Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had this male for 3yrs now. The guy I got him from said he was born with them. He called them birthmarks lol Anyone seen anything like this before?
Thanks

Looks more like a scar, probably a burn or a bite while in the care of the previous owner. It is not a birthmark.

Al Brown/Brown's Boas

Thats what I thought when I got him was burn. However these markings (there are two seperate spots) have not changed (healed)in the 3yrs thats Ive had him??????
Thanks

I agree. Looks like burn scars to me also.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

I have a female who after giving birth, shed and had very similar markings. I watched the old skin come off and the white patches appear underneith the shed that had color. It definatly wasnt a burn as the cage she was in had no heat (heated room). there was absolutly no damage to the scales and it hasnt diminished or progressed in almost a year now. its just the color is gone fromt hose patches of her body. What caused it? I have no clue. It cant be something too horribly bad as she is thriveing as she always has been. ill try to get some pics up at some point tomorrow.
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- Mike Fourquet

Cloaca Herpetoculture
www.CloacaHerps.com

Mine seem to be healthy and I was just curious because it has not healed,as if it were from a wound.

If it was a bad shed that pulled an extra layer off on your boa's skin it would have healed the following shed. However, there have been cases like yours that have occured from food toxicity. Yes, certain suppliers of rats have been known to cause similar problems in boas. In a few cases death. This has been showing up more and more in boas and ball pythons where the color disappears in areas either partially, or becomes white. Rat toxicity and a certain bacterial infection I do not recall the name of, are both linked to it.

Light burns often look like that. The scales are still intact, but the color will never come back. Scar tissue tends to either be black or white depending on the species of snake and the type of wound.

I've seen a few white spots on probably a dozen boas so far. All of them were generally older animals, so quite honestly I assumed they were just healed burns. But there is one listed in the boa classifieds, (Ben Siegel's) that is a baby with a good sized white patch. Maybe they're ringers...isn't that what the ball pythons are called?

Amie