Melanomas in "black snakes"

[Thamnophis]

On my Dutch forum someone had a very red concinnus that died of melanomas. And later a anerythristic concinnus also had a melanoma.
Both animals were 6 years old, but not from the same litter. Do not know if they are related, but will ask him.
He went to a vet who performed an autopsy and found that the cancer had already spread considerably. Melanomas occur often in black snakes was his conclusion.
According to the vet (after he consulted some other specialists) this could be prevented by using UV light.

Personally I have had many black snakes in the last 40 years and I have never had one (or took care of one) that had melanomas.

What is your experience in this?

[Invisible Snake]

According to the vet (after he consulted some other specialists) this could be prevented by using UV light.

That's interesting because melanoma in humans is caused by excessive exposure to UV light.

[Thamnophis]

That's interesting because melanoma in humans is caused by excessive exposure to UV light.

That's why I also was very surprised about the answer of the vet.
Cannot find literature about what he says.

[ConcinusMan]

That's interesting because melanoma in humans is caused by excessive exposure to UV light.

exactly. UV is the cause, not the cure. I wouldn't use UV for garters at all, although a weak output such as reptisun 2.0 probably doesn't hurt anything as long as the snakes can hide from the exposure.

Another thing that doesn't make any sense is that black snakes are LESS vulnerable to skin cancers, not MORE vulnerable. Black is melanin. Melanin protects cells from UV/radiation damage. Albinos have no such protection and will develop cancer and/or blindness from long term UV exposure.

I would seriously look into the lighting. Excessive UV is the ONLY cause if this is truley melanoma cancer

[Stefan-A]

Another thing that doesn't make any sense is that black snakes are LESS vulnerable to skin cancers, not MORE vulnerable. Black is melanin. Melanin protects cells from UV/radiation damage.

Apparently melanin makes animals susceptible to skin cancer caused by UVA, while it protects against skin cancer caused be UVB and UVC.

[chris-uk]

On my Dutch forum someone had a very red concinnus that died of melanomas. And later a anerythristic concinnus also had a melanoma.
Both animals were 6 years old, but not from the same litter. Do not know if they are related, but will ask him.
He went to a vet who performed an autopsy and found that the cancer had already spread considerably. Melanomas occur often in black snakes was his conclusion.
According to the vet (after he consulted some other specialists) this could be prevented by using UV light.

Personally I have had many black snakes in the last 40 years and I have never had one (or took care of one) that had melanomas.

What is your experience in this?

That's a bit of jumpy conclusion to come to based on two samples.
Single keeper with two snakes with melanoma, I'd be considering an environmental cause. Other than that, my conclusion would probably be that it was a strange coincidence unless there was literature to suggest that black snakes are more susceptible to melanoma.

[Stefan-A]

Malignant melanoma of the skin (CMM ) is associated with ultraviolet radiation exposure, but the mechanisms and even the wavelengths responsible are unclear. Here we use a mammalian model to investigate melanoma formed in response to precise spectrally defined ultraviolet wavelengths and biologically relevant doses. We show that melanoma induction by ultraviolet A (320–400 nm) requires the presence of melanin pigment and is associated with oxidative DNA damage within melanocytes. In contrast, ultraviolet B radiation (280–320 nm) initiates melanoma in a pigment-independent manner associated with direct ultraviolet B DNA damage. Thus, we identified two ultraviolet wavelength-dependent pathways for the induction of CMM and describe an unexpected and significant role for melanin within the melanocyte in melanomagenesis.

Melanoma induction by ultraviolet A but not ultraviolet B radiation requires melanin pigment : Nature Communications : Nature Publishing Group
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal...ncomms1893.pdf






Interesting subject. This might require further googling.

[Thamnophis]

Indeed Stefan, interesting...

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

My first garter, Sneaky Snake, died from cancer. I thought Melanoma was skin cancer though and that is not what she had.

[snake man]

Melanoma is skin cancer.

My first garter, Sneaky Snake, died from cancer. I thought Melanoma was skin cancer though and that is not what she had.