Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all! At work today I found a snake that at first glance, apperred to have scarring on his back. Upon closer examination I realized that it was not scarring but lack of pigment. He also had a few patches on his sides, especially near his tail, that looked like someone erased the color on his saddles, leaving a grayscale. I have in my care right now about 3,000 farmed balls, and I have seen every one of them. I never noticed this before, so I assume it occurred after a shed. The white stripe down the back is remeniscent of the wounds that could be caused by a mouse, but that's not possible. We feed fuzzy mice, and pull them in the morning. And this snake has never refused a meal, so the mice would not have stayed in his cage for more than a few minutes anyway.I can see the deffinition of the scales in these colorless areas, so I am disinclined to believe that they are old wounds. Not to mention that there is no way I wouldn't have noticed an injury during servicing.
If anybody has any information on this, or knows where I might find out more, I would appreciate it. Also, should I buy this snake for myself?
Thanx,
Bulldawger

If they're farmed balls and they're cheap I'd definately buy it. It sounds interesting!

>>I have in my care right now about 3,000 farmed balls….We feed fuzzy mice, and pull them in the morning.

Hello – I have a couple of questions.

Why do you feed such small mice? Is it because offering adult mice would be too time consuming (that is, you couldn’t just leave them in the cages)? Or a money issue?

Also, what’s up with the screen name?

Thanks,
Joan

we're actually going to start feeding small adult mice in about two weeks, we wanted them to gain some weight before throwing sharp toothed adults at them. As for the screen name, my first love is American pit bull terriers.

Bulldawger

Could this ball python have come into contact with a regurged mouse, or the stomach acid of another snake that had recently regurged? A few years ago, we had some captive farmed babies that came into contact with a regurged mouse and stomach acid. They all turned into Axanthics!! and stayed like that for a ~~~~~~ of sheds, finally shedding out into their original colour.

I had a female just under 1000 grams shed on 8/15/03, and the same thing happened.
There were three locations:
1) right behind the head
2) center of her back in the front third of her body
3) on her side about mid body.
There were about 7-10 scales in each location that turned white or grey. Some are half and half, black and grey or black and white.
I was shocked at first thinking injury, but I feed FK, so I know it isn't bites or what-not.
Anyway, sorry for rambling, but I remember reading someone else posting this a year or so ago(I searched the old forums for a few hours but no luck)), and if I recall they said it went away with next shed or two, so I'm just going to watch and wait.
Good luck hope its something special for you
TomChambers