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  • 11-20-2016, 07:45 PM
    Phull561
    Need help ball python glow
    Just got a ball python about a month ago from a friend who couldn't keep him anymore. He's about 5 months maybe 6. He just finished a shed 2 days ago. I fed him today and noticed after that he had a blue glow on his face in little areas and some near his neck. It's doesn't look like being in blue from a shed. And although he didn't shed in one piece he go it all off though. I put him in some water and he was able to shed the rest off easily. I then made a humidity hide for him so a incomplete shed won't happen again. But I just want to know what the blue glow is on him. thanks
  • 11-20-2016, 07:47 PM
    Stewart_Reptiles
    Picture is worth a thousand words.

    Iridescence likely hard to tell without seeing the snake, or knowing what you are talking about, your description may not be how someone else would describe it.
  • 11-20-2016, 07:58 PM
    Phull561
    Re: Need help ball python glow
    Hard to take a picture because he's in his hide and I don't want to handle him much because he just ate a couple hours ago. If you can see that blue glow right on his neck. Idk if it may just be how the light hits his skin that it looks like that but when I had him out I definitely saw it a lot on his head. Could it just be because he just shed a couple days ago.

    http://i65.tinypic.com/33bo754.jpg
  • 11-21-2016, 02:41 AM
    Dezoruba
    Re: Need help ball python glow
    Yes that's just iridescence... happens after they shed, I think it's pretty

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
  • 11-22-2016, 01:59 AM
    Trisnake
    He's just all shiny pretty from his from his fresh shed :)

    Snakes have cells in their scales called iridophores that cause that kind of pretty iridescence; located in the cell layers beneath the main pigmenting cells (melanophores, xanthophores, erythrophores, etc) these cells have specialized, pigmented organelles stacked inside of them that reflect blue light, which is why the shininess tends to appear bluish. Brazilian Rainbow Boas have a larger concentration of iridophores in their scales than most reptiles, with this increased iridescence giving them their name as "rainbow" boas.

    - - - Updated - - -

    He's just all shiny pretty from his from his fresh shed :)

    Snakes have cells in their scales called iridophores that cause that kind of pretty iridescence; located in the cell layers beneath the main pigmenting cells (melanophores, xanthophores, erythrophores, etc) these cells have specialized, pigmented organelles stacked inside of them that reflect blue light, which is why the shininess tends to appear bluish. Brazilian Rainbow Boas have a larger concentration of iridophores in their scales than most reptiles, with this increased iridescence giving them their name as "rainbow" boas.
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