Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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Amanda Rose
Amanda's Menagerie
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hello Amanda
Long time, no see!

here is my understanding of the colors.
Reptiles are capable of three pigments. One for yellow(xanth-), one for red(eryth-), and one for brown(melan-). Humans only have one, the one for brown (melanin).

If you look below, at the post "Breep pics", you will see a sav with less than normal brown/black. Hypo- means low on. So yes, it is a hypomelanistic specimen. If she could demonstrate this coloring to be inherited by the offspring, then she could be justified in saying, she produces hypomelanistic savs.

Yours is not axanthic (no yellow) or even hypoxanthic (less yellow), because it appears yours has the normal amount of yellow for that species. It does seem to have slightly less black than normal, but I don't think it qualifies for being hypomelanistic, because the coloring on savs do vary that widely. Yours does not look like Breep. It is just a lightly colored one.
Its a nice one, it seems to be doing well in your care.

If any of what I have written is wrong, or off, PLEASE take the time to correct me! I am still learning the basics, and any help is appreciated by me.
Cheers. D.

I don't know is why I am asking, not to be a smart a$$.

Where then does the green in so many reptiles come from?

Just curious, Thanks!

CHLOROPHYL!! It comes from the plants that are in the guts of the prey we feed them!

...sorry, I couldnt resist. Just being wierd Carry on.

No, seriously.

I thought about the chlorophyl. Does that apply to all animals? I could see it with the herbavors, sure. Some of the omnivors, okay. But the carnavors? Really?

I know we feed them mice, perhaps there are trace elements of chlorophyl in the foods the mice are fed. Okay. I was thinking along the lines of the Tree boas & other green snakes mostly. The ETB's because of the bright greens and blues they can take on. I can see when they are young the browns, reds, orange, & rust colors they usually have could come from the pigments that Goon mentioned but not the greens.

You are probably right. I really don't know the answer to that question. That's why I asked. Could it be anything else?

Thanks

I remembered some of my biology, but needed to google to get things straight.

Here's the skinny:

"Various hues are made possible by the combinations of different layers of chromatophores. Cells carrying more than one pigment are called compound chromatophores. Most [edit] reptiles that appear to have green coloration on their scales actually have a layer with yellow pigment and another layer on top that scatters light and reflects a blue color. There are other types of chromatophores that do not retain pigments ..."

courtesy of our good friends at the Clark University Biology Dept.

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arghh... this keeps happening to me. I carefully compose a post and it disappears when I try to post it. I'll start again. Zrho is correct.

If I remember correctly, reptiles (and birds, for that matter) cannot produce blue or green pigments. They CAN produce yellow pigments and can evolve reflective surfaces on their scales or feathers that reflect blue. Combine yellow pigments with blue reflections and you get a green appearance. If you want to test the blue reflectivity thing, get a bright blue peacock feather, get it wet and tilt it in the light. You'll notice that when the light hits at the wrong angle it is brown.

The reptiles that CAN produce green pigments are a few skink species found in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Not only are some of these species brilliant green in colour, but their blood is bright green as well. As far as I know the adaptive advantage to this is not yet fully understood, but there are some theories.

searching for the lizard with the green blood. I wish there was more info on that sort of thing. Just a matter of time I suppose but man that is interesting. Green blood.

Thanks again

Combining with the blue!
hahaha

sorry. couldn't help myself.

I was wondering about the colors of my savanna. i got him at about 9 inch and hes 2' now, and his color has not changed at all. I havent scene any pic's of savannas that look remotly like him. He is very dark, mostly dark brown/black with some light white spots and thin red rings around the spots. He doesnt have any yellow at all, and has the redest eyes ive ever scene on an animal. Other than his color hes extreamly healthy. Hes not over fed, hes alert, with a healty fat supply at the base of his tail, and is given plenty of room/light/heat/UVA/UVB and water. I was just wonderin whats up with his color and what it indicates.

He sound beautiful! If you can, please post a pic.

Amanda
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Amanda Rose
Amanda's Menagerie
Bringing Animals, People and Education Together Under One Roof.
amandas_menagerie.tripod.com
My Email

No problem ill post some pics as soon as i get the camera workin.