Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So at about this same time last year I posted about my anthill pythons having BRIGHT green urates after long periods of fasting. My males go off feed for several months during breeding season, and females stop feeding while gravid. In both sexes, after about 2-3 months with no food, they start producing these green urates.

Last year I did not have pictures so I don't think anyone fully understood how strikingly weird this phenomenon is.

Well here you go. The photo is not edited in any way.

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and I should mention that the snakes are all otherwise healthy, they MAINTAIN BODY WEIGHT well, and they breed successfully (and prolifically) every year.

And this is definitely the way that the urates are coming out of the snake, its not a fungus or bacteria that grows on it afterwords...

Thanks for the update. Since it's seasonal, and they are otherwise healthy, I wouldn't worry too much. Perhaps be sure they are well hydrated... sometimes difficult in aridland species.

The green colour is biliverdin; something that is normally broken down in mammals to bilirubin (yellow). You don't normally see it in reptiles because it's quite dilute and the urate colour takes over.

For interest's sake, it might be neat to compare blood values and organ function from a period of time producing the green urates, to the months of normal movements.

Ian

I had been curious about the bloodwork as well. I will get some blood from them now and again over the summer.

I can run it at school basically for free so I might as well take advantage...

I'll post the results over the summer.

Cheers