Melanomas in "black snakes"

[Thamnophis]

The owner of the two snakes in the first topic assured me that both snakes were not related.

[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.

[ConcinusMan]

Interesting. And it just so happens that most lighting with UV output is usually restricted to UVA or at least the majority of it is UVA. I still think that bad lighting probably did this.

[Stefan-A]

I still think that bad lighting probably did this.

I think there's no necessary connection between the lighting and what happened here. People who haven't smoked in their entire lives, or lived in cities, or worked in coal mines, do get lung cancer too, just not as often.

And one case is just a data point, not a pattern. I don't think the vet or the specialists have the statistics to back up the assertion.

[Thamnophis]

As far as I know the two snakes live in terrarium that are lighted with normal spotlamps like most of us use. Most certainly not with UV bulbs.

Black snakes have in their skin many melanocytes (these are the cells that produce the dark pigment - melanim) so it is obvious that they have a bigger chance to get melanomas. Melanoma can originate in any part of the body that contains melanocytes.
I suspect that the chance that the cause is a genetic matter is the biggest.

Dark (black) snakes will have to sunbath in the wild to survive and get a fair portion of UV light. When this would easily cause melanomas, the black snakes would be less successful than other colored snakes.
And... in the colder regions melanism occurs often. Strange, because in the colder regions they will have to sunbath more often to function. Okay, because they are black they warm quicker, but does this make an enormous difference?