Hello Joan... I'd be please to respond.
Nuclears are my line, selective bred for high orange over numerous generations. The founder stock was from Tom Huff of the former Reptile Breeding foundation in Picton Ontario Canada.
The snakes start off a mild orange and this colour intensifies over the first couple of years. At maturity females tend to dull down, and more melanin developes. This doesn't seem to happen to the males which stay very bright right into old age.
I've tried to breed out this tendancy for females to darken, but it seems very deeply rooted in their genetics. I assume females require more heat for gestation, therefore they exhibit more melanin at maturity.
Below are pictures of two adult gravid females.


Below is an adult breeder male Nuclear with a female Chocolate

And Below the offspring produced from the two gravid females above

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