Quote Originally Posted by LLLReptile View Post
My understanding is that it is increased blood flow to the scales as the new skin is made. I want to say that the belly scales have less pigment naturally and that's why the belly scales turn pink, but I'm not 100% sure. Entirely white snakes do not turn completely pink - but then, I am also pretty sure that the way the color white works as far as pigment/ structure within the scales is not entirely understood. In fish (which are similar, pigment wise) white isn't necessarily the absence of color...It's confusing. People have melanin and that's pretty much it - if I am remembering this right, snakes have xanthopores (produce yellow pigment), melanin (dark/black), and one for red pigment that I can't remember... While I was still in college I researched this for a while - it'd be a neat project for someone doing grad work, I just never went that far with it. But the point of all that is that white snakes do not usually turn entirely pink likely because they're not white due to the absence of color, but white due to a malfunctioning pigment... I think. Maybe. I need to dig back through my research!

In any case, to actually answer your question, the belly scales turn pink because of increased blood flow to the scales.

-Jen
Quote Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo View Post
For what it's worth my leopard ball has a huge ringer on her tail, and when she's in shed the entire ringer turns pink, not just the bottom. I think we notice the pinkness on the bellies because they tend to be more pale.
I noticed something similar on a white diamond (it may have been a pied or something else in the BEL complex...I can't remember) at a show. it was BRIGHT pink and I determined that the snake was probably in shed.