Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my Rainbow for about a year and a bit now. He just shed about 2 days ago, and I noticed that this time, he has some Extreme grey going up his sides... WAY up his sides. He has a little grey towards his belly before.. nothing crazy, but now it is insane (in my eyes). Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe this is a normal thing when they are adults and I have just never seen it before? I would love to breed this guy, but finding an adult / sub-adult is almost impossible.... pointers in that aspect also appreciated. Thank you...

Sean

Now that i look through the pics in the forum, it seems others also have alot of grey... still wondering why it is it just "showed up" after this last shed....

White going up the sides is normal, maybe was there all along and you just noticed?

Good luck finding subadults/adults. IMO your best bet is buy some babies now and raise them up. If you come across an adult you could always sell the babies you bought.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Sean,
....A lot of Rainbow Boas have some light grey or white color coming up on the sides. Sometimes they do change and have the lighter color come further up the sides in just a matter of a few days. This is most noticeable on Brazilian Rainbows but I have seen it on Colombian Rainbows and to a lesser extent on Peruvian Rainbows. It seems to occur more with females than with males and to occur more often during breeding season and mostly with mature or nearly mature animals.
Jeff

>>I have had my Rainbow for about a year and a bit now. He just shed about 2 days ago, and I noticed that this time, he has some Extreme grey going up his sides... WAY up his sides. He has a little grey towards his belly before.. nothing crazy, but now it is insane (in my eyes). Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe this is a normal thing when they are adults and I have just never seen it before? I would love to breed this guy, but finding an adult / sub-adult is almost impossible.... pointers in that aspect also appreciated. Thank you...
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>>Sean
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Is he feeding and otherwise behaving normally? I don't think there's anything wrong with the animal I just wonder if this could be related to the breeding season. I was really surprised last year when a red female of mine turned completely brown during her gestation. Color change in Female Green Tree Pythons has been linked to homones released during the reproductive cycle. Like Jeff said, I would tend to expect this in females more often but who knows. If the male is refusing food he is likely to be reproductively active. If the color change coincides with his fast, the two could be connected.

By the way, my brown female is red again. I'll be interested to see how your snake's color change progresses. Keep us posted.

Mike

Thanks for the responses... I looked through some of the plder photos i have of him and there is definitely more grey / white on him now than there was. I am thinking that, like you said, it is somehow linked to the season as he hasnt taken food in about a month - month and a half. THanks again..

Sean