Diamond pythons with pink bellies when fed

[Blood Mason]

Hi All,
This is my first post so go easy.

I have a query regarding my pair of diamond pythons.
They both have perfectly normal colouration most of the time but...
When they are fed or even get a whiff of the scent of a dead rat both of their bellies turn from a normal creamy/yellow to a very disinct pink colour.
I have attached a couple of pics of the female feeding to show the colour I'm talking about.
Below that is a pic of her as she looks normally - as you can see there is no sign of pink on her at all. (This was the best shot I have of her belly & I blacked out the rest of the shot coz I didn't think that my friend that was holding her would like me plastering her face all over the forum here )

I have recently taken both diamonds in to see the local herp vet for a general check-up & he says that they are both in perfect health. I specifically mentioned the pink-belly phenomenon & he said he had never heard of it but it wasn't anything to be worried about.
I have scoured the forums here & the only reference I can find to pink scales is scale rot so I am obviously a little concerned. I mentioned scale rot to the vet while I was there but he said that they had no problems in that regard.

Has anyone seen this before in any other snakes?
Is it cause for concern & should I be taking them to another vet or expert for a 2nd opinion?

A friend of mine who has had a lot more experience than myself with pythons said that he had never see it before either, that it wasn't scale-rot & he said it could be some sort of blood lust that the pythons experience during feeding.
I am not sure this is the case.
Any opinions, experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou for your time.
Cheers,
Doug

 

[Tsubakai]

Completely normal food response. Seems more noticeable in diamonds but I personally have seen it in most all other morelias.

 

[Blood Mason]

Thanks for the speedy reply.
Normally I try not to waste other people's time asking questions and seek out answers for myself but on this occassion I have checked through a lot of books & spent countless hours scouring the internet on this & other forums and have not seen a mention of this phenomenon once!
At least I can stop worrying about them now.
Cheers

 

[pythons73]

,As Tsubakai said,its just a food response,nothing to be concerned about...The only to learn is to ask Qs..

 

[Blood Mason]

Thanks for the info.
Now that I've posted this question there are all these little links at the bottom to questions that are very similar so I do apologise for wasting anyones time. I guess I just wasn't searching the forums properly before.

 

[Mangles]

Happens all the time with my Diamond and even some of my Coastals.

 

[mark83]

I had a couple diamonds that used to do the same thing. nothing to worry bout

 

[Schlumpe]

Blood Mason, No such thing as a stupid question. Just stupid answers.

You had the concern of your snake first and foremost. Excellent work.

You will never know if you don’t ask.

 

[snakelady-viper]

Diamond python blush mine also do it at maiting time

 

[JasonL]

My MD went pink the other day..it must of been REALLY pink, as I usually don't see pink, as in the pic in this thread..just looks white to me....

 

[cougars]

Yep mine does the same

 

[Zena]

My 2 year old Diamond goes pink too.

 

[leighroyaus]

my diamonds both do it too

 

[amazonian]

Everyone says it is perfectly normal but has given no explanation as to why it goes pink lol
Maybe it has more blood pumping faster due to excitement

 

[toddy1964]

My coastie does it too, not as much as a diamond though.

 

[kupper]

I love how new members are scared to ask questions because everyone is so eager to flame

 

[trento]

yea my two do the same :lol:

 

[Hoon84]

Everyone says it is perfectly normal but has given no explanation as to why it goes pink lol
Maybe it has more blood pumping faster due to excitement

Its the blood vessels rising to the surface, I am yet to see my yearling diamond do it. Those pics look pretty cool though.....

 

[Sean#1]

yer it is just a blood rush from feeding response

 

[Jay84]

my diamond does it every feed too. i wonder why?