Strange shed--color change? Experienced keepers please.

[Seneschal]

Hey...I normally don't ask questions without researching, but I decided to ask more knowledgeable people this time...

So, back story first; I've had my normal female Matika since she was a hatchling four years ago; now at 2100g she went off feed for the first time ever for winter, so I decided to try putting my 07 pastel male (300+g and feeding like a beast) in with her, in for four days and off for five--because I didn't really expect anything. I maintained normal temps and such, and have been putting him in with her since Thanksgiving on and off, especially when it rains or a cold front came through, but have not seen any locks, ovulation, etc. She went into shed normally as usual about a week ago, and when I got home tonight I found her shed and went to clean it up and hold her, and then I noticed that...well...she's about three shades LIGHTER than usual. So much so that my mom (NOT a snake person--she mistook a busy patterned, dark 950g girl for my 2100g lighter, reduced pattern girl!) noticed without me pointing it out!!!

Her head and neck especially is lighter. MUCH lighter. But not in the way it can get if it's too dry, or if some pigmentation is peeled off with the shed; just like she's randomly changed her colors. My camera's not uploading well but I have a pic from a few months ago, and I'm going to include that...and then I'm going to get as close to the color her head NOW is, and put that up as well for comparison.

I'm 99.9% positive she's not gravid; I think I'd have noticed her ovulating or copulating considering I obsessively check all my snakes at least once a day...and I've observed no abnormal behavioral patterns; temps are normal (92 hot side, 84 cool) humidity is steady in 55% range...I don't know what it might be; I've never heard of anything like it other than "glow before she goes"---but as far as I know, she's not gonna "go"!

Does anyone have any idea what this might be? I'm not WORRIED, per se, just confused and curious. She's acting normal (I'm holding her right now) and she's healthy to the naked eye...so...I'm at a loss.

Anyways...here's how she NORMALLY looks.



as close to the new color as I can get (she doesn't wanna hold still for me to hold her head next to it to compare, lol)



honestly though it's a more yellow, pale color than that, and the color along her neck stripe is lighter, too. She almost looks like a different snake!

[LadyOhh]

Well,

There are a couple of possibilities for this.

Either she is glowing from near ovulation, OR

It is just an environmental change. There are instances where animals just change due to differences in husbandry, being exposed to bacteria, injury (which I'm sure is not the case here), and so forth.

Activities are usually the same in most cases, other than when injured, but you will just have to wait it out until next shed.

There is a good possibility that you may have missed copulations. It has happened to me on several occasions, and got eggs from an animal I wasn't expecting.

Anyway you slice it, GOOD LUCK and NO WORRIES!!

[Tosha_Mc]

The exposure to the male might have been enough to send her into a hormonal meltdown - LOL or maybe there was copulation that you missed or possibly retained sperm - did you breed her last season?

Otherwise - you know the drill could be a bunch of different things - stress, nutrition, illness, injury, hormones, etc. all of which usually fix themselves with time and/or proper husbandry.

[Seneschal]

Thanks for the responses guys--and believe me, I'll be watching her closely!! She's my first BP and my favorite; puppydog tame and a WONDERFUL pet. I'd be devastated if anything happened to her.

And, Heather, I hope it's a missed copulation, because that's a definite possibility with how much I work and go to school! There hasn't really been any change in her husbandry, so I doubt it's that.

And Tosha, that might be it, LOL! Hormonal womenfolk, we are! Can't possibly be retained sperm, she's never been around a male of her own species until Thanksgiving of this year...!

In any case...I guess I'll just keep an eye on her, maintain temps and humidity, and keep offering food every week (and getting turned down, lol). Thanks, I feel better about it now.

(Oh and Matika says hi from where she's wrapped around my ankle!)

Brandi

[pslsnakes]

I had my first ball for almost 10 years now.

She was a wild caught "male" that I bought for $20 from a guy that bred snakes down the road from me.

At that time, she was actualy very darck in color, more on a chocolate than gold. With a very dark head.

Now, She is all gold and greenish and a very light gold head.

Im not sure why they change, but its pretty cool. But nothing to be concerned about.