Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female that recently underwent a very radical
color change. Originally, she was relatively normal looking.
A little high contrast to her colors, but nothing I'd call
out of the ordinary. Then, all of a sudden she started turning
a very bright green color. It looked like green from a
highlighter pen...flourecent looking. At first I though maybe
she was ill. However, she seemed fine and was eating just fine,
so I decided to just keep an eye on her. She shed recently (with
a nice complete shed). I have attached a pic. The shed was a
bright green color with no pattern. After her shed, she isn't
nearly as green anymore, but her contrast seems to have been
turned up a notch. Have any of you ever seen a similar thing?

Regards,
Chris

That's pretty wild! I've never heard of that before!

Do you have a picture of the before "green" and after "green" shed?
-----
...got balls?

graycat

Letting me live here:
2.2 normals
0.1 pie ball
1.0 hetpied
0.1 Suriname
? Common snapping turtle
? Alligator snapping turtle
1 Guinea pig
2 gold fish (turtle survivors)
3 pet rats and
3 cats
Oh yeah, and 3 children!

Could we have the next Hulk Ball.

>>That's pretty wild! I've never heard of that before!
>>
>>Do you have a picture of the before "green" and after "green" shed?
>>-----
>>...got balls?
>>
>>graycat
>>
>>Letting me live here:
>>2.2 normals
>>0.1 pie ball
>>1.0 hetpied
>>0.1 Suriname
>>? Common snapping turtle
>>? Alligator snapping turtle
>>1 Guinea pig
>>2 gold fish (turtle survivors)
>>3 pet rats and
>>3 cats
>>Oh yeah, and 3 children!
>>
-----
Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@earthlink.net

I don't think I have a good before picture.
I can certainly get a current picture. It was
really quite strange...she was the green color
for 2 shed cycles, and now she is much more normal
looking. I'll get a pic...stay tuned.

I've had weird sheds also.....darker ones..light almost white ones......greenish yellowishes.......LOL

had a female shed and her back half turned a yellowish shade all over.....*(yes I took pics and no they don't turn out...digital cameras pickup browns all the time...even in axanthics and all).....*( ask my friends......she is weird yellowish).....

........show us the female now?........

try good lighting and no flash it helps a little.....

.......JY
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.....wow....you people....really.....you are exactly like I thought.........

............right?

......................................................

Chris...I had my beautiful reduced female with a solid white belly turn super orange almost overnight. I was quite perplexed to say the least. Well, after her next shed I had her nice bright white belly back. This is what I THINK happened. I have been keeping all of my balls on newspaper lately...not sold on it but I had a bad batch of aspen and went to paper. Just haven't got back to the aspen yet, although I probably will soon (I much prefer it over paper having used both). Anyway, I'm thinking that she got some newspaper ink transfered to her skin. I think she spilled her bowl or something and happened to be on some paper that had the orange coloration on one of the pages. Since, I've noticed some of my snakes picking up some of the other inks from the paper. I try not to use paper with colors but out local paper changed to a more colorful format.

Make any sense? Are you using paper? Just a thought! Joe
Joe Pociask Pythons

ya, my albino was turning black in some spots and I finally figured out it was the newspaper so no he gets computer paper for his cage.

The newspaper idea sounds reasonable...however this girl has
been housed on a mulch type of substrate, so I don't think
that is it.

I do house most of my ball pythons on newspaper and aside from
the occasional black pseudo-paradoxing that happens sometimes
when they rub the ink just right, I haven't seen any other
colors...

-Chris

I've had similar experiences and came to the same conclusions as Misty and JP. One of mine had begun to turn a discolored green similar to yours. I wasn't quite sure what was going on and after his "green shed" his green had dulled down some. I didn't really think he was sick or anything so I looked at my husbandry. It turned out that the water filter I was using needed to be replaced. I changed the filter and after his next shed he was back to normal. I figure that the excess chlorine in the water I was using to mist his cage had been absorbed by his skin, discoloring it. This is similar to swimmers who have their hair turn green from the chlorine in the water. Try buying water at the store, getting a filter or filling gallon jugs from your faucet and letting the chlorine evaporate for a day or two before using the water (just leave the lids off).

This is just a thought. It worked for me. I don't think you have any weird genetic thing going on, more than likely either the water you are using or the substrate dyed your snake.

Good luck
-----
In the right hands patience, curiousity and willingness to learn can work miracles. In the wrong hands they are mankind's curse and nature's greatest fear.

I can see how 'funny' water could have an impact. However,
I use the same water from the same tap for all my other balls
and none of them have shown anything like this...so I don't
think it is the water.

The only think that really makes sense in my mind is some form
of skin irritation. I don't think it is anything that is
genetic (although she has always, and still does, look a little
green...). I'll give an update if anything new develops. Just
thought that recent shed was really interesting...

She's the one on the left. The pic doesn't
show her true color contrast. She is definitely
not looking nearly as green as she was before the shed.
Note: She was actually green for two shed cycles before
turning this color (which still is interesting looking...).

The middle is a tan and black ball (check out that head...).
The ball on the right is what I would
consider normal.
Let me know what you think.

-Chris

KoolAid ball. Or do they only come in orange?

Not sure what Koolaid colors are available!
The female was legitimately green in color.
It lasted for 2 shed cycles. Like I said...at first
I thought it was some form of skin irritation (maybe it was).
She does still have a greenish hue in person.

Here's another post with a pic...
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=550774,550774