Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is a Bexar county splendida to keep the post on topic before I go off topic

What make a red coachwhip red?

You know they aren't born that way

But soon they become this

If you put them in the dark for an extended period of time, the color changes to an orangish yellow. Why is that?
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http://www.hcu-tx.org

SUNBURN.....LOL

Joe,

They go orange/yellow out of the sun for the same reason humans go pale...although its the effect of a different pigment producing mechanism. We get tan due to an overproduction of the pigmnet melanin in structures called the melanophores. It is the bodys defense mechanism against UV rays. When we are no longer exposed to sunlight, there is no need for as much melanin, and the melanophores slow down or shut off production.

In coachwhips, you have kind of the same thing going on. Red pigmentation occurs in two structures, the xanthophores and the erythrophores. The xanthophores produce red and yellow pigment, the erythrophores just red. When the snake is out of the sunlight, the erythrophores shut down. The xanthophores reduce their production of red, but they keep making yellows. The result is less red and more yellow, giving the animal the yellow/orange appearance.
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It's not how you die, it's how you live.
It's not what you gain, it's what you give.

That first shot is pretty damn incredible.
Thumbs up to that.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com
^ Updated 10/8

I like those hypo looking kings! Also what about the coaches not having anymore wild prey such as birds and/or eggs and bug eating mice that contain all those bugs that are chock full of caretinoids helping produce some of that color? I believe sunlight has quite a bit to do with it seeing as how they can handle the most heat for the longest time outside. Some days they are all I see down here about in the full summer.
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Todd Hughes