Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This snake changed colors after a shed almost a year ago. It has slowly browned but seems to have stopped (This is second hand info). The light coloring on the tail is throughout the rest of the animal only in smaller portions. The black and white is very pronounced. Thoughts on it?
Odd Snake

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Jay A. Martin

This happened to one of ours about 2 weeks ago, most of his pattern is now pure white except for the stripe behind his head which is half normal colour and half white. Not sure what's going on with it or why it happens but apparently there are quite a few floating around.

I'm just wondering if this is a true genetic condition that comes later in life or if they eventually regain their original colors. The snake I just picked up is supposed to be at least 4 years old.
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Jay A. Martin

There seems to be a few people working with them and others who think its a waste of time. I found this interesting though

www.joecompelreptiles.com/collection/ball_pythons/black_white/index.asp

We're not even sure that our's that changed is a male or not, the people we bought him from were selling a pair and told us he was the male, I have my doubts and think he is actually a she? And of course they weren't able to provide us with the age of the snakes but I would reckon about 2 1/2 - 3 years old.

When I acquired this snake, I was told it has been the same size for 3 years - 1250 grams - and it feeds weekly on small-medium rats. He assumed it was a male due to its size. I probed it as a female. I think Ralph Davis is working on something similar. If this is a female, I plan to breed her next season. To what, I'm not sure yet.
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Jay A. Martin

Are you on about Dirty-Joe? If so i don't think that the same thing is going on with him as is with ours. I believe Dirty-Joe started out black and white and matured into what he is today.

I think it's some deficiency rather than a 'new morph'. But lets breed them and see what pops out, hold back a few and see if they also change as they mature?

Good luck

Yeah, Ralph and I exchanged a few emails and his DJ was black and white as a baby. I don't believe mine was. But I'm curious if this is a condition that just exhibits itself later in life. I plan to breed this and then breed one of her sons back to her and who knows. It will be interesting to see.
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Jay A. Martin