Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I have a jayapura GTP, approximately 1.5 years old and roughly 3 feet long. She underwent her color change roughly 6 months ago (at about one year). Since that time, I've noticed a number of black areas developing on and near her head (mostly along the midline of the spine). They look almost like scarring, and I've had people comment that they thought they were scars. However, the snakes have no access to a heat source that could potentially burn them. she eats like a champ and maintains excellent body weight. Any ideas as to what this could be--a few abberant black scales? Any suggestions are appreciated...the picture below is of the snake a month or two after her color change. The large whitish spot a few inches behind her head along her spine has since turned black.

cheers,
g.gartner

Some photos of what your talking about would help, hard to say without seeing it. Nice looking animal you have there. Randy

>>Hi everyone,
>>
>>I have a jayapura GTP, approximately 1.5 years old and roughly 3 feet long. She underwent her color change roughly 6 months ago (at about one year). Since that time, I've noticed a number of black areas developing on and near her head (mostly along the midline of the spine). They look almost like scarring, and I've had people comment that they thought they were scars. However, the snakes have no access to a heat source that could potentially burn them. she eats like a champ and maintains excellent body weight. Any ideas as to what this could be--a few abberant black scales? Any suggestions are appreciated...the picture below is of the snake a month or two after her color change. The large whitish spot a few inches behind her head along her spine has since turned black.
>>
>>cheers,
>>g.gartner
>>
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty !
I just want the full glass I paid for !

Some mainland form will go through a period of black speckling to some degree. Most will lose this speckling over time, however, others will retain varying amounts. Is it scaring? The best way to tell is to look closely at the individual scales. You may need a magnifying glass to do this. If you still see healthy looking scales then it is not scaring. Scaring results when the scales are removed. Usually GTP's develop scars which are yellow in color so my gut tells me you're probably O.K. but the best test is to just look closely.------RON

If you want to see some pics of what black speckling looks like on mainland forms go to www.komodoreptiles.com, click on photo gallery, then green tree pythons, then Manokwari and look at the 2 bottom pics.------RON