Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,
I'm curious to know what the bellies of your Hypomelanistic Brooks look like?...
I recently noticed that my female's belly has suddenly turned a "salmon-pink" colour. I can't believe that I didn't notice this 'til now.
She only just shed, so that's not it. She's kept clean and dry on newspaper substrate, so I'm assuming that it's not a skin infection or irritation. She's healthy, happy and feeds up a storm.
Is this normal belly colour for an young adult? I don't really get to see a lot of adult hypos, so I don't have much of a reference.
Here is a pic. Sorry about the quality, but you get the idea.

Thanks, and good luck this season everyone!

Simon

That's not an infection or anything else, just really nice coloration!
I've never seen a yellow/gold Hypo with a belly colored like that and I have a few Hypos here.
The only Hypo here that has a belly like that is my high orange Hypo, but the entire body is orange.
Nice!

Bobby

That looks like a skin irritation of some kind. Brooksi dont usually have a color change into adulthood like that . Your snake is possibly developing a allergy to either the newspaper or something else. Do you disinfect the tank ever ? Could be a slight infection so keep an eye on it keep the tank super clean and possible change substrates. I use paper towels with great success its cheap and easy to change. Also you mentioned your snake just shed. Was it a good shed or did you have to peel it off manually ?

Keith

Keith,
I am positive that this is neither an infection or an irritation. The animal is healthy, seemingly in no distress and is otherwise completely normal. Her last shed was perfect, as always.
If the colour were patchy, then I would consider another diagnosis. The belly has turned this even, orangeish shade with a sharp demarcation line at the throat. The shading even goes right to the very tip of the underside of the tail.
I know that snake's bellies will turn a pinkish hue before they actually go opaque, but this is definitely NOT that.

Simon

How do you know its not an irritation ? Ive seen that before and if you think about it and look at the pattern you will notice that everything that comes into contact with the ground is tinted correct ? Most snakes keep their heads off the ground while moving about hence no pink up into the neck area or under th head. Brooksi just dont change color like that dude so keep an eye on it.

Keith

Simon,

I have to agree with you that the orange coloration is too uniform on the entire belly to be an ifection or irritation. Notice that the orange actually goes up the sides of the belly scales also. I guess you'll know for sure if the snake gets sick or not.
A friend of mine produced Hypos last year that have both yellow or orange body color and then about half way down the sides the color turns orange or yellow.
The bodies having different coloration from the bellies.
He has bred the parents again and should have some more this year.

Bobby

Bobby

I guess the what makes me believe its an irritation is that the color is suddenly there as in it wasnt there before. You have Brooksi have you ever seen a color that bold pop up . Especially the belly it never gains color but the dark areas fade and thats it. I know Brooksi can have orange bellie's but his contention was that it wasnt orange before. My male Brooksi has had that before when I kept him on newspaper and when I switched it he went back to regular yellow so its either ink or something causing irritation is my guess.

Keith

You have way more experience with these animals than I do, and I appreciate your efforts on my behalf.
What Keith says certainly makes sense, and then so do Bobby's comments.
First of all, I'm going to put the snake on either aspen or paper towel for a while, just to see if it makes a difference.
I should also note that there are areas of pink/orange occurring symmetrically underneath each side of the snake's throat. I've tried to get a pic, but it's very faint and does not show up well.

This is very interesting.
I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for all of your interest and assistance.

Simon

Keith,

I've never personally seen belly coloration "pop up" where there was none before and I did think it was some kind of irritation etc.
The color is so damn uniform it just looks too perfect to me to be an ailment. Very interesting though.
I can only hope mine color up like that!

Bobby

I would be willing to bet, it's not irritation but the ink has transferred to the snake. Just like your fingers do when you handle the paper. It could be from a color page that was in the cage. I bet if you put it on paper towel or aspen it will be gone with the next shed.

Joel R