Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thanks, I saw the acronym but never paid attention to it.

IMG =Increasing Melanin Gene or Increased Melanin Gene.
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Thank you,
Dave

Historically, the IMG has stood for "increasing melanin gene", meaning, as the ball python ages the amount of melanin in the skin increases considerably. The snake starts out looking axanthic-ish and becomes darker with age. Some on this forum seem to think that IMG also means "increased melanin gene", or just a darker ball python. That however is not the case, a dark ball python is not necessarily and IMG. To be a true IMG the animal will start off with a fairly high contrasting black and white pattern and significantly increase its melanin load with age and become a very dark, sooty, black and grey snake.

Will

thanks