Brightening Color?

[GarterGeek]

I've noticed that as wild snakes are kept in captivity their colors slowly brighten. I know this change can be attributed to getting cleaner but the change seems too gradual and drastic for the cause to be just dirt. I generally, bathe my new wild-caught snakes a couple times when I get them.

Has anyone else noticed this before and is there another possible cause, besides dirt? I've considered exposure to UV rays and better nutrition...but I'm really clueless.

Thank you!

[guidofatherof5]

Interesting question. I can't say that I've ever noticed this event, but I've never looked for it. I will in the future.

[adamanteus]

An altogether easier life (in captivity) might explain it. I can't really comment, never having caught a wild Garter Snake...... of course I have bought wild caught from pet stores in the past, but you would expect them to be less than perfect by the time they reach the UK/European pet trade.
I will be interested to read other US members' take on this.

[drache]

for most of our members' garters it's probably true that they have a "cushier" life - safer and with a more reliable food supply
I'm not sure about the stress, because some of that has to do with disposition

[Zephyr]

I think that garters get the snake equivalent of a "tan."
My CB male changes colors between being indoors and outdoors.

[Didymus20X6]

I seem to remember a story about some scientists who were studying some species of fox. They kept a number of these brown-colored foxes in captivity for a couple of generations, when all of a sudden, for reasons I don't think they ever fully explained, they started changing colors. The third generation produced pups that were white, black, brown (a richer brown than their mothers' colors), red, and bluish-grey. What's more, the foxes began acting more like domestic dogs than foxes (well, life in captivity would most likely explain that). To my knowledge, this wasn't some selective breeding program - that's not what they were studying, I don't think. But it is strange none the less. I'll see if I can't find video of it, or a written article to post.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I will say: yes. Snakes do brighten after a while in captivity. I would guess this to be for two reasons:

1. more food = more excess molecules to spend on color pigments and scale and skin health

2. wild snakes are often "stained"... dirt and grime kind of soak into their scales and it takes more than one shed for it to completely go away. The first shed from a wild caught snake always looks really grimy compared to a CB!!!

[Didymus20X6]

Aren't skin pigments also influenced by the type of lighting? In humans, we would call that "tanning".

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

well, I have light bulbs of all kinds burning... UV bulbs, regular house bulbs... fluroescent twirly bulbs... no bulbs at all.... I don't really notice a different any which way!!!

[DrKate]

They kept a number of these brown-colored foxes in captivity for a couple of generations, when all of a sudden, for reasons I don't think they ever fully explained, they started changing colors.

I just noticed this thread, so I thought I'd throw in a comment... I remember seeing this years ago. I'm pretty sure it WAS a selective breeding experiment by fur farmers. But the thing was, they were breeding solely for personality, trying to make nice, friendly, human-loving foxes. (The idea being, I think, that if they could breed foxes that LIKE captivity, that has to be an improvement in welfare...)

But the color changes were a complete surprise. Somehow breeding solely for personality, they were influencing the color and coat pattern genes. Of course that made their nice, captivity-loving foxes totally unsuitable for use in fur coats and whatnot, which may or may not be a good thing depending on how you see it.

But that was over several generations. I think the original question related to a single snake changing color during one lifetime, which can't really be a genetic thing.

EDIT: Whaddaya know... Found a couple descriptions of the experiment. Guess it really was a study of domestication rather than geared toward more convenient fox farming (though I still suspect that's the justification Dr. Belyaev would have used in his grant application!). Completely unrelated to snakes in any way, of course, but kind of a fun read nonetheless.
Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and ... - Google Books
http://www.floridalupine.org/publica...-fox-study.pdf