mystery of the color changers

These two animals were brought to me last night from a local pet store. They had been normal in coloration until about 2 weeks ago. (I had seen them in the store... they were COMPLETELY normal.)

A big mystery in the bp community is what causes this sudden color loss? (the color will come back in over time btw) Well I think these animals might be key to unlocking the cause....

The banded male in the first picture has been at the pet store for the past 2+ years. He's not for sale. The 2nd animal, a female was given to the store by a custumer not more than 1 month ago. They were both moved to a new cage and housed together. They both almost immediately went into a shed cycle and ended up looking as they do now. To me the situation just screams that the cause of the change was something to do with the new caging environment or having to do with being housed together (not as likely)


I went and checked out their environment... They were in a solid plasic cage with ambient between 98 and 102 degrees with humidity well over 100% (water dripping down the sides off the cage constantly).

My theory is that the high heat and humity coupled with their shed cycle caused the animals to look as they do now.

Opinions welcome.

Justin
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...a/DSCN6780.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...a/DSCN6781.jpg

Wow! They almost look like desert ghosts!

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Wow! They almost look like desert ghosts!

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should i sell them quick while i can? :rolleyes:

j/k :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by jkobylka

should i sell them quick while i can? :rolleyes:

j/k :rolleyes:

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The banded male in the first picture has been at the pet store for the past 2+ years. He's not for sale.

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:P

lol

maybe you can edit my post...

i was just explaining why the pet shop hasn't sold him in 2 years... I don't own either of these snakes.

Justin

They look like typical color changers to me. Great pics Justin. Hopefully you can figure out a little more about what causes it. Great work researching their living conditions when this happened.

p.s. Sell quick, as they might color back up after their next shed. LOL.

thats odd....My black stp did the same thing....

The morning after I fed him his head was complete light grey(HOT!). Later on in the day it was back to normal, which is blackish grey :taz:

Maybe the balls where trying to camo themselves.. :rolleye2:

this is the second thread this week I seen regarding this , very unusual , OT was not on here tho .

Weird.. kinda reminds me of how females lighten up when they are gravid.. but it looks different than that. Odd nonetheless.. i wonder why this happens?

Hi,


Wonder if it could be related in some way to lizards darkening to absorb more heat from sunlight in some whacky vestigial way?

Get too warm for too long, lighten up next shed to try and reflect more heat kind of thing. Probably not though and for god sake don't anyone cook their snakes trying to find out.:eek:



dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,


Wonder if it could be related in some way to lizards darkening to absorb more heat from sunlight in some whacky vestigial way?

Get too warm for too long, lighten up next shed to try and reflect more heat kind of thing. Probably not though and for god sake don't anyone cook their snakes trying to find out.:eek:



dr del

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dr del, I was thinking the same exact thing once I heard the "symptoms" (you could call them that). But I used to own Bearded Dragons, and they're among one of the reptiles that change colors by brightening up or darkening depending on drastic temperature changes to maintain their inner stability.

I really feel strong that this is the case here, but I'm not sure if its' published that BPs are such reptiles that do these sorts of things. It makes perfect sense with the girl coming in one month ago and having the same change to herself.

.. Unless they microwave their food for lunchtime near the vivarium... :O

I have pics in my gallery of my male Het O ghost who did the same thing ,though not a dramatic(sp).

check THIS out. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=80949

If their husbandry has been off as bad as you found it for a long period of time, I would guess a skin condition of some kind...like fingers getting wrinkly in he bath tub.

wow they look awesome now

i know of a fair few snakes that have had colour changes. not so drastic. its to do with the humidity i think. one of my normal fems knocked all the water out of her bowl and soaked her tub. i didn't realise till the next day, by this time the humidity was near 90. and she had gone straight into shed and came out alot lighter.

the humiidity must of been unbearable for them poor snakes :(

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Originally Posted by jkobylka

My theory is that the high heat and humidity coupled with their shed cycle caused the animals to look as they do now.

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I hope you're mistaken, and this isn't an opportunity for scammers to cook their snakes to fetch much higher prices.

If the environment was that hot and humid, it would be a huge breeding ground for bacteria. A lot of people now think that the color change from a shed is due to bacteria in the environment and once it is fixed they will return to normal during the next shed.

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Originally Posted by Krazy99CL

thats odd....My black stp did the same thing....

The morning after I fed him his head was complete light grey(HOT!). Later on in the day it was back to normal, which is blackish grey :taz:

Maybe the balls where trying to camo themselves.. :rolleye2:

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My male Mojave does this all the time. Sometimes, he is so light, that his blushing extends all the way to the ridge of his back. Other times, he looks almost jet black in lower light.

In My Opinion, it is somehow tied to temperature. I have noticed this when there have been changes in the ambient temps. Mind you, this is just a hunch.

Just also to throw another idea out there, could it be tied to food? Was there a prey item changed in their diet? Different nutrient levels could be the reasoning behind the change in appearance.

I also have noticed my 2 BCIs shift from lighter to darker and back as well.

Robin

It is an interesting question to ponder.

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,


Wonder if it could be related in some way to lizards darkening to absorb more heat from sunlight in some whacky vestigial way?

Get too warm for too long, lighten up next shed to try and reflect more heat kind of thing. Probably not though and for god sake don't anyone cook their snakes trying to find out.:eek:



dr del

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I wonder if anyone has looked into that ... I mean in a very controlled environment .... that seems like a very interesting theory