changing color

When I had Rosie out today, I noticed that she's gone from a nice gray color to a light red / salmon-ish color. Her belly is also dotted in this color, and her brown spots have almost turned black. Is this normal?

As far as I know, she's no sort of morph.

I'll post photos as soon as I find batteries.

Color change in boa's can be related to stress, housing/husbandry issues, impending shed or it can be just their natural light/dark phases. They seem to darken to gather heat, lighten when they don't need to and it's pretty startling how different they can look. Anytime you aren't sure what's going on though, always check husbandry and health first.

Several of my boas will pink up when they are in their light phase. Pretty, isn't it?

I notice a pink belly for most of the boas as they approach the shed cycle

Petey is VERY silvery grey when in a light phase, but almost a dark brown in the other. Hera doesn't change much except right after shedding. Pinky T gets VERY, VERY pink bright..and dark when she gets ready to shed. (She's a pastel).


If the husbandry is okay, then he's probably getting into a shed cycle.

This is gonna sound stupid, buuuut...

What's this phase stuff?

Not stupid at all....


Just a time period when the color of the boa changes from either temperature, shedding or ??? I'm not sure, but the articles < I've > read said that the color changes or "phases" in boas aren't really understood.

Now, when a snake changes before shedding (pink belly, dull body color, etc.) that's well understood, but for the boas it's a little different.

Maybe one of the BREEDERS will have a more definitive answer for you. Mine is just from articles I've tried to find as research for answers.

Same snake, different phases:

Light phase (the flash washed the colors out a bit but basically more of a light grey/dry sand background color)....http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...aceCloseup.jpg

Dark phase....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../rauriface.jpg

Sonja also has really really dark phase :) Like today after her bunny meal.

Heat conservation mode= dark phase.
Cooling off mode= light phase.

This is 99% of the time true, like with every snake rule...there is always a few exceptions. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Sonja also has really really dark phase :) Like today after her bunny meal.

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Awww that's our girl! For those that don't know, the big boa pictured in my previous post is now in her forever home with Becky. She was a rescue we kept for a long time and at that time believing it to be a him, we named "him" Rauri. Becky's since confirmed our suspicions that Rauri was a female and renamed her Sonja.

I'm so very glad she's doing well Becky and still loving her bunny dinners! She always did go very dark after a nice sized meal, likely from the need to conserve maximum heat for digestion. (sorry for the thread hijack folks :) )

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/203/5...38c59b7359.jpg

And her belly
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/5...0c22f15435.jpg

Gorgeous boa. I'm not sure about the pink on the belly though. Is there any chance she it getting ready to shed? How long has the belly been that color?

It's been like that for a few days. A week, max.

And, she should be shedding soon. She and Hayden both seem to be on the same timer.. and he's in blue right now.

She's always laying on her UTH, so if she doesn't shed, I'm going to put some more substrate over in just in case she's getting a little burned.

Make sure the glass over the UTH doesn't get too warm. What I liked to do when I used glass tanks was put a piece of tile over the glass to help spread the heat better.

That looks more like the start of a burn, check your temps on that uth. Is it controlled by a thermostat or a rheostat?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wild Bill

That looks more like the start of a burn, check your temps on that uth. Is it controlled by a thermostat or a rheostat?

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No.
I'm saving money for one, though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by resisted

No.
I'm saving money for one, though.

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I'd get one quickly and do something to remedy the situation. The vet bill will be more than the thermostat if you don't get it fixed. ;)

That was my initial thought bill. Either that or she was in damp conditions for too long. You need to control the uth somehow. They get too hot to be uncontrolled