lines of the CPR strawberries & cream photo (there is no chance of a burn and no signs of any scale problem either). She still appears to be fit and well but the colour changes are dramatic to say the least. Sorry, I can't upload photos right now but I will try to do so tomorrow.
Any suggestions?

Sounds like she's about to shed!

Yep, those are all sure signs of a shed coming up. She'll get darker for a day or so, her eyes will turn milky blue for a day or so, then they will clear up but she'll stay dark for another few days, then viola! She'll be sporting a shiny new skin.

Gale

I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't asked. Shedding was my first thought but I have seen hundreds of sheds, quite a number with Jen, and never one like this. I just wondered if anyone could throw some light on a quite startling colour change; she still has clear eyes so if it is a shed it is still a very odd one-I guess time will tell.

Hi,

One idea would be to see how long the shed cycle takes maybe?

I know the sheds in the breeding cycle seems to take a lot longer than normal growth sheds - might give you a clue if something more intresting is going on.

We have seen some pretty startling changes in BP's colouration over the years - though most were losing colour towards the axanthic look. But there has also been a few examples of stress leading to a much lighter BP. Maybe you are seeing a different side to the same phenomena.

I'd take pictures every day so you have a good record of it. :)


dr del

I certainly didn't mean it to sound like you didn't know what you are doing. The first thing that came to mind with you description of dark color and pink belly was shedding. You'd be surprised how many people miss the pink belly when their snake sheds.

As far as just getting darker, I have heard of some radical color changes before, no one seems to be able to pinpoint the source, however diet is strongly suspected. The snakes in question usually went back to normal after a few sheds.

I have also heard of IMG snakes. These animals have a dramatic increase in melanin production that makes them turn dark brown/black.

Gale

Thanks for the input dr. del. I hadn't noticed longer shed cycles in breeding females being longer than usual, perhaps that is the key here; I do hope so as I would really like to breed this female. She was my first female royal and needed lengthy nursing through a serious RI in 2010, so I lost the chance of breeding her last year.