Random Q about snakes in general...

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mini_kitty

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Just a totally obscure question that has no relevance to anything except my own curiousity... but my spotted has the most exquisite blue sheen to his scales when he's out in the sun. Now I know that the altaresia's with a 'ghost' pattern tend to shine a rainbowy sort of thing, but the shine itself, does that happen with every snake? :shock:
 
yep most snakes tend to have that rainbow irredescent sheen to their skin, especially the water pythons and most anteresia esp. maccies
 
my little diamond does:)
here is a pic
the shiny bit is on his nose:)

d88c9837.jpg
 
im guessing, and i really am totally guessing here that it would have to do with the top layer of the skin being transparent and the light refracting through it and breaking up when the angles match up... thats why you only see it at certain angles in certain lights.



maybe?
 
I'd imagine it's all snakes, and ;s just more apparent on very light or very dark coloured snakes.
 
If you have a look in the gallery, recently uploaded, I posted a photo of what I mean. Im very curious now as to whether it IS all snakes! Aaaaa random ponderings....
 
yep all my snakes have it - especially the waters and antaresias, although with my carpets & Bhps you can really only notice it straight after a shed
 
my stimmie has that rainbow sheen in the sun, i was so taken a back when i saw it for the first time when i went to collect him, he is my first snake you see
 
Some more so than others, Rainbow boas well you can guess how they got their name, Here's a older photo of one of my Papuan pythons where you can see the iridescence.
DSC00819.jpg

Here is a young BRB I used to have where you can see a little of why they are called rainbow boas..
RandS259.jpg

randy
 
that boa is beautiful.

it has been said a couple of times in this thread that ALL AUSTRALIAN snakes have it.
now im curious... what snakes dont have it? and does anyone know why or why not?
 
It's caused by iridophores (they're pigments, like melanin which appears as black or brown, but iridophore reflect the light). All pythons have them, but some have much more than others.

Of the Australian snakes, Water Pythons are probably the winners of the rainbow competition, and certainly the winner out of our pythons.

Jadelovesrats.jpg


Fuscusheadreddish25-9-05Ant.jpg


17flowerhead.jpg


AimysheadminimisedFeb2005.jpg
 
That last photo's a killer . White-lipped pythons have a really high degree of 'rainbow' too i notice.
 
Oh wow... maybe im blonde and just like shiny things but I could stare at those photos for hours, they are STUNNING!
 
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