Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone seen this much color in a shed before? I've never seen that much color in a milksnake shed.

I've never worked w/ zonata before, maybe zonata keepers see this type of shed all the time, but I was surprised to see it.
Lampropeltis zonata multifascitata, Santa Barbara, CA.
-Dell

That is weird Dell. Is it on newspaper?
-----
Randy Whittington

Nope. I don't keep him on newspaper Randy. I'm glad a few of you (Doug & yourself) haven't seen this before because I thought it was curious too.

Kind of like this is curious, makes you stop and wonder, hmmm, what is going on here.

-Dell

ok.....no paper, no dye...then check the moisture in the cage where the snake hides?....maybe bacteria in the skin develops in the time it starts shed cycle till the shed finally comes off....???...fungi and bacteria can be red tinted...(my cages can grow pink newspaper really fast when wet)...

...I am just throwing ideas.....

....other than this...the darn thing is either shedding red pigment....or creating sooo much red pigment that it has some to lose at each shedding....(I know you all don't think it's natural red pigment)....think flamingos.......

....
-----
.

...(______________________)

WOW!,.....

I've never owned any Mountain Kings in my time, mainly because of the breeding issue in my very warm southern climate. But that just doesn't make good sense to me. From the pic, it looks like the red/pink coloration is only on the ventral area of the shed, which tells me it is probably just stained from some newspaper ink like Randy also mentioned. Probably from crawling out of it's water bowl onto the red print or whatever.

I've heard of certain lines of hypo-E mountain kings loosing their red coloration as they age, but that's a little ridiculous!..HAHAHA!!

That reminds me of many years ago, there was a guy at a show that was caught coloring his Cal. Kings by soaking them in green food dye, and advertising them as a different color mutation. Yes,....it's a very true and stupid story, Ask Bill Love, and he'll varify this too..LOL! So quite tryin' to make your own "foux" hypo-E's, it won't work..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Dang! Doug you caught me.

No no, I really didn't dye the shed or color it in any way, and I don't keep the zonata on newspaper. He's in his own small tub w/ a water bowl and a white paper towel, that's it.

I'll post it on the zonata forum and ask those guys/gals if they have ever seen this in their animals.

-Dell

Oh, and your right Doug, the red/pink color is only on the ventral of the shed.

-Dell

Dell,...have you had that since it was a brand new hatchling, or did you recently acquire it from someone fairly recently?

I'm thinking maybe if it did not shed before in your posession, then maybe it got stained in the previous owner's care. Is this a possibility?.....this just goes against all I've ever known regarding snakes,..which is a pretty looong time..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Doug,

That animal was in my care before I sent it as a gift to Dell. It was housed on Care Fresh bedding, and in no point and time was on any kind of a red substrate. In the past I've seen sheds with color, some with about the same as this, and others not so much. In my honest opinion, if the snake is still eating, and doesn't have any noticeable health issues...I wouldn't worry much about it.

Dell, out of curiosity, that was the male, correct?

Mitch

Wow!,..that is really strange. Those are the only type of snake I have EVER heard of in my entire 42 years of being into snakes to do this. I still have to wonder why the ventrals were like this, and not the dorsum?. Were the other colored sheds you have seen in the past like that too?, or was the entire shed colored?

I can hardly get over this, it's almost "Twilight Zone" material..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Doug Mong wrote:
" Those are the only type of snake I have EVER heard of in my entire 42 years of being into snakes to do this."

I get what your laying down buddy.

D. Mong wrote:
"I can hardly get over this, it's almost "Twilight Zone" material..LOL!"

Phhhht, this is Twilight zone material.

This is the car you drive to get into the Twilight Zoneata.

-Dell

Pee-Wee Herman looks like he just found out about this colored shed thing too, he looks pretty flipped-out over the deal as well..LOL!

I'm not so sure that old clunker could be driven anywhere, let alone make it way out to the "Twilight Zoneata".

From the looks of it, there might even be some wild Mountain kings living inside that thing somewhere..LOL!

~Doug

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

1957 Chevy Belairs
That guy was planning to restore one and use one for parts I think.
-----

Doug L

Yes, either that, or he's using them for AC to attract snakes..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Hey Mitch, I thought you may come in on this thread to shed some light in it.
I never was worried about the little guy, he's doing fine, eating gecko parts for now. I really did just find the shed curious as I've never seen that much color in a shed before, and the other zonata I got from you haven't shed this kind of color either.
Si, senor Mitch, que es el MACHO!

Geez!,....that really IS a weird deal then Dell!

My boy Jerry Kruse and a few others might know something about this, since they are big-time zonata aficionados.

That has got to be one of the weirdest things I've ever seen, bar none!...wow!

I'd like to know more about that myself buddy, that is just too freakin' bizarre!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

I had the making of a hypo E thought too....LOL

and I saw the pics of the green cal king when they were posted...it was cool.....

there were orange Gatorade ball pythons at a show once too....but the guy told people what they were....bright orange coloring....

........the pink shed looks odd and wild....check the paper ? as mentioned...

I gotta read more of these....
-----
.

...(______________________)

Trust me.

iron oxide????

Blood stain from a meal?

-----

Doug L

Doug what?
Slow down Nelly, whoa.
It's not blood, or newspaper dye, or phone book dye, or iron oxide bonded to an electropostitive atom.
It's just a shed w/ a little color in it. I posted it as a curiosity, an oddity. I never meant the photo to be a Sherlock Holmes sleuth problem to solve.

If you want something to sleuth, sleuth me this. Why would the chubby pickle hold his hands & fingers like that?

And will Cole be able to hold his hands that way too?

Ain't it obvious why the pickle is holding his hands like that??

He's a jive-ass gang banger from the hood, and he's showin' his sign Dawg!

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Good one Doug-Doug, how do you come up w/ this stuff, very funny.

I'm not exactly sure to tell you the truth,....but here's a killa milksnake to help keep things un-gang related..LOL!

~Doug

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Killa bling bling, in your hand & on your wrist Doug.

Here's some bling back at you, in hand and on wrist. Sorry about the unfortunate looking face in the photo, it's all I've got to work w/. But the gentilis is nice.
-Dell

>> "Here's some bling back at you, in hand and on wrist. Sorry about the unfortunate looking face in the photo, it's all I've got to work w/."
-Dell

** HAHAHA!!,...man, that is some funny stuff dude!

You got that...."ARRGH!, YEAH!, I GOTCHA NOW!" look..LOL!

Oh,...nice "bling-bling" too, I hear nice shiny jewelry helps attract snakes, that's why whenever I go out for a good snake hunt, I look like Mr. T.

~Doug

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

CROP those pics! We have standards here,LMAO!!

Quote:
"We have standards here,LMAO!!"

Standards in photography? Oh my God, now that IS funny coming from you Jeff.

Of course I was talking about the subject not the photographer! Lucky you didnt break the camera,lol.

Who goes looking for it? Who stops their car...? Who POSES for pictures? Suspect, tooooootally suspect.

using special photo inhancement programs I was able to solve the case

Dell has been up to no damn good again ,using spray paint

....

....

Chubby says:" KEEP THAT GUY OUTTA MY BURGER STORE "
-----

Doug L

I didn't know Dell was a street thug that went around "taggin'" his turf!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Good one Doug.

Really liked the chubby pickle too.

-Dell

>> That reminds me of many years ago, there was a guy at a show that was caught coloring his Cal. Kings by soaking them in green food dye, and advertising them as a different color mutation. Yes,....it's a very true and stupid story, Ask Bill Love, and he'll varify this too..LOL!

very true. i remember seeing green ones. i'm embarrassed to say that for a few seconds i was excited that it might be true. then rational thought intrudes...

That is some funny stuff man!..HAHAHA!!

That dude should have got his ass kicked for that little stunt he tried to pull..LOL!

I didn't see those particular ones in person, but I saw the article that was written about it shortly after in a Reptiles Magazine that had pictures of them.

It takes all kinds to make a world I guess..LOL!

I'm glad you remember that silly issue too.

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

I have seen this happen with a eastern kingsnake I have when I used the Yellow Pages for substrate and the water bowl tipped over.His vent became yellow till the next shed.Im sure its some sort of stain.

-----

Doug L

.

If I was not color blind I guess that would look crazy to me. It might have happened a hundred times to me and I would not know it!!LOL. I keep telling my wife how red some of my snakes are and she just laughs and says "orange honey, orange". What ever!!

Im color blind too joe but I think its on the indigo violet side of ROYGBIV, the shorter wavelength
Funny thing is when I flip rocks or AC I have my mind set to spot red ,I have missed a few copperheads in MD.That could be a problem when I reach on to grab a milks etc

-----

Doug L

Those were some cool snags Doug!

Looks like that Copperhead has probably seen better times from the looks of it's vertebrae being so evident there.

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Doug, you and I should go hunt coral snakes in Florida!

There ya go!..LOL!. I guess it WOULD be handy to know what the color sequence is before making a grab for them..LOL!

BTW, were in Florida do you live?, I thought you were in NY?

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Doug, I am actually in Maryland but my family lives in Florida. West Palm and Ft. Lauderdale. I am sure Maryland will be the first state to try and take everyone's guns away so I will have to move to Florida then. (not a bad thing) Where are you located?

When you guys meet up please find me a gravid coral snake
-----

Doug L

Your right Doug it does look hungry

Here is another from the same spot that doesnt look much better

I think there is some defensive posturing here as well as the fact that these are all from early may and may not have much to eat yet.

Heres a nice fat one for you

-----

Doug L

Never seen anything like that over the years..........but if I ever do I'll be sure to post it. I wonder if it'll happen again.......it's too bad the skins are so brittle.....many a little girl could make some killer bracelets from those.
-----
Jerry Kruse

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

Yeah Jerry, that's what I was wondering too.
I'm sure I'll get a buch of new interesting comments on it, like I did this time.

-Dell

You need to quit using wet shag carpet remnants as your cage substrate!

I just thought you would appreciate another helpful comment..LOL!

~Doug

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

I find the snakes really like to hide in the shag.
Score me some remnants dude.
-Dell

.
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Seeing this in person might make a difference, Dell. I can assure everyone that the snake is completely healthy (no bleeding, fungal or bacterial infections, abrasions, etc) and the coloration is emphatically NOT due to inks, dyes, or food coloring. I think it's possibly due to the deposition of erythrins (through the presence of true erythrophores?) in the keratin layer of the dermis. Perhaps Mitch could fill us in, since this is his specialty?!

-Cole

P.S.- Dell, this photo you took of one of my Rifle, CO taylori really embodies their personality, doesn't it?!

Thanks Cole, for the clear thinking comments. And yeah, the taylori is a sweet milksnake to photograph, very photogenic animal.
-Dell

Here he is again.

Someone's been kissing your snake! Its a good thing!

Did you use a cranberry sauce subtsrate in the recent past?
-----
Mark

Sometimes anyway.
snake adventures