boa color phases

What brings about this change from light to dark in our boas? Is there a mood factor that causes them to change from one to the other?

i was wondering about that too. I thought that snakes just have diffrent phases because they are snakes, but if there is an explination it would be awesome to know.

What I have seen in my boas is quite comparable to leopard geckos. When they are colder, they get darker to attract more heat and visa versa. I've never noticed anything to do with mood though in them

That makes sense because he's usually darker when I find him on his cool side and lighter when I pick him up from the warm side.

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Originally Posted by snakedude56

That makes sense because he's usually darker when I find him on his cool side and lighter when I pick him up from the warm side.

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Although I'm not 100% sure, thats the best explanation I can come up with

I've noticed that when Sonja is shedding, grumpy, hungry or wanting heat she is dark, but otherwise she's light and in a good mood.

Right now she's a little(ok... BIG) pissy snot who wants a bunny. She's definitely letting the side of the tub KNOW that she means business :) *giggle*

I always noticed Sonja was dark as well when she was digesting a big boa meal so I assume that it's a function of drawing more heat to them. I know when we first brought her in as a rescue she was so dark you could not make out her saddles from her background color so I can only take from that either she was kept in a far too cold enclosure or was dark due to the stress of poor care and a burgeoning case of belly rot.

Told you she's an aggressive feeder Becky LOL. That's one big ole female that loves her bunnie dinner (or big rats or guinea pigs or left over oversized feeder rats or...or...) :D

Ive noticed that cold=dark and warm=light thing as well

Sometimes i hate it when Rosie goes dark, becuase she looks so beautiful when shes light, but when she turns dark all of her pink gets alot brighter so thats prety cool to see.

After a meal my boas get dark. I can also tell when they don't want to be messed with because the female will darken when she doesn't want to be disturbed although she does lighten up after she loses the argument about coming out of her tub.:D